Communications, PR and media guidance

Published on: 1st October 2014 | Updated on: 1st June 2023

Community Pharmacy England offers guidance and advice for LPCs and community pharmacy teams in dealing with local media requests and engaging with patients and the public.

Below is all our guidance in regards to communications; just click on a heading to expand.

If LPCs need urgent support on a media or communications issue, they can contact our Communications and Public Affairs Team.


Communications planning

LPC Communications Guide
This guide is intended to support LPCs in better managing their external communications, focusing on planning, including information on who your target audiences are and how to target your communications to them.

Digital communications

How to use Mailchimp for emails
Mailchimp is an online tool that enables you to send email newsletters out to many recipients. This guide will show you how to setup and send emails using Mailchimp. Other email clients are available but Community Pharmacy England uses Mailchimp to send out its newsletters.

Google Analytics guide
Google Analytics is a web program that can help analyse website visitor traffic and paint a picture of a website’s audience. This guide will show you how to find out what people are looking for on your site and what they find interesting which will help you tailor your content for maximum impact.

Making the most of social media webinar
How can social media use benefit your pharmacy? This on-demand webinar offers guidance for community pharmacy teams on what social media to use, how to get the most from it, and what plans and procedures you may need to put in place to do so.

Digital and Social Media Training
Many LPCs have social media accounts and are trying to engage with contractors and local stakeholders using digital channels, but the slides from our training day explain how you can you make the most of the resources you have and ensure you make a positive impact. Other resources from this training include LPC stakeholder messaging.

Creating a Digital Strategy
This brief guide may be useful to any LPCs starting to think about developing a social or digital media strategy.

Template social media policy
We are currently working on a template guide to help you become a good advocate for your organisation whilst also steering clear of some of the common pitfalls.

Community Pharmacy England communications

Briefings Database
Community Pharmacy England publishes briefings for community pharmacy teams and LPCs covering updates on the NHS, guidance on regulations and other matters, and detailed FAQs to help explain key topics. You can view all briefings, or search for specific ones by keyword, in this database.

Community Pharmacy England Newsletter archive
Here you can look back through the general newsletters and email alerts we have sent to our mailing list. Click here to register for our emails.

Communications support for LPCs (login required)
This page contains details of support for LPCs on the pharmacy and healthcare stories currently in the news.

LPC News archive (login required)
Here you can look back through the emails we have sent to LPC members.

Acronyms glossary
We have compiled a list of acronyms that are commonly used in community pharmacy and NHS policy.

Other resources

Essential facts, stats and quotes
A compilation of facts, stats and quotes relating to different topics to support the commissioning of services. This page is a ‘work in progress’ and new topics will continue to be added.

LPC communications and marketing page (requires LPC Members Area login)
This page contains links to a variety of guidance, information and resources created specifically for LPCs.

Case studies

LPCs in the Spotlight – Derbyshire and their media success
In this edition of the ‘LPCs in the Spotlight‘ series we hear about how Derbyshire LPC has developed their public relations with the help of an external PR company which has led to them getting a half-page article in a local paper and launching a campaign with a charity who has never worked with pharmacy before.

Working with the media

Value of pharmacy press release
This document could be used following an MP visit to talk about pharmacy and/or the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report on the value of community pharmacy. Find out more here.

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