| Weekly News Digest - 10th April 2025 |
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Community Pharmacy England is hosting an in-person sessions to help pharmacy owners and their teams understand the new funding and contractual arrangements. The event in the South/London will take place on Saturday 26th April 2025 2pm –4pm, Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury, Coram Street, London, WC1N 1HT.
It will include presentations from the CPE Negotiating Team and hearing from DHSC Officials and a Q&A session. The agenda will include:
1. Hearing from the Minister
2. DHSC and Q&A
3. Overview of the new funding and contractual arrangements for 2024/25 and 2025/26
4. Funding changes 5. Service developments and changes to fees
6. Pharmacy Quality Scheme
7. Regulatory changes
8. The Committee’s decision and further commitments
9. Independent Economic Analysis
10. What next?
11. Q&A
12. Informal networking and lunch
This is your opportunity to understand the contract changes and ask any questions REGISTER HERE |
CONTRACT CHANGES:NMS Fees
From 1st April 2025, pharmacies can claim £14 for each Intervention or Follow-up consultation conducted with a patient, totaling £28 if both consultations are completed. However, fees can only be claimed if consultations are undertaken; payments for missed or attempted contacts cannot be claimed. See here for full details and NMS regulatory FAQs.
Pharmacy First Clinical Pathways caps published for April 2025
The NHSBSA has published the Pharmacy First Clinical Pathways band assignments and monthly caps for April 2025, detailing allocations by pharmacy ODS code. Visit the NHSBSA website for a list of contractors, their assigned band, and monthly cap.
Core opening hours information
These regulatory amendments should enable pharmacy owners to change their opening hours to days and times that better serve their patients and likely users of the pharmacy, and in some cases, close at quiet times or out-of-hours. See here for more information.
Clinical services to be included in advance payments
Starting with April 2025 consultations for the Hypertension Case-Finding Service and the Pharmacy Contraception Service (PCS), advance consultation fees will now be paid on the same day as the current advance payment. Additionally, reimbursement for items supplied in the PCS will be integrated into the main advance payment calculation.
General funding FAQs
View FAQs for key funding related questions that have been raised since the announcement of the settlement.
Summary of regulatory changes
See here for key information summaries on regulatory changes that has been released since the announcement of the settlement.
DSP regulatory FAQs
View FAQs for key DSP regulatory related questions that have been raised since the announcement of the settlement.
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The Lateral flow device tests supply service will continue to be commissioned as an Advanced service through 2025/26. NHS England has also confirmed the fee for provision of the service will increase to £4.10 + VAT from 1st April 2025. See here for more information about the service and support materials.
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| Full details of the Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) 2025/26 are now available on CPE's PQS hub page following the announcement on the arrangements for the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) in 2024/25 and 2025/26. |
| Pharmacy owners must send a copy of their annual complaints report to the local NHS contract management team as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of the year to which the report relates. This is a mandatory requirement for all pharmacy owners. See here for more information. |
| Community pharmacy teams are reminded that, from 6 April 2025, patients who hold a tax credit exemption certificate will no longer receive automatic entitlement to free NHS prescriptions under the ‘Tax Credit exemption certificate’ category. The NHS Business Services Authority has produced a poster for community pharmacies to display. See here for further information. |
| The Government has yet to decide on prescription charges and prescription pre-payment certificates (PPC) increases for 2025/26, so current charges will roll over into April 2025; updates will follow once Ministers announce changes. |
Distance selling pharmacies and Pharmacy First Patients can now select a distance selling pharmacy (DSP) through NHS111 online for minor illnesses under Pharmacy First, with DSPs able to handle most Pharmacy First outcomes (excluding otitis media) via 111 telephony and online services. |
NHS England invites community pharmacy teams to participate in virtual user research sessions (9–18 April 2025) to share insights on Point-of-Care solutions; email da@cpe.cpe.org.uk to volunteer.
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| The EPS team seeks pharmacies to pilot a new prescription tracker from May to June, involving a 45-60 minute virtual session, potential site visits, and regular feedback. The pilot will run for approximately 6 to 8 weeks, pharmacies can express interest in participating by filling out this form. See here for more information. |
| NHS England has announced that GP Connect Access Record: Structured is being rolled out to hundreds of community pharmacies. This will enable pharmacies to view real-time, read-only information from patient records held by GP practices, supporting timely and informed care. Click here. |
| Healthcare professionals, including community pharmacy teams, are encouraged to support UKHSA’s new AMR awareness campaign by utilizing the campaign communications toolkit, which includes social media assets, posters, and leaflets available on the Campaign Resource Centre. |
| CPCF Settlement 2024/25 and 2025/26 |
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Community Pharmacy England, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and NHS England have announced the 2024/25 and 2025/26 funding settlement for community pharmacy. To help stakeholders understand the implications of these new arrangements, a comprehensive CPCF briefing document and infographic are available for reference. Additionally, a recorded presentation detailing the funding and contractual updates is now available to watch on-demand. |
For more information and details of the CPCF settlement visit the CPE website below |
| VirtualOutcomes have launched a new course following the series on skin rashes in children (see attached flyer). They are now in the process of writing courses to support the new contract following the announcement. We will keep you posted when these are released but please visit the VirtualOutcomes website for all courses. |
| Pfizer Ltd are holding a promotional meeting on Wednesday 30th April 2025 13:10–13:45pm or 19:25–20:00pm, topics will include: COVID-19 Management: From Patient Identification to Treatment Selection and the LDF Service: Top Tips on Implementation See here for more information on how to register. |
| Let’s Talk About Vaccines is a training session to help build confidence, skills and knowledge to open up discussions with patients about vaccination decisions. This online, interactive session is free to staff, students and volunteers across the South East. It will explore the issues, myths and barriers around vaccine hesitancy, providing you with the techniques and approaches to help people make informed choices. The training is available through March, book on BOB ICB’s Let’s Talk About Vaccines training page. |
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