Community Pharmacy England (CPE) - News updates

Following negotiations with NHS England, we have agreed to the introduction of a one-season trial of a new flu vaccination service for children aged 2-3 years. The service will be commissioned as an Advanced service and pharmacies that choose to provide the service will be able to commence vaccinating eligible children from 1st October 2025. [...] The post Children’s Flu Vac Advanced service to be launched in October appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Community pharmacy teams are reminded of the importance of aligning with the EPS nomination principles and upholding patient choice at all times. EPS allows patients to nominate a preferred pharmacy where their prescriptions will be sent electronically for dispensing. This system is designed to offer convenience and flexibility—but it must be used responsibly. Key principles [...] The post Reminder: Respecting EPS nomination principles and patient choice appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Pharmacy owners are reminded of the benefits of regularly updating their NHS Profile Manager each quarter, ensuring their NHS website and Directory of Services (DoS) profile information remains current. Accurate DoS information is essential for other organisations making referrals to pharmacies and is a Terms of Service requirement. Up-to-date opening hours are crucial to prevent [...] The post Reminder: Updating your NHS Profile Manager appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has confirmed that sufficient stock of Venlafaxine 37.5mg modified-release tablets are now available to meet normal demand. As a result the Serious Shortage Protocol (SSP), SSP083 Venlafaxine 37.5mg modified-release tablets expires at 23.59pm on Tuesday 22nd July 2025. After this date, any prescriptions for Venlafaxine 37.5mg modified-release [...] The post Expiry of SSP083 Venlafaxine 37.5mg modified-release tablets appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Following discussions with Community Pharmacy England, the service specification for the 2025/26 Community Pharmacy Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Advanced Service has been published today by NHS England. Changes to the service requirements Only a small number of amendments have been made to the service specification compared to last year. The key changes are: Removal of references to [...] The post Flu vac: 2025/26 service spec published appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Pharmacy owners are reminded that the claim period for Pharmacy First has been reduced to one month and therefore claims for Pharmacy First consultations carried out in June 2025 must be claimed on the MYS portal by 11.59pm on 31st July 2025.  This change to the claim window, follows the announcement as part of the contractual [...] The post Pharmacy First: Ensure you claim your June consultations by end of July appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Just over 42% of community pharmacy owners have completed the 2025/26 Community Pharmacy Assurance Framework (CPAF) screening questionnaire, with just under two weeks left to complete.   We encourage pharmacy owners who have not yet responded to the questionnaire to ensure they do so by Thursday, 31st July 2025. Completing the screening questionnaire is a [...] The post CPAF Screening Questionnaire 2025/26 – less than two weeks left to complete appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has today (18/07/2025) confirmed the following initial list of price concessions for July 2025: Drug Pack size Price concession Alfuzosin 2.5mg tablets 60 £6.55 Amiloride 5mg tablets 28 £15.61 Betamethasone 500microgram soluble tablets sugar free 100 £33.00 Clarithromycin 125mg/5ml oral suspension 70 £5.88 Cyclizine 50mg/1ml solution for injection [...] The post July 2025 Price Concessions 1st Update appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

From 1 July 2025, the pack sizes of Xarelto® (Rivaroxaban) 1mg/ml granules for oral suspension have changed to reflect the final volumes of the suspension after reconstitution. The pack size licensed for children weighing 4 kg and more is now expressed as a quantity of 103.4ml (previously 100ml bottle size). The pack size licensed for [...] The post Pack size changes – Xarelto® (Rivaroxaban) 1mg/ml granules for oral suspension appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Trade Press The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has released new proposals and draft legislation to improve access to pharmacy services as part of its 10-Year Health Plan. These changes are being proposed to give pharmacists more time to care for patients. Gordon Hockey, Director, Legal at Community Pharmacy England, said: “We welcome the draft legislation from [...] The post Our response to draft supervision legislation appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.