NHS England (NHSE) has confirmed the five new conditions that will be added to Pharmacy First as agreed in the 2026/27 pharmacy contract.
It said today that from autumn, the Pharmacy First service will also treat acne, migraines, scabies, ear infections and rhinitis.
And it added that once the expanded service is fully rolled out, two to three million consultations for the new conditions could be delivered by pharmacies every year.
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The five new prescribing-only clinical pathways are:
- Acute otitis externa – for adults aged 18 years and over
- Seasonal allergic rhinitis – for children aged 4-11 years
- Mild to moderate acne – for young people
- Migraine – low frequency, episodic, adults aged 18-64 years
- Mild skin and soft tissue infections and scabies
“Really significant”
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the expansion is “change families will feel in their day to day as we build a better Britain”.
“Treating people closer to home means catching problems earlier, easing pressure on GPs and A&E, and giving people back precious time,” said Burnham.
Community Pharmacy England chief executive Janet Morrison welcomed plans to “further develop the well-received Pharmacy First service” and said it will “make better use of pharmacists’ expertise”.
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“It also paves the way for pharmacists to be core community clinicians, cementing their role in neighbourhood health services,” she added.
National Pharmacy Association (NPA) chief executive Henry Gregg described the announcement as “really significant”, adding that the NPA wants to “see the government turbo charge the role of pharmacies, including rolling out more prescribing services to patients on the NHS”.
“In Scotland, patients can be treated for 27 different conditions at their pharmacy, with a third of the population accessing this service last year, many steps ahead of England,” he added.
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And Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) chief executive Malcolm Harrison said the body is “particularly pleased to see that many of the conditions listed are ones where the CCA has long called for community pharmacy to play a greater role”.
But he warned that “success will depend on implementation at scale” and that the “funding identified is likely insufficient for the wider adoption needed for change”.
“Independent prescribing services need to be sustainable and enable enough pharmacies to take part that allows the whole workforce to evolve,” he said.
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It follows the government committing to introduce a national NHS prescribing service for community pharmacy as part of the 2026/27 pharmacy contract.
The service will be commissioned from this autumn as an extension of Pharmacy First and the pharmacy contraception service, and includes the five new Pharmacy First conditions announced today.
