Community Pharmacy

Palliative and end of life drugs

Medications prescribed for symptom control in palliative care can be taken to any community pharmacy for dispensing. However, community pharmacies participating in the palliative care medicines stockist scheme for Northamptonshire ICB are required at all times to keep in stock palliative care medications (supply chain permitting).

Find documents relating to palliative and end of life drugs here

Community Pharmacy Extended Care Service

The Community Pharmacy Extended Care Service is a service specific to the Midlands region and is provided by authorised community pharmacies which have completed the relevant training and signed up to provide prescription-only medications (POM) under a patient group directive (PGD) for specific clinical conditions. The various clinical conditions are listed below.

Find documents relating to the Community Pharmacy Extended Care Service here

For further details about the Community Pharmacy Extended Care Service please visit the NHS England website.

Pharmacy contraception service

From Spring 2023, pharmacies have been signing up to offer the pharmacy contraception service. This gives people the option of attending their local pharmacy for repeat contraception after their initial consultation and prescription by their GP.

Visit the NHS England website for details of how to access the service.

Where can I access this service?

Please note pharmacies are continuously signing up to offer this service. A PDF directory document with the latest list of participating pharmacies in Northamptonshire can be found on the Support from your pharmacy page on the Intergrated Care Boad website.

Lateral Flow Device Tests

The NHS LFD tests supply service for patients potentially eligible for COVID-19 treatments started on 6 November 2023.

Aims of the service

To offer eligible at-risk patients access to LFD tests to enable testing at home for COVID-19, if they develop symptoms of infection. A positive LFD test result will be used to inform a clinical assessment to determine whether the patient is suitable for and will benefit from NICE recommended COVID-19 treatments

What the service will provide

A walk-in service where patients or their representatives can collect one box of 5 LFD tests from a participating community pharmacy on confirmation that the patient is part of the potentially eligible for COVID-19 treatments cohort.

Find a full list of Community Pharmacies registered and offering the lateral flow device testing service in Northamptonshire on the Support from your pharmacy page on the Integrated Care Northamptonshire website.

Blood pressure check service

This service allows community pharmacy teams to offer a blood pressure check followed by 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), if required, to identify those with undiagnosed hypertension. The pathway is in line with NICE guidance.

Without referral from general practice, community pharmacists can only opportunistically provide the service to patients:

• Aged over 40 years
• Not previously identified as having hypertension
• Have not had their blood pressure measured by a healthcare professional within the previous six months

In addition to opportunistic testing for a specific category of patients, general practice can refer ANY patient for a clinic blood pressure reading or for 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring.

Please refer to the service specification for more details.

Service specificiation

Members of the public can find a local pharmacy offering this service by utilising the NHS post code search tool.

Find a pharmacy that offers free blood pressure checks

Pharmacy First

The Pharmacy First service was announced as part of the Primary Care Access and Recovery Plan in May 2023. Pharmacy First is a new NHS Advanced Service for Community Pharmacies and was formally launched on 31 January 2024.

The service will include seven new clinical pathways and builds upon the previous Community Pharmacy Consultation Service (CPCS). General practices should refer patients to pharmacies using an integrated GP IT solution. Practices will receive information back on consultation outcomes.

This toolkit is aimed at general practice and community pharmacy teams, but it may also be of benefit to staff working in other sectors such as urgent and emergency care. Within this toolkit you will find a variety of resources that can be used to support the implementation of the Pharmacy First service. It also contains resources for growing the service and resolving issues that you may experience.

Pharmacy First service elements

The Pharmacy First full service is made up of the following three elements, which registered community pharmacy will deliver under the umbrella term Pharmacy First:

Pharmacy First participating pharmacies

97% of community pharmacies in Northamptonshire are signed up to deliver all elements of Pharmacy First. You can find pharmacy details in the following ways:

1. Integrated GP IT referral system (SystmOne practices using PharmRefer or EMIS practices using embedded system) – when sending a referral, the system will automatically return nearby pharmacies that are currently able to offer the Pharmacy First service
2. NHS Service Finder – a tool for healthcare staff to search for live services close to a defined postcode – search for ‘Pharmacy First’ under Type of Service

Resources – community pharmacy

1. Pharmacy First - Process for updating DoS Poster [pdf] 128KB
2. NHS111 Pharmacy First - Referral Escalation Actions Poster[pdf] 147KB – how to access the 111 healthcare professionals line
3. National communications materials to download – including social media content and key messages
4. Training – community pharmacists are being offered a range of fully-funded, flexible training to expand your clinical skills and improve patient care.
   • CPPE with NHS England have developed a Pharmacy First self-assessment framework, which pharmacists can use to assess their knowledge in relation to the service and to identify any gaps in their knowledge, which need to be filled.
   • Cliniskills is free and available to all community pharmacists
   • Agilio Primary Care iLearn – access to the Pharmacy First Library, with seven free courses available to access​

Other resources

•   NHS England Pharmacy First advanced service specification , including:
  • Service Specification​
  • Clinical Pathways
  • PGDs and Protocols
  • Pharmacy First Master PGD and Protocol authorisation sheet
• Community Pharmacy England Pharmacy First service, including:
  • Videos talking through each of the clinical pathways​
  • Links to PGDs and Protocols and Master PGD and Protocol authorisation sheet
  • Links to training
  • Patient Information source – contains all the patient facing leaflets/ website links listed in the PGDs and treatment protocol
  • Frequently asked questions
• PharmOutcomes Pharmacy First training video for the NHS Pharmacy First service, providing a overview of the minor illness and clinical pathway aspects of the pathway

Resources – general practice 

1. Pharmacy First symptom poster (including inclusion and exclusion criteria) [pdf] 390KB – printable posters for GP reception teams detailing inclusion and exclusion criteria for Pharmacy First minor illness and clinical pathways
2. Pharmacy First Pack for Receptionists and Care Navigators[pdf] 2MB – NHS England Midlands and Northamptonshire ICB produced Pharmacy First summary aimed at GP reception teams and care navigators. This can be used to support training
3. Pharmacy First FAQs for Healthcare Professionals (Detailed Version) [pdf] 261KB
4. NHS England Midlands Pharmacy First Resource Pack[pdf] 1MB  – produced by NHS England Midlands
5. National communications materials to download – including social media content and key messages
6. Introduction to Pharmacy First for GP Practices presented by Dr Joanne Watt
7. Information on Pharmacy First for receptionists and care navigators presented by Dr Joanne Watt
8. Midlands PharmRefer Multifactor Authentication (MFA) Guidance for General Practice [docx] 2MB