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A pilot scheme to provide HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) through community pharmacies has been delayed, the Welsh government has confirmed.
The scheme was anticipated to begin in the autumn of 2025; however, the Welsh government has told The Pharmaceutical Journal that it has been delayed owing to “operational issues”.
A spokesperson for the Welsh government said: “We are continuing to work with health boards and pharmacy contractors to establish a pilot to make PrEP available through community pharmacies in Wales.
“This has taken longer than anticipated to resolve operational issues.”
In its HIV action plan for 2023–2026, published in March 2023, the Welsh government said shared care models should be developed to enable PrEP to be provided by GPs and community pharmacies.
And in a written update to the HIV action plan, published in November 2024, Jeremy Miles, Welsh cabinet secretary for health and social care, said that “a model providing more convenient access to PrEP in the community will be piloted”.
A spokesperson for the Welsh government later confirmed to The Pharmaceutical Journal that it was working with health boards to finalise plans to pilot a model, which was expected to begin in autumn 2025.
PrEP is currently available in Wales through specialist sexual health clinics.
In England, plans to provide PrEP in the community, including in pharmacies, have been in discussion since the publication of the country’s HIV action plan in 2021.
A roadmap for providing PrEP in the community, commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care and produced by the independent HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group, was published in February 2024, after originally being promised for the end of 2023.
Provision of PrEP was trialled in five community pharmacies in south-west England between 2024 and 2025, with researchers from the pilot also calling for pharmacies to be embedded in PrEP provision.
A report from HIV charity the Terence Higgins Trust, published on 1 January 2026, urged immediate action to enable community pharmacies to supply PrEP to “help close the gaps in access” to the medication, particularly for people living in more rural areas and those who may not access sexual health centres.
