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The 2026/2027 contract for general practice in England has outlined requirements for GPs to have a dedicated, monitored email address for pharmacy communications, reinforcing patient choice over their nominated pharmacy.
An open letter sent to GPs in England announcing the changes on 24 February 2026 said: “[The email address] will be for receiving information from community pharmacies in the event that GP Connect is unavailable and for new or emerging pharmacy activity that is not yet supported through GP Connect (for example, independent prescribing in community pharmacy).”
The letter, sent by Amanda Doyle, director for primary care and community services at NHS England, added: “The email address must be kept up to date and shared with the directory of services.”
Allowing pharmacies read/write access to GP Connect was mandated in the 2025/2026 GP contract, but analysis published by The Pharmaceutical Journal in November 2025 suggested that even after this change came into effect, around four in ten pharmacies could not add consultation information to patients’ GP records, indicating that practices may have disabled the functionality.
Doyle’s letter has asked practices to “reconfirm the nominated pharmacy whenever a new prescription (not a repeat prescription) is issued”, stressing that referrals and triage tools used for community pharmacy clinical services must “offer patients a full choice of providers”.
“We expect in practice that most practices do this already and this should not add additional burden to appointments,” it added.
Amandeep Doll, director for England at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, commented: “These changes to the GP contract reflect the increasingly clinical role of community pharmacy and the need for closer working across primary care.
“Reconfirming a patient’s nominated pharmacy and ensuring referral systems offer a full choice of providers should support patient safety, transparency and access to care.
“As pharmacists deliver more clinical services, including independent prescribing, it’s important patients can choose where they receive that care.
“Clearer communication between practices and pharmacists is essential and as services expand, this must be backed by the right digital infrastructure and workforce support to ensure safe, efficient care.”
The contract has also freed up more funding for GP sessions enabling additional role reimbursement scheme (ARRS) funding to be used to recruit experienced GPs, which had previously only been available to fund newly-qualified GPs.
However, Doll stressed that pharmacists working within primary care networks as well as in the wider neighbourhood must continue to be adequately resourced.
“Pharmacists working in general practice have improved patient access by supporting people with long-term conditions, offering medicines expertise and helping to free up GP appointments. Pharmacists recruited through the ARRS continue to make a significant difference and it’s vital they remain part of multidisciplinary teams to deliver high-quality patient care,” she said.
In total, the new GP contract contains a 1.4% real terms uplift in funding, bringing it to a total of £13,863m for the sector. This includes incentives for “practices making progress” on delivering childhood vaccinations.
At the time of going to press, negotiations on the community pharmacy contractual framework (CPCF) had not started.
In a statement published on 20 February 2026, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) said: “The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England have yet to begin formal 2026/2027 CPCF negotiations with CPE, but we are continuing to prepare for the talks, including monitoring funding, strengthening our evidence base, and advocating for progress to be made urgently towards sustainability for the sector.”
Henry Gregg, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association, told The Pharmaceutical Journal on 24 February 2026: “It’s disappointing to see a formal contract offer announced for GP colleagues before the government have even begun consultations for community pharmacies.”
