Pharmacy First Service – Guidance for your pharmacy business

The new Pharmacy First Service, implemented on January 31 2024, allows people to access treatments for seven conditions, such as sore throats and earaches, direct from pharmacies without the need to see a doctor. Chloe Wishart from Harrison Drury’s corporate team offers some guidance for pharmacies that are part of the scheme.

What is the Pharmacy First Service?

The Pharmacy First Service (PFS) has been developed in order to play a role in freeing up the capacity for appointments in general practices. The service  launched on January 31 2024, subject to appropriate IT systems being in place to support the service.

The PFS will enable community pharmacists to provide advice and NHS funded treatment, where clinically appropriate, for seven common conditions, including: sinusitis; sore throat; acute otitis media (excluding distance selling pharmacies); infected insect bite; impetigo; shingles; and uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women.

How is Pharmacy First managed and regulated?

If a pharmacy cannot help with the condition presented to them, the patient should be referred to a suitable service. Directions (PGD) and one protocol for the service have been produced for the scheme going live and are to  be used in order to authorise the pharmacist in supplying the medicines at NHS expense.

All pharmacists enrolled under the PFS will be required to sign the PGD in order to be able to provide the medicines to the patient under the PFS. The PFS consolidates the current Pharmacy First (urgent repeat medicine supply) and Pharmacy First (NHS referrals for minor illnesses) which were previously commissioned as the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) into the PFS which includes the Pharmacy First (clinical pathways consultation).

What do you need to do to meet the requirements of the Pharmacy First Service?

As the owner of a pharmacy there are certain requirements that will be necessary to be able to carry out the service appropriately. Owners must ensure that they have all the correct equipment including a consultation room that fits the PFS specifications.

As the PFS includes acute otitis media, pharmacies providing the service must ensure they have an otoscope and that all pharmacists are competently trained to use one. Any distance selling pharmacies will be exempt from the otoscope and acute otitis media requirements.

The Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education has provided training resources on their site in order to assist pharmacists in ensuring they are competently trained for the PFS. All pharmacies providing the service must also have a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) which all staff must know and follow. Template SOPs can be found on various pharmacy support organisations. Pharmacies can then tailor the template SOP’s so that they fit their pharmacy and their current operating procedures.

Is there a deadline for Pharmacy First?

Pharmacy owners who wish to provide the service must have notified NHS England that they wish to do so prior to January 31, 2024. If the pharmacy currently provides CPCS they must still apply to provide the PFS as no automatic roll-over of the registration will take place. Before enrolling on to the service, distance selling pharmacies must ensure they have the ability to supply urgent medicines, antibiotics and antivirals for shingles in a timely manner.

What funding is available for pharmacies to launch Pharmacy First?

To help pharmacies launch the PFS an initial fixed amount of £2,000 will be given to each pharmacy who sign up for the service. Thereafter, for each consultation conducted the pharmacy will receive £15 from the PFS.

If the minimum consultation requirement is not met, then the initial payment of £2,000 will be reclaimed from the pharmacy. From February 2024, a fixed monthly payment of £1,000 will be paid to pharmacy owners who meet the threshold for clinical pathway consultations.

The current minimum consultation requirement is one, going up to five in March and April and ending at 30 from October 2024 onwards. Pharmacy owners should note that minor illness and urgent medicine supply consultations do not count towards the minimum consultation requirement.

Harrison Drury has a team of lawyers who are vastly qualified in advising pharmacy operators on day-to-day matters, ranging from commercial agreements, employment real estate or the acquisition or disposal of pharmacies (shares or business or assets). Please do not hesitate to contact Richard Life or Chloe Wishart if you require assistance.

This is only a brief outline of the effects of the PFS and should not be taken as constituting legal advice on the service. We strongly suggest receiving detailed advice before entering into any agreement.