Healthy Start vitamins
Published on: 3rd September 2015 | Updated on: 28th March 2022
Examples of this service that have been commissioned locally are available on the Community Pharmacy England online services database.
Tools and publications which may be useful to support the commissioning of this service can be found on the Service development tools and publications hub.
Related resources
Community Pharmacy England Services Case Studies Hub
Community Pharmacy England Think Pharmacy prospectus: Healthy Start vitamins service (June 2019)
Community Pharmacy England Briefing 033/14: Increasing use of vitamin D supplements for at-risk groups (Dec 2014)
This Community Pharmacy England Briefing provides background information on vitamin D and why it is important for at-risk groups to take supplements. The Briefing summarises the recently published NICE Public Health Guidance 56 ‘Vitamin D: increasing supplement use among at-risk groups’ highlighting elements of the document that are of most relevance to community pharmacy. It also provides details on the UK-wide Healthy Start initiative and an example from an LPC where pharmacies are involved in successfully distributing Healthy Start vitamins as well as suggested actions for LPCs. In addition, the briefing touches on the limited availability of licensed vitamin D medicines and where to obtain further information on vitamin D and the Healthy Start scheme.
