Pharmacy Contraception Service (PCS)
Written by AlisonFreemantle on Wednesday 29th October 2025
From Wednesday 29th October
PCS expansion to go-live 29th October
NHS England has confirmed in an email sent today that the expansion of the Pharmacy Contraception Service (PCS) will go live on Wednesday (29th October), as originally planned – clinical IT systems are ready.
From the 29th October, the main changes to the PCS are the:
- Addition of oral emergency contraception to the service
- Ability of pharmacy technicians to provide the service
- Addition of Drospirenone within the list of contraceptives which can be supplied. Please note Drospirenone is specialist initiated only in HIOW formulary.
The final service documents can be found on the NHSE website.
There is no mandatory training but completion of the CPPE related training is included in the Pharmacy Quality Scheme for 2025/26.
Community Pharmacy England held a webinar where the service changes were explained; an on-demand version of the webinar is available to watch.
Resources have been updated on the PCS webpage to support pharmacy owners and their teams to provide and promote the expanded service.
Local referrals of under 18s and vulnerable people
Pharmacies can still make a direct referral to local sexual health services using a new form on their website here:
www.letstalkaboutit.nhs.uk/professionals/referrals
Drospirenone
For more information on the new POP, please see prescribing information here: