THREE NATIONS ROUND-UP
Each issue we will be doing a round-up of pharmacy news from England, Northern Ireland and Wales so you can keep up to date with what is happening across the rest of the UK.
ENGLAND
New pharmacy contract agreed Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has accepted a 10.3% funding increase under the new Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) for 2026/27. This equates to a funding increase of £340million, taking the total funding for community pharmacies to £3.64 billion.
CPE said that the funding settlement was accepted on the condition of a shared programme of reform with the Government and NHS England. The negotiator said committee members had been ‘very reluctant’ to accept the funding uplift but had done so because stopping dialogue with the Government would have been ‘too risky’ for the future of the sector. They warned that pressures on pharmacies will remain and will mean continued closures, reduced opening hours, deteriorating quality of service and the risk of unavoidable harm to patients.
The new contract also includes expansion of the Pharmacy First service which will incorporate independent prescribing from autumn this year. CPE said that under the new contract, community pharmacist prescribers will be allowed to
prescribe within the existing Pharmacy First clinical pathways as well as provide up to five new Pharmacy First prescribing-only pathways. These will need to be approved by a clinical reference group before their rollout, but they will count towards the monthly minimum activity requirement.
CPE said that pharmacist IPs will also be able to prescribe an alternative medication where necessary, if the original prescription drug is out of stock for instance. It added that supporting documentation and changes to the terms of service are expected to follow the contract announcement, which will set out the clinical governance requirements related to new prescribing activities.
Expanded pharmacy children’s flu vaccination service
Community pharmacies in England will be able to vaccinate a wider range of children against flu from October as part of an expanded NHS service.
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) announced that the 2025/26 pilot flu vaccination service for toddlers will be extended following discussions with NHS England.
The expanded service will allow pharmacies to offer opportunistic flu vaccinations to clinically at-risk children aged between two and under 18 years, as well as provide catch-up vaccinations for school-aged children who may have missed their routine jab. The service will continue to be commissioned as an Advanced Service.
Pharmacy owners will also receive an increased fee of £10.06 for each vaccination administered, up from £9.58 last year. CPE said the increase brings pharmacy payments in line with those for adult flu vaccinations and with the fee paid to GP practices for vaccinating children.
The negotiator said the expansion follows successful lobbying efforts and confirmed that the service will be funded through NHS vaccination budgets rather than the 2026/27 community pharmacy funding settlement.
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scotpharm.com
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