Community Pharmacy England (CPE) - News updates

Pharmacy owners should be aware that the Pharmacy First Clinical Pathways band assignments and monthly caps for June 2025 are published on the NHSBSA website. Information for all future months will be published here. The list published by NHSBSA indicates the band assignment and monthly cap for each pharmacy by ODS code. If a pharmacy [...] The post Pharmacy First Clinical Pathways caps for June 2025 appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

As we move into the warmer months, pharmacy teams may start to see people presenting with tick bites and potentially symptoms of Lyme disease. While tick bites/Lyme disease is not treatable under the Pharmacy First clinical pathway for infected insect bites, with patients needing to be signposted onwards, patients may present with a tick bite [...] The post Pharmacy First: Recognition of tick bites and the symptoms of Lyme disease appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

NHS England has announced, that it has opened applications for pharmacists for funded independent prescribing courses. Courses are available up to March 2026, with several universities offering multiple dates for cohort intakes. Start dates will depend on the university provider. Community pharmacists (including locum pharmacists) considering an application, will need to demonstrate (as a minimum): [...] The post NHS England funded independent prescribing courses 2025/26 appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Ahead of negotiations on the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) for 2026/27 and beyond, Community Pharmacy England is keen to discuss pressing issues and the future of the sector with pharmacy owners and LPCs. All pharmacy owners and their representatives are therefore invited to attend our regional ‘Future of Pharmacy’ workshops to discuss what next [...] The post 2025 Community Pharmacy England Workshops appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Community Pharmacy England would like to remind pharmacy owners of the requirement to submit their FP34C declaration using the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal and to dispatch any prescription bundles to the relevant pricing division at the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) no later than the 5th day of the month following that in which [...] The post Reminder: Submit your FP34C declaration and prescription bundles on time appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Following representations from Community Pharmacy England, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has re-determined that the following products will be granted special container status from 1 June 2025. Generic drug name (dm+d descriptor) Brand and/or Manufacturer Pack size Special container Carmellose 1% eye drops 0.4ml unit dose preservative free Celluvisc® 1% eye drops [...] The post 4 products re-classified as special containers from June 2025 appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

On Monday 31st March 2025, the details of the contractual settlement for 2025/26 were announced, which included changes to the requirements to be entitled to the Pharmacy First monthly payment (bundling requirements). This news story addresses key Pharmacy First bundling requirement questions that have been raised since the announcement of the settlement. Q. Do Distance Selling [...] The post Contract changes: Pharmacy First bundling FAQs appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

The Drug Tariff Preface published monthly, lists additions, deletions and other changes to products listed in the Drug Tariff. Below is a summary of the changes coming into effect from 1 June 2025. Paxlovid® reimbursement arrangements for May 2025 have now come to an end. From 1st June 2025 NHS prescriptions for Paxlovid® will be reimbursed based on [...] The post Drug Tariff Watch – June 2025 appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

There is now less than one week to go before the bundling requirements for Pharmacy First come into force, which will impact on whether pharmacy owners are entitled to a monthly fixed payment for the service. From 1st June 2025, pharmacy owners must be registered and able to deliver the Hypertension Case Finding Service*, the [...] The post Reminder: Pharmacy First bundling requirement from 1st June appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has today (23/05/2025) confirmed the following list of price concessions for May 2025: Drug Pack size Price concession Buprenorphine 2mg sublingual tablets sugar free 7 £2.73 Buprenorphine 8mg sublingual tablets sugar free 7 £10.35 Co-codamol 30mg/500mg effervescent tablets 32 £2.41 Co-codamol 30mg/500mg effervescent tablets 100 £7.52 Codeine 15mg/5ml linctus [...] The post May 2025 Price Concessions 2nd Update appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.