Expansion of the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service

NHS England has confirmed that the expansion of the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service to include oral emergency contraception will GO LIVE on Wednesday 29October 2025.

IT suppliers have updated their current IT clinical systems and have been assured by NHSE to allow emergency contraception consultations to be recorded appropriately.

The clinical systems will be ready for contractors to use on Wednesday 29October 2025.

The addition of oral emergency contraception to the existing Pharmacy Contraception Service provides consistent access for women from community pharmacies across England to free OC and oral EC, removing variation in the service offer found within locally commissioned services.

Pharmacy contractors can access the specification and PGDs for the expanded service at NHS England » NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service

Contractors are reminded to:

• Ensure that any pharmacists and pharmacy technicians delivering the service are competent to do so and have demonstrated their competence in line with 5.2 of the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service Specification
• Ensure all pharmacists and pharmacy technicians delivering the service have declared that they have read and understood the Patient Group Directions and agree to supply medication(s) listed only in accordance with the PGDs
• Check, and where required, update the profile manager status for this service. NB – There will be one NHS Pharmacy Contraception service on profile manager that will cover all three elements of the service (Initiation and ongoing supply of oral contraception and supply or oral Emergency Contraception).

Any contractor that is registered for the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service but does not wish to offer the oral EC service is required to de-register via the MYS portal giving 30 days’ notice, prior to the cessation of the service.

Contractors that de-register from the service will be unable to re-register for a period of four months from the date of de-registration.

Contractors that de-register will not be eligible for a further £400 set up fee if they subsequently re-register for the service.

Consultations and record keeping

Please be reminded it is the contractor’s responsibility to ensure that the data recorded on the clinical system is accurate and recorded contemporaneously. This is to ensure that, where the patient has consented, the details of the consultation are shared with the GP and saved in the GP record in real time. The data documented in the clinical IT systems is also used to support monitoring and is submitted as part of claims for payment and reimbursement. Inaccurate data may lead to errors in payments.

The contractor must ensure systems and processes are in place to support pharmacists and pharmacy technicians with accurate documentation in patient records. Where an error is identified in the pharmacy patient record this should be corrected and steps taken to follow up on any data that will have been sent to the patient’s GP so that the GP patient record can also be updated appropriately.

Contractors should familiarise themselves with the changes to their IT clinical systems and ensure pharmacists and pharmacy technicians complete appropriate training before using IT systems. Please refer to user guides and training materials provided by your IT system supplier.

Pharmacists and Pharmacy technicians delivering pharmacy services are reminded that Patient Group Directions (PGDs) do not remove inherent professional obligations or accountability. It is the responsibility of each pharmacist or pharmacy technician to practice only within the bounds of their own competence and in accordance with their own Code of Professional Conduct.

In addition, please be reminded that whilst IT systems can help navigate documentation, they are not clinical decision support tools and have not been through any accreditation process accordingly. If users/contractors have feedback on how clinical systems can be improved from a usability or safety perspective, these should be reported via the IT system supplier help desk.

All relevant records must be managed in line with the Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care.