Future of Community Pharmacy

Future of pharmacy animation is launched

Funding negotiations result in five-year CPCF deal

PSNC, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England and Improvement (NHSE&I) have reached agreement on a five-year deal for community pharmacy.

The deal sets out what pharmacies will be expected to deliver through the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) from October 2019 through to 2023/24.

Pharmacy Quality Scheme

The Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS)  is the new name for the Quality Payments Scheme, which forms part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF).

Changes to the PQS are summarised in PSNC Briefing 041/19: The Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2019/20 (September 2019).

NHS Flu Vaccination Service

Each year from September through to January the NHS runs a seasonal flu vaccination campaign aiming to vaccinate all patients who are at risk of developing more serious complications from the virus.

These include people aged 65 years and over, pregnant women and those with certain health conditions.

Community pharmacies have offered flu vaccinations as a private service for many years, often to a range of patients who would not qualify for NHS vaccinations and some who would but were prepared to pay for it anyway. The accessibility of pharmacies, their extended opening hours and the option to walk in without an appointment have proved popular with patients seeking vaccinations.

In recent years many pharmacies have also been commissioned to provide NHS flu vaccination services. These services sit alongside the nationally commissioned GP vaccination service, giving patients another choice of venue for their vaccination and helping commissioners to meet their local NHS vaccination targets. Many schemes demonstrated high levels of patient satisfaction and evidence that pharmacy vaccination is accessible, often capturing ‘hard to reach’ patients who would not otherwise take up the offer of vaccination. For more information and updates please follow these links:

Flu Vaccination Service

Flu Vaccination – introduction and background.

Think Pharmacy

Think Pharmacy is a brand that has been successfully used by many Local Pharmaceutical Committees (LPCs)  to engage their local commissioners to think differently about the provision of services – to ‘Think Pharmacy’ as a solution.

To find out more – Think Pharmacy