Paul Stuart
The prescribing extensions to Pharmacy First in England are planned to start in October 2026, Janet Morrison, chief executive of Community Pharmacy England (CPE), has said.
Speaking at a Westminster Health Forum event on ‘Next steps for pharmacy in healthcare delivery in England’, held online on 25 September 2026, Morrison told attendees: “Independent prescribing [is] being introduced, their plan is in October [2026], and work is intensely going on at the moment to support that.”
However, the negotiator was still “very worried” about whether the funding for the service would be enough to support the increased workload and responsibility associated with prescribing, she said.
Morrison added: “We have said to pharmacy contractors to think very carefully before signing up for [the] service. It is also the case that it’s not a universal service, only 20% of pharmacies currently have IPs [independent prescribers].
“Although we want to have a destination service within community pharmacy for new IPs, we have to think carefully about this and ensure that we are not being set up to fail with a service that has huge potential but may not have the investment behind it to make it a big success.”
Morrison’s comments follow a new framework published by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) on 24 September 2026.
The NPA’s framework set out conditions that need to be in place to enable community pharmacist prescribing, with a matrix and scorecard to assess maturity against these conditions.
“Sustainable remuneration and routine NHS commissioning, rather than one-off or pilot-based funding” was needed to support ongoing prescribing, along with clearly defined clinical pathways and referral routes, as well as good communication and information-sharing between pharmacists and GPs, the framework noted.
It added that before prescribing can start safely, community pharmacy needed adequate access to patient records, sufficient prescriber numbers and support in terms of pharmacy team capacity.
Responding to the publication of the NPA’s framework, Alastair Buxton, director of NHS services at CPE, said: “[The negotiator] raised concerns about the significant shortcomings of the interim NHS IT arrangements for the rollout to NHS England and DHSC [Department of Health and Social Care].”
Also responding to the NPA’s framework, a spokesperson for the Pharmacists’ Defence Association told The Pharmaceutical Journal: “Employers, commissioners and health systems must ensure sufficient, suitably competent staffing capacity, so pharmacists have protected time for clinical assessment, decision-making, record-keeping, communication and follow-up, without displacing other essential pharmacy activity.”
The spokesperson also stressed the need for training, clinical supervision and support, including designated prescribing practitioner capacity.
The current engagement between commissioners and representatives of pharmacy owners concerning community pharmacist prescribing “does not adequately reflect the practical realities, professional needs and concerns of pharmacists, students and trainees”, they suggested.
