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Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has reported that more than 550 patients were seen across seven community pharmacies in north east London under a cholesterol point-of-care (POC) testing pilot service.
According to an evaluation of the service published by CPE on 13 April 2026, a total of 556 patients were seen across the pharmacies between January and October 2025.
The pilot was a collaboration between Barts Health NHS Trust, NHS North East London, North East London Local Pharmaceutical Committee, UCLPartners and Heart UK, which used a seven-minute cholesterol test to identify patients’ cholesterol levels and estimate their risk of heart problems over the next ten years.
Of the patients, 24 participants started statins, while “others opted for healthy lifestyle modifications”, the evaluation said.
“Around one in five individuals had a QRISK score of ≥10% (111 individuals) above the healthy level set in national guidelines. This may reflect the identification of people at elevated cardiovascular risk earlier than may otherwise have been the case,” it added.
“Most service users were in their 40s and 50s, reflecting strong engagement from working age adults.”
More than half of all patients identified as Asian, and a “large majority” of patients were from areas with high levels of deprivation.
Asian patients were reported to be more likely to start statins, white patients were more likely to decline medication and choose lifestyle change, and black patients had higher rates of loss to follow-up.
“These patterns suggest that cultural preferences, communication needs and levels of trust within the healthcare system may influence effective engagement with treatment pathways,” the evaluation said.
The evaluation noted a high level of satisfaction from pharmacists providing the service, saying they expressed appreciation for the training and support provided by Barts Health NHS Trust; however it said that a limiting factor for some pharmacies to participate could be the resource-intensive nature of the start up.
Commenting on the evaluation, Shilpa Shah, chief executive of Community Pharmacy North East London, said: “This was a great service to roll out to seven pharmacies (six of which were independent prescriber pathfinder sites).
“It’s not new to community pharmacy, as POCT has been around for many years; however, this evaluation clearly shows the benefits of POCT. Community pharmacy is so accessible and we often reach those that don’t need to see their GP.
“Opportunistic POCT is brilliant for this cohort. Services like this absolutely meet the NHS ten-year plan ambition of prevention and we need more of these services in community pharmacy. I’d like to see this service available from all community pharmacies.”
The scheme expanded to 70 pharmacies across London in January 2026.
However, Shah told The Pharmaceutical Journal on 15 April 2026 that the original pilot has now ended.
“The pilot has ended and we are currently working with the ICB on how we can continue this service and include HbA1c testing too,” she said.
