Funding for integrated care boards (ICBs) to “support preparation and implementation” of independent prescribing in NHS community pharmacy services has been confirmed by NHS England (NHSE).
The NHSE letter said £51,000 is available per ICB or ICB cluster and is “only available for 2026/27”.
It said the funding is “solely to recognise the additional work required by ICBs to develop processes to support prescribing by community pharmacy” and establish prescribing-based national services as “safe, effective and sustainable”.
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It said this work will build on “business-as-usual processes” and the “governance and operational arrangements developed through the Independent Prescribing Pathfinder Programme”.
The funding can be used by ICBs “as they see fit to secure additional implementation support”, including getting support from community pharmacy leadership teams, such as the local pharmaceutical committees (LPCs).
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The letter, signed by NHSE’s chief pharmaceutical officer David Webb and pharmacy director Ali Sparke, outlined what ICBs are “expected to do” to support the introduction of independent prescribing in the autumn, as outlined in the 2026/27 community pharmacy contractual framework (CPCF).
It includes five actions for ICBs to complete, including to “agree and implement an operational governance process” to oversee prescribing and be reviewed “annually”.
By August, NHSE said that ICBs should put in a process to “identify, approve and onboard pharmacies” and then “onboard all eligible pharmacies” once legal directions have been published in the autumn.
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And by March 31, ICBs must ensure “at least 95% of onboarded pharmacies” are delivering prescriber-led consultations and that “all onboarded pharmacies demonstrate prescribing activity”.
NHSE has also published commissioning guidance for ICBs and a professional assurance framework that have been developed in consultation with ICBs, the General Pharmaceutical Council, Community Pharmacy England and the Royal College of Pharmacy.
It said it will also share a prescribing development programme to support “locally commissioned, neighbourhood-based care models for community pharmacy”.
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Webb and Sparke thanked ICBs and said their work is “essential” in helping community pharmacy “play a greater clinical role in patient care”.
It comes after the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) published a report that showed reforms to the initial education and training of pharmacists (IETP) standards mean that every community pharmacy could have a full-time pharmacist prescriber by the “early 2030s”.
An NPA survey found the majority of community pharmacists are “strongly supportive” of expanding IP but “face a system not yet built for it”, with 76% of prescribing pharmacists say better funding is needed for the expansion of independent prescribing.
