What is NHS Pharmacy First?

It is an extended and rebranded version of the old CPCS service (Community Pharmacy Consultation Service) which has been around since early 2019.

The Pharmacy First patient experience remains the same, namely a ‘same-day’ consultation with their nominated community pharmacist.

Pharmacy First is an NHS service designed to support GP Practices with alternative referral options for patients with less serious conditions. It means more patients can be seen sooner, whilst GPs can spend extra time with other patients who are more ill.

No, the service has been commissioned on an ongoing basis. It will be an integral part of the primary care service model for the foreseeable future.

It has been extended by permitting pharmacists to offer prescription medicine treatments. Note all of the CPCS Minor Ailment conditions were treatable with over the counter (or OTC) medicines which limited the extent of the treatment care pathways that pharmacists could follow.

Whereas now, within the extended NHS Pharmacy First, seven of those care pathways have been ‘extended’ thanks to the addition of Patient Group Directions (PGDs). These regulatory provisions allow pharmacists to go further and lawfully treat certain patient groups with Prescription Only Medicines under strict protocols.

A PGD is a statutory mechanism which allows clinical professionals who are not doctors to lawfully prescribe or supply prescription only medicines (POMs) in specific circumstances. There are 23 PGDs available to pharmacists in the NHS Pharmacy First service which permit them to offer more clinical pathway treatment options.