NHS community pharmacies are an accessible and convenient place for people to receive advice and support for contraception management.

The aim of the Pharmacy Contraception Service (PCS), launched in 2023, is to offer people greater choice and access when considering their contraception needs.

The service supports the important role community pharmacy teams can play to help address health inequalities by providing wider healthcare access for high-risk communities and vulnerable patients in their communities and signposting service users to local sexual health services.

It also aims to create additional capacity in primary care and sexual health clinics (or equivalent) to support meeting the demand for more complex assessments.

The PCS now includes:

• ongoing monitoring and supply of oral contraception prescriptions
• the initiation of oral contraception. This allows people to request a supply of the contraceptive pill for the first time directly from their pharmacy, rather than from their GP or sexual health clinic
• supply of oral emergency contraception

Supply of oral emergency contraception

The Delivery Plan for recovering access in primary care highlighted the ambition to expand the PCS to increase access to and convenience of contraception services in line with the previous government’s Women’s Health Strategy for England.

The strategy flagged community pharmacy had a part to play in increasing choice in the ways people can access contraception, including emergency contraception.

The PCS has been expanded to include oral emergency contraception.

It now offers women with consistent and free access to oral emergency contraception, provided by community pharmacies across England. This removes variation that previously existed within locally commissioned services.

How the service works

A person may self-refer or be signposted by their general practice, sexual health clinic or equivalent, to a participating pharmacy.

A pharmacy may also identify a person is suitable for the service and highlight it to them.

The pharmacist or pharmacy technician will offer a confidential consultation and as part of that, will reach a shared decision with the person on the supply of oral contraception or oral emergency contraception, ensuring clinical appropriateness.

Individuals do not need to be registered with a GP to access this service. Pharmacies will only inform the GP practice that individuals have accessed the service, with their consent.

This is an NHS service and so all supplies of contraception or emergency contraception will be free of charge and therefore exempt from any prescription charges.

To find a pharmacy delivering the contraception service, use the pharmacy search function on the NHS.uk website; or for emergency contraception, use the find emergency contraception search function on the NHS.uk website.

Supplies of oral contraception and oral emergency contraception are made by a pharmacist or a pharmacy technician via a patient group direction (PGD).

All community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians offering the service will have demonstrated competence in the specific skills and knowledge required.

View the service specification and patient group directions.

Case studies

• Community pharmacy contraception service – involve your whole team for success
• Pharmacy contraception service – growing people’s confidence in local NHS care

Further information

• Dispensing contractors’ data – data published by NHS Business Services Authority relating to this service.