Pharmacy Contraception Service

Pharmacy owner checklist

Once a pharmacy owner has decided they wish to provide the service, Community Pharmacy England’s implementation checklist will guide them through the steps they need to take to prepare to provide the service.

Download the Pharmacy Contraception Service implementation checklist

Consultation room

Pharmacies must have a consultation room in order to be able to offer this service, which meets the requirements in the Terms of Service.

The consultation room must also have IT equipment accessible within the room to allow contemporaneous records of the consultations provided as part of this service.

If a pharmacy owner has had agreement from NHS England that their pharmacy is too small for a consultation room, then they are not able to provide the service solely on a remote basis.

If the pharmacist and individual agree that the service can be carried out remotely, this should be carried out via telephone, or another live audio link or a live video link in circumstances where the conversation cannot be overheard, except by someone whom the individual wants to hear the conversation. That may, for example, mean the pharmacist uses the consultation room to undertake the remote consultation.NHS Guidance to support community pharmacy teams can help to plan for this. Further information on remote consultations can be found on the CPE website.

Equipment to be used in the service

In some cases, a blood pressure reading and a BMI, will need to be recorded, according to the PGD protocol. Pharmacy owners will, therefore, need to ensure that they have the necessary equipment required to undertake blood pressure readings, measure an individual’s weight and height.

Pharmacy owners must ensure all equipment used to carry out these measurements for individuals within the pharmacy are accurate and fit for purpose in line with the GPhC standards.

Equipment that is to be used to undertake clinic blood pressure checks in the service must be validated by the British and Irish Hypertension Society (BIHS), so pharmacy owners must use a ‘normal’ BP meter which is included on one of the two following BIHS lists:

Validated BP Monitors for Home Use

Validated BP Monitors for Specialist Use

For further considerations regarding selection of blood pressure monitoring devices, please consult the ‘BP meters to be used in the service’ section of our Hypertension Case-Finding Service hub page.

Equipment maintenance, calibration & cleaning

To meet the service specification requirements, validation, maintenance and recalibration of clinic blood pressure monitors should be carried out periodically according to manufacturers’ instructions. 

Infection control measures and cleaning must be carried out in line with the instructions of the manufacturer or supplier and in line with current infection control guidance. Detergent and disinfectant wipes can damage plastic surfaces of medical devices if they are not compatible with the surface material. In line with MHRA’s guidance, pharmacy owners are advised to only use cleaning products that are compatible with the device. 

The standard operating procedure (SOP) for the service must include the processes for cleaning, maintenance, validation and recalibration of the equipment used. Pharmacy owners can access additional guidance from the MHRA’s Managing Medical Devices guide.

IT requirements

Pharmacy owners must use an NHS-assured clinical IT system to make their clinical records and payment claims for the service and, where the person has consented, to send messages containing the individual’s consultation outcomes to their general practice.

Details of the IT solutions available to support the service can be found on our Pharmacy services IT requirements webpage.

Pharmacy owners providing the service, will need to consider which system they want to use and will then need to enter into a contract with that supplier.

Standard Operating Procedure

Pharmacy owners must have an SOP for the service, which all staff participating in provision of the service must be familiar with and follow. The SOP must include the process for maintenance and validation of the equipment used.

Sign up to provide service

Pharmacy owners must notify NHS England that they intend to provide the service by completion of an electronic registration through the NHSBSA’s MYS portal.

The pharmacy’s NHS website profile must be updated to indicate that the service is provided. Guidance on how to edit NHS website pharmacy profiles is available on the NHS website page of the Community Pharmacy England website.

NHS Profile Manager

Update your pharmacy’s service details on the NHS website using NHS Profile Manager. This will allow your pharmacy to be identified by the public and by other healthcare professionals as providers of the service.

Details on how to do this are available on the NHS Profile Manager page.

Full details on how to provide the service can be found on CPE website.

The following fees have been agreed for the service:

• A set-up fee of £900 per pharmacy premises paid in instalments as follows:

• £400 paid on signing up to deliver the service via the NHSBSA’s MYS portal;
• £250 paid after claiming the first 5 consultations; 
• £250 paid after claiming a further 5 consultations (i.e. 10 consultations completed); and

• A fee for each consultation of £18.

A consultation fee is claimable irrespective of the outcome of the consultation. 

Where a pharmacy owner is commissioned to provide any related services, e.g. the Hypertension Case-Finding Service (incorporating BP clinic measurement), the pharmacy owner may not claim twice for the same activity.

The product price for the OC supplied will be reimbursed in accordance with the Drug Tariff determination. Any purchase margin by pharmacies relating to contraceptives supplied as part of this service would be included in the calculation of allowed purchase margin that forms a part of agreed NHS pharmacy funding.

Where a price concession has been granted for specific strengths of a product, this concession will apply to those specific strengths of products supplied as part of this service. Concessions will only apply to the month in which they are granted according to the usual Drug Tariff arrangements.

Out of pocket expenses cannot be claimed as part of this service.

Prescription charges are not relevant to the provision of this service and an appropriate patient declaration is not required.

To claim

Data from the NHS-assured IT system will be submitted to the MYS portal via an application programming interface and will be used by the NHSBSA to populate a payment claim within the MYS portal.

The pharmacy owner needs to review this payment claim and then submit it. Claims for payment for this service should be made monthly, via the MYS portal and no later than three months from the claim period for the chargeable activity provided. Claims which relate to work completed more than three months after the claim period in question, will not be paid. 

Competency and training requirements

Pharmacy owners must ensure that pharmacy staff providing any aspect of the service are competent to do so in line with the specific skills and knowledge in the service specification and the relevant PGDs. This may involve completion of training.

Pharmacy owners need to keep documentary evidence that all pharmacy staff involved in any aspect of provision of the service are competent with regards to the specific skills and knowledge outlined in the service specification and the relevant PGDs.

Pharmacists providing the service will be personally responsible for remaining up to date with the skills and competencies identified in the service specification and associated PGDs.

To provide the service, the pharmacist should have evidence of competence in the clinical skills and knowledge covered in the below listed training modules on the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) and/or the Health Education England e-learning for healthcare (elfh).

CPPE also has a list of the modules and other useful tools and resources on the NHS PCS page of their website.

Note – packages that are highly recommended are indicated by an asterisk * 

Mandatory training

Pharmacists providing the service must have completed one of the recommended Safeguarding level 3 training materials OR have direct access to professional advice from someone who can advise on Safeguarding at Level 3. 

• Safeguarding Level 3 - Safeguarding Children and Adults Level 3 for Community Pharmacists – video on elfh; 

OR 

• Safeguarding Level 3 elfh Safeguarding Children and Young People (SGC) – Safeguarding Children Level 3.  

Recommended training modules

• * CPPE Emergency contraception e-learning including emergency contraception e-assessment;  
• * CPPE Contraception e-learning including contraception e-assessment;  

OR the following four subsections of:  

• *Module 3 – Contraceptive Choices of the FSRH Sexual and Reproductive Health e-learning (e-SRH) on elfh: 

• • 03_01: Mechanism of action, effectiveness and UKMEC;
  • 03_02: Choosing contraceptive methods;
  • 03_03: Combined hormonal contraception; and
  • 03_04: Progestogen only methods (oral and injectable).

• * CPPE Sexual health in pharmacies e- learning and e-assessment;

OR the following four subsections of  

• *Module 9 – STIs of the FSRH e-SRH on elfh: 

• • 09_01: Epidemiology and transmission of STIs;
  • 09_02: Sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing;
  • 09_03: STI management; and
  • 09_04: Partner notification. 

AND one subsection in the  

• *External Resources module of the Sexual Health (PWP) e-learning on elfh: 

• FSRH – Contraception counselling eLearning.  

Initiation of contraception

• The following subsections of Module 2 – Consent and history taking of FSRH e-SRH on elfh: 

• • 02_01 Health history and risk assessment; and  
  • 02_02 Confidentiality, chaperones, and consent.

• The following subsection of Module 3 – Contraceptive choices of the FSRH e-SRH on elfh: 

• • * 03_07 Barrier contraceptives 

• The following subsections of Module 5 – Contraception: managing side-effects and complications of the FSRH e-SRH on elfh: 

• • 05_01 Managing bleeding problems in women using contraceptives;
  • 05_02 Managing contraceptive side-effects; and
  • 05_03 Managing side-effects and complications of IUD and IUS.

Other training to support clinical practice

• CPPE Documenting in patient clinical records e-learning; 
• CPPE Remote consultation skills e-learning; 
• Patient group directions e-learning on elfh; and 
• CPPE consultation skills for pharmacy practice: taking a person-centred approach and e-assessment.

Pharmacy team training

The whole pharmacy team can proactively promote this service. Teams should be briefed on the service and coached on how to best approach people about the service.  A pharmacy teambriefing and a guide on how to recruit people is available to assist pharmacy owners to engage and coach their team members.

Pharmacy staff who are going to provide blood pressure measurements and BMI calculations must have the necessary training required to undertake blood pressure readings and measure an individual’s weight and height. These staff need must:

• Be familiar with the appropriate sections of NICE guideline Hypertension in adults: diagnosis and management [NG136];
• Have read and understood the operational processes to provide blood pressure and BMI measurements; and
• Have completed the recommended training on how to use the blood pressure monitoring equipment which should be provided by the equipment manufacturer/supplier.

Watch the Pharmacy Contraception Service: Initiating contraception webinar – This webinar was aimed at helping pharmacy teams who are already providing the service to expand their offering to include initiating contraception.

Download the slides used at the webinar.

Visit the Pharmacy Contraception service FAQ page.