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Community pharmacies need to ensure they are ready to support individuals being released early from prison as part of an initiative to tackle prison capacity issues, NHS England has said.
In an open letter to community pharmacy leads and GPs, sent on 2 September 2024, NHS England said community pharmacies and GP practices must be prepared to support people in England who are due to be released early from prison on 10 September and 22 October 2024.
Around 5,500 prisoners will be released as part of the Ministry of Justice measure, aimed to help relieve prison capacity pressures.
The letter added that prison medical services will have provided people with 28 days of medicines on discharge “to allow time for primary care prescribers and patients to access the next supply”.
“Community pharmacy teams have an important role in supporting patients with ongoing medicines supply and walk-ins,” it said, also highlighting that the Pharmacy First service and NHS pharmacy contraception service can be used to provide support.
“For women being released from prison, the NHS pharmacy contraception service provides an accessible and convenient place to receive advice and support for contraception management,” the letter said.
Following the rollout of the electronic prescription service (EPS) in prisons in August 2024, “contractors may see an increase in the presentation of non-nominated EPS prescription barcodes and/or FP10MDAs issued on discharge”, the letter also pointed out.
“Community pharmacy teams are reminded that patients presenting these prescriptions are exempt from prescription charges.”
In response to the letter, guidance published by Community Pharmacy England on 2 September 2024 noted that the initiative may have implications for drug and alcohol treatment and recovery service providers, meaning that “some community pharmacies will similarly be asked to support the dispensing of opioid substitution therapy for people released from prison”.
“Local councils and drug and alcohol treatment service providers have discussed this with many LPCs [local pharmaceutical committees] over the [past] few weeks, so your LPC may be able to provide further information on the local situation,” the guidance said.
