Patients in England will be asked to rate their experience of community pharmacies as part of a ‘friends and family' test to be rolled out by 2015.

The test is currently used to ask patients whether they would recommend a hospital service to their friends and family, but will be expanded to include all NHS services by March 2015, the Department of Health announced this week (October 1).

NHS England was unable to provide details of how the test would be implemented in pharmacies, but told C+D it expected guidance to be ready by the end of March next year.

"Pharmacies, and the significant services they provide to patients and the public, are a key part of the NHS and the opinions of those it serves are vital," an NHS England spokesperson said.

Patients will be expected to give "clear and honest feedback" of their experience of pharmacy	More about rating pharmacy Fingers are pointing at pharmacy again Pharmacists brand Which? report worrying and embarrassing The Which? scenarios – what would you have done?
	Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude said the extension of the test to include all NHS services would "put more power in the hands of the public" and allow them to give "clear and honest feedback" on the services they use every day.

In July, NHS England announced that it had seen a steady increase in the number of patients using the test to rate A&E and in-patient services since it was introduced in April.

The results, which are published on the NHS Choices website, showed an average response rate across the country of 13 per cent, with more than 400,000 patients completing the survey in the first three months, it said.

The government pledged to expand the test in its first mandate to the NHS in November 2012. At the time it was not known whether community pharmacy would be included.

The test is also being extended to assess further education, Jobcentre Plus and the National Citizens Service.