Community Pharmacy England (CPE) - News updates

NHS England has updated its national standards on how pharmacy teams and IT system suppliers process nominations. This follows renewed scrutiny of nomination practices and reinforces the principle that patients must be able to set or change their nomination freely, without pressure or unwanted intervention. Nomination standards: Key points The four overarching standards: Patients must [...] The post NHS updates EPS nomination standards appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has today (05/05/2026) confirmed the following final list of price concessions for April 2026: Drug Pack size Price concession Candesartan 32mg tablets 28 £1.57 Candesartan 4mg tablets 7 £0.75 Dapagliflozin 10mg tablets 28 £6.30 Labetalol 200mg tablets 56 £17.87 Lacidipine 4mg tablets 28 £1.95 Phenobarbital 15mg tablets 28 [...] The post April 2026 Price Concessions Final Update appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

The following price concessions granted in April 2026 have rolled over to May 2026: Drug  Pack size Price concession Candesartan 4mg tablets 7 £0.75 Labetalol 200mg tablets 56 £17.87 Lacidipine 4mg tablets 28 £1.95 Ramipril 2.5mg capsules 28 £0.94 Sumatriptan 100mg tablets 6 £1.10 Please note any rolled over prices can be adjusted upwards if [...] The post Rolled Over Price Concessions For May 2026 appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has issued a medicine supply notification for Midazolam (Epistatus®) 7.5mg/0.75ml oromucosal solution pre-filled oral syringes sugar free. MSN/2026/023 Tier 2 – Medium impact Date of issue: 05 May 2026 Midazolam (Epistatus®) 7.5mg/0.75ml oromucosal solution pre-filled oral syringes are currently out of stock until late-May 2026. Midazolam (Buccolam® and [...] The post Medicine Supply Notification: Midazolam (Epistatus® ) 7.5mg/0.75ml oromucosal solution pre-filled oral syringes sugar free appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) produces a quarterly newsletter called “Hints & Tips”. The latest edition (Issue 63) contains some useful information and advice on: New Drug Tariff Category H products April 2026 Drug Tariff changes Reimbursement price changes: January, February and March 2026 Prescription endorsing: invoice prices Sorting your end of month batch [...] The post NHSBSA ‘Hints & Tips’ – Issue 63 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 with an erythema [...] The post Pharmacy First: Recognition of tick bites and the symptoms of Lyme disease appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

The process and timeline for this year’s Community Pharmacy Assurance Framework (CPAF) have been confirmed.  NHS England has confirmed that, as last year, the screening questionnaire will run throughout July, and the full CPAF questionnaire will run throughout October 2026.   Completion of CPAF is a requirement of the Terms of Service. Therefore, pharmacy owners must complete the screening questionnaire and, if required, the full CPAF questionnaire.  The screening questions and [...] The post 2026/27 CPAF timeline confirmed appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Pharmacy teams rely on NHS Smartcards to access essential NHS systems. NHS England and Community Pharmacy England are re-asking all pharmacy staff who use Smartcards to carry out a few simple checks now — to avoid disruption later. Some older Smartcards will stop working from 7th May 2026, and others may stop working if contact [...] The post NHS Smartcards: important checks to keep systems working appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) Provider Assurance Team (PA Team), commissioned by NHS England, will soon start to undertake provider assurance work (post-payment verification (PPV)) with pharmacy owners providing the Smoking Cessation Service, the Pharmacy Contraception Service, Pharmacy First and the Hypertension Case-Finding Service. Community Pharmacy England has been consulted on the verification process and has sought to ensure it is appropriately targeted, proportionate and fair to those pharmacy owners asked [...] The post Provider assurance work to commence appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

24 new products (including those with multiple flavours) have been added to the ‘Drugs for which Discount is Not Deducted’ (DND) list from 1 May 2026. Community Pharmacy England, on behalf of pharmacy owners, applied to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) for these products to [...] The post 24 products added to the Discount Not Deducted (DND) list from May 2026 appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.