Updated specifications for Pharmacy First and the Pharmacy Contraception Service (PCS) have been published, with prescribing by pharmacists within the pharmacy contract now formalised, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has announced.
Prescribing has become a part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) in England for the first time, with legal arrangements now in place.
Community pharmacist prescribers are now able to prescribe within the existing Pharmacy First clinical pathways, and provide five new Pharmacy First prescribing-only pathways.
Prescribers can also prescribe within the Pharmacy Contraception Service (PCS). They can also undertake prescription management in agreement with the original prescriber.
Pharmacy owners have been encouraged to review the updated specifications and consider whether any updates are required to their SOPs, governance arrangements and operational processes.
“A noteworthy day”: CPE
The addition of prescribing to the CPCF on 29 October was “a noteworthy day in the history of community pharmacy in England,” said Janet Morrison, CPE's chief executive.
However, she said that CPE continues to work to secure funding to “cover the costs” of delivering the new services, as she repeated a caution about the current funding agreement for delivering the new frameworks.
Pharmacies wanting to provide prescribing services within the CPCF need to undertake “a significant amount of preparatory work,” CPE has said.
“The addition of prescribing to the CPCF is a strategically important service development for all in the sector. But the size of the challenge for pharmacy owners and prescribers to implement prescribing in their pharmacies is very large and our concerns about the available funding not covering the costs which will be incurred remain; they demand very careful consideration by any pharmacy owner considering signing up to provide prescribing,” Morrison said.
CPE has produced a range of information on Prescribing with the CPCF.
NHSE webinar: 9 November
Pharmacy owners and pharmacists are invited to attend a webinar hosted by NHS England on 9 November.
NHSE said: “Community pharmacy prescribing is entering an exciting new phase. From autumn 2026, prescribing will be enabled in some NHS community pharmacy services in England, expanding Pharmacy First, supporting prescribing within the Pharmacy Contraception Service and opening up new opportunities through prescription management.”
The event will discuss the new arrangements and “clinical considerations needed to deliver safe, effective, high-quality patient care”.
