Reminder: Update NHS website and DoS profile
Community pharmacy contractors are reminded of the Terms of Service requirement to ensure they verify and, where necessary, update the information contained in their NHS website profile and their Directory of Services (DoS) profile at least once each quarter* of the financial year. For the current financial quarter, the deadline for completing this is 30th September 2022.
Currently 80% of pharmacy contractors have validated their profiles.
Contractor actions
- Register for the new NHS Profile Manager with your personal NHSmail address if you haven’t already. You’ll need NHSmail to use NHS Profile Manager. If NHSmail related support is required please refer to guidance at the bottom of this article. If you have already registered then proceed to update your NHS Profile Manager pharmacy profile now.
- Check you can access NHS Profile Manager and your pharmacy profile.
- For each profile, check that your opening times, contact information and services information are up to date.
Even if no changes have been made during the financial quarter, contractors must still verify this information using NHS Profile Manager as this creates a record which will act as evidence to NHS England that these actions have been undertaken.
How to update your profiles – NEW process
Previously, contractors used two different NHS systems to ensure their pharmacy details were up to date on the DoS Profile Updater and on the NHS website editor. Contractors now only need use one tool: NHS Profile Manager.
To improve information security, the NHS Profile Manager tool requires contractors and their staff to use NHSmail email accounts as login identifiers instead of non-NHSmail email addresses.
Contractors should use NHS Profile Manager when making changes to their DoS or NHS website pharmacy profiles. You will initially only be able to use the tool to update your contact, hours and services information. However, a facilities module will come later.
If contractors are unsure when they last updated/verified their profile, there are ‘Last updated’ dates on a pharmacy’s NHS Profile Manager for each of the sections e.g. ‘Contact details’ and ‘Opening hours’. These should all have a date listed between 1st July to 30th September 2022.
*Note: The financial quarters are 1st April to 30th June; 1st July to 30th September; 1st October to 31st December; and 1st January to 31st March.
Further information and support
PSNC’s NHS Profile Manager webpage includes information and new FAQs
If you need help with NHSmail, please refer to the new NHSmail FAQs factsheet / NHSmail team’s FAQs and if required, contact pharmacyadmin@nhs.net.
For registration issues, please raise a ticket with the NHS website service helpdesk. This operates from Monday to Friday between 8am to 5pm.
Frequently asked questions
Q. How do I register for NHS Profile Manager?
Pharmacy staff will need to register on the NHS website with their personal NHSmail address (you’ll need NHSmail to use NHS Profile Manager).
Q. Can I use my pharmacy shared NHSmail email address to register for the new NHS Profile Manager?
No, you need to register with your personal NHSmail address. You cannot use other types of email addresses.
Q. My pharmacy will close on Christmas day this year, how do I confirm this within NHS Profile Manager?
You should mark the pharmacy as closed or enter the opening hours within the ‘temporary changes to standard hours’ section. This is because Christmas day falls on a Sunday during 2022, and therefore is not a formal ‘bank holiday’.
