NMS expansion – additional conditions and flexibilities added
One of the agreed outcomes from negotiations for Year 3 of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework is an expansion of the New Medicine Service (NMS).
From 1st September 2021, contractors can offer patients support when they are newly prescribed medicines to manage thirteen additional conditions:
- Acute coronary syndrome (ACS);
- Atrial fibrillation (AF);
- Coronary heart disease;
- Epilepsy;
- Glaucoma;
- Gout;
- Heart failure;
- Hypercholesterolaemia ;
- Long term risks of venous thromboembolism/embolism;
- Osteoporosis;
- Parkinson’s Disease;
- Stroke / transient ischemic attack; and
- Urinary incontinence and retention.
The current NMS eligible conditions/medicines continue, but the antiplatelet/anticoagulant therapy group is now included in the above list by reference to the underlying condition/reason for prescribing.
The NHSBSA will shortly publish an updated list of medicines that are suitable for NMS, covering the above conditions.
Funding
With the agreed expansion to the service, an increase in the cap on the number of NMS which can be provided by contractors has also been agreed. The cap will be increased from 0.5 percent to one percent of monthly prescription volume and additional bandings will also be included. The maximum remuneration for the service remains at £28 per NMS.
Additional service flexibility
To enable contractors to further enhance the care they can provide patients, the service will be amended to allow the opportunity for NMS to be offered to support carers of patients and the parents or guardians of children newly prescribed medication who could benefit from the service but where the patient is not able to provide informed consent themselves.
Catch-up NMS
To further support patients as part of the NHS COVID-19 recovery plan, the temporary introduction of catch-up NMS has been agreed. This allows NMS to be offered to patients who were prescribed a new, eligible medicine during the COVID-19 pandemic, but who did not receive the NMS at that time. Further details on the requirements will shortly be published in an updated service specification.
Future development
Further therapeutic areas will be piloted through the Pharmacy Integration Fund to inform any future expansion of the service. This approach will also support the further development of the service as part of a service model fully integrated with the wider Primary Care
