Pharmacy Quality Scheme – Archive

In 2023/24 there was a reduced PQS, compared to the scheme originally planned the previous year. This meant a reduced list of activities for pharmacy owners with a value of 60% of the originally planned PQS – £45m. The remainder of the PQS funding (the additional £30m) was used as an alternative to reducing fees to help ensure that there was no over-delivery of fees in this financial year. As the reduced PQS contained a clinical audit, DHSC and NHSE agreed to Community Pharmacy England’s request to remove the clinical governance requirement for pharmacy owners to undertake two clinical audits in 2023/24.

Community Pharmacy England’s position was that we did not think pharmacy owners would have the capacity to take on additional services or work; our statement is below:

The decision to go ahead with a PQS this year without an urgent injection of extra funding is in contradiction of our warnings to Ministers that there is not enough money to pay for the current services and dispensing delivered by the sector; let alone for new activities to be rolled out. However, we do recognise the importance of some elements of the PQS to patients and the NHS, and the fact that the scheme continues to demonstrate pharmacy’s commitment to, and exceptional performance on, quality. We note the concessions that Ministers have made in response to our submissions – both in reducing the scope of the PQS to reduce the burden on pharmacy owners, and in avoiding a reduction in the SAF which was previously mooted. 

Overall, this is an improvement on their original position, safeguarding the funding for PQS and reducing the activity required, notwithstanding our belief that the funding and capacity constraints which apply to the whole sector mean the scheme is currently unaffordable. 

DHSC published the full details of the PQS on the NHSBSA website. NHS England also published guidance on the 2023/24 Scheme.

Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2022/23 former website content
This document contains all the former Community Pharmacy England website content relating to the PQS 2022/23.

Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2021/22 former website content
This document contains all the former Community Pharmacy England website content relating to the PQS 2021/22.

Pharmacy Quality Scheme Part 2 2020/21 former website content
This document contains all the former Community Pharmacy England website content relating to the PQS 2020/21 Part 2.

Following the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Community Pharmacy England agreed the requirements for a new Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) for 2020/21 with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England and NHS Improvement.

The scheme had two parts, the first of which was announced on 13th July 2020. The focus of the Part 1 scheme was ensuring community pharmacy contractors and their teams had put in place all reasonable measures to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, protecting both themselves and the people using their services.

The scheme was also a Gateway requirement for the Part 2 scheme.

Pharmacy Quality Scheme Part 1 2020/21 former website content
This document contains all the former Community Pharmacy England website content relating to the PQS 2020/21 Part 1.

Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2019/20 former website content
This document contains all the former Community Pharmacy England website content relating to the 2019/20 PQS.