NHS England wants the Integrated Care Boards to push for pharmacy first and entrust a greater role for community pharmacies in its three-year plan.
In a report detailing its “medium-term planning framework” to improve local health services from 2026 to 2029, NHSE wants ICBs to embed pharmacy-first approaches, and "ensure that local commissioning discussions utilise available pharmacy capacity to support primary care pressures."
It has entrusted the ICBs to work towards improving the ties between general practice and community pharmacy to support access to pharmacy services.
NHSE wants ICBs to introduce prescribing-based services into community pharmacies during 2026/27, and expand access to emergency contraception through community pharmacies.
It also wants to make HPV vaccination services available at pharmacies for women and young people who missed out on vaccination at school.
The NHSE wants all community pharmacies to implement the capability to help patients track their prescription status using the NHS App.
It also wants all primary care services to enable patients to request and manage their medicines online.
The NHSE wants all messaging to transition to NHS Notify, using NHS app-based ‘push’ notifications as the default option.
The report also calls for a host of measures to improve the quality of mental health services and make it more accessible.
It wants all ICBs and mental health providers to expand coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges "ahead of the ask for full national coverage by 2029."
It has called for a plan for delivering their local approach to establishing mental health emergency departments co-located with or close to at least half of Type 1 emergency departments by 2029.
