Community pharmacies “should be at the heart” of efforts to prevent HIV in the UK, researchers at the University of Bristol (UoB) have said.
In a policy briefing published this week (September 15), the researchers said pharmacies “could offer a more accessible and discreet alternative” to accessing HIV drug pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) from sexual health clinics.
Read more: ‘Tear down the regs and make PrEP readily available’, say MPs
The report is based on findings from a pilot that examined “PrEP awareness raising and delivery” in five pharmacies across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire between October 2024 and April 2025.
Researchers found “low awareness of PrEP among pharmacists and community members” but “strong support for pharmacy delivery as a convenient, trusted and less stigmatising option”, they said.
“Pharmacists expressed interest in delivering PrEP but highlighted the need for training, infrastructure and changes to NHS policy to enable on-site prescribing and dispensing,” they added.
Recommendations
Several recommendations were made in the briefing, including “embedding” community pharmacies in national HIV prevention strategies, scaling up PrEP pilots in UK pharmacies to “assess cost-effectiveness and equity” and creating a national PrEP training programme for pharmacists.
The researchers also recommended supporting “walk-in PrEP pharmacy consultations”, streamlining reimbursement for PrEP consultation to “incentivise pharmacy participation and ensure sustainability” and amending NHS policy so that pharmacies can stock and dispense PrEP directly.
“A vital opportunity”
Jeremy Horwood, professor of social science and health at UoB and co-leader of the study, said the pilot “demonstrates that pharmacy-based PrEP awareness and delivery is both feasible and acceptable”.
However, he noted that “comprehensive training for pharmacy staff” and “targeted co-produced campaigns to raise awareness” are needed to realise its potential.
“Integrating PrEP into existing public health services within pharmacies offers a vital opportunity to reach underserved communities who may not access specialist sexual health services or lack knowledge of PrEP,” he added.
Read more: Welsh government reveals plans for pharmacy PrEP pilot
Dr China Harrison, who led the study with Horwood, said pharmacies “are already part of people’s everyday lives”.
“With the right support, they could transform access and support the government’s goal of ending new HIV transmissions by 2030,” she added.
Read more: Draft HIV guidance backs website selling PrEP for Bitcoin
It comes after MPs in February called for PrEP to be made “more readily available” outside of sexual health clinics and for the government to “tear down” the regulations stopping community pharmacies from prescribing the medicine.
Conservative MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale David Mundell said at the time that it was “ridiculous that, during this debate, I could have emailed somebody in India and obtained PrEP, but I could not go up Victoria Street into a pharmacy and do that”.
And the Welsh government told C+D last year that a pilot scheme making PrEP “more accessible” via community pharmacies is set to begin in autumn 2025.
