Community Pharmacy England (CPE) - News updates

Update 15/04/26 – The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has provided an update on the Serious Shortage Protocol (SSP) for Creon® 25000 gastro-resistant capsules (SSP061) was due to expire 17 April 2026 but has been further extended to Friday 10 July 2026. Update 16/01/26 – The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) [...] The post SSP61 – Creon® 25000 gastro-resistant capsules further extended appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Update 15/04/26 – The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has provided an update on the Serious Shortage Protocol (SSP) for Creon® 25000 gastro-resistant capsules (SSP061) was due to expire 17 April 2026 but has been further extended to Friday 10 July 2026. Update 29/01/26 – The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) [...] The post SSP60 – Creon® 10000 gastro-resistant capsules further extended appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Update 15/04/26 – The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has provided an update on the Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) for Estradot® 50micrograms/24hours patches (SSP079), Estradot® 75micrograms/24hours patches (SSP080), Estradot® 100micrograms/24hours patches (SSP081) and Estradot® 25micrograms/24hours patches (SSP082). All four SSPs were due to expire on 17 April 2026. The end date for all [...] The post SSPs for Estradot® patches (SSP079, SSP080, SSP081, SSP082) further extended appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

NHS England is updating the process for supplying medicines when people leave prison. The changes, aims to improve continuity of care and reduce pressure on community pharmacies and GP practices during a patient’s first days and weeks back in the community. Following the updated process, most people leaving prison will now be issued with a [...] The post Detained estate EPS prescribing: medicines supply process update appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

UPDATE  (15/04/2026) to communication (MSN/2025/036U) issued on 14 August 2025. Levemir® products are being discontinued. Stock exhaustion is expected in December 2026. This notification is being re-issued, as a high number of patients remain on Levemir® products. Healthcare professionals are reminded to switch patients on Levemir® to a suitable alternative as soon as possible. Patients [...] The post Updated Medicine Supply Notification: Levemir® (insulin detemir) FlexPen® 100units/ml solution for injection 3ml pre-filled pens and Levemir® Penfill 100units/ml solution for injection 3ml cartridges appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Income Support and Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance are to be abolished by the Department for Work and Pension (DWP) from 1 April 2026. Some payments will continue to be made for a two-week run-on period to provide transitional protection, which means that people may continue to claim exemption from prescription charges on the grounds of Income [...] The post Income Support and Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance exemptions to end from April 2026 appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Overview Community pharmacies across North East London took part in a pilot programme commissioned by Barts Health NHS Trust to deliver cholesterol point of care testing (POCT). The initiative formed part of a wider strategy to address declining cardiovascular disease (CVD) detection rates following the COVID-19 pandemic, during which routine monitoring significantly decreased. By offering [...] The post Service case study: Cholesterol Point of Care Testing in community pharmacy appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

NHS England is undertaking an evaluation of the provision of the childhood flu vaccination Advanced service. The service was commissioned to provide flu vaccinations to two and three-year-olds in community pharmacies during the 2025/26 campaign as part of a one season trial. Community pharmacies are invited to share their experiences of the service. Feedback will [...] The post Evaluation of childhood flu vac service appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

NHS England has authorised and published a vaccine group direction (VGD) for use in the Spring 2026 COVID-19 vaccination campaign. VGDs are a new legal route which can be used to authorise administration of vaccines. They operate in a similar way to a PGD, with pharmacists and pharmacy technicians operating as the clinician, but with [...] The post C-19 vac: Spring programme VGD published appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Every community pharmacy owner has an NHS Parent Organisation Code (POC). This is the unique code that identifies your parent organisation within the NHS. If you own a single pharmacy, you still have a POC. If you own multiple pharmacies, each pharmacy site should be correctly linked to the same POC. POCs are usually four [...] The post Pharmacy owners with more than one premises: Do you know your NHS POC code? appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.