From September 2026, all newly qualified pharmacists will be independent prescribers on the day of their registration.

This presents an opportunity for NHS England to commission clinical services from community pharmacies incorporating independent prescribing, as the new workforce enters the profession.

The Community Pharmacy Independent Prescribing Pathfinder Programme

In anticipation of this, in addition to funding access to independent prescriber training, the Independent Prescribing in Community Pharmacy Pathfinder Programme enables community pharmacist prescribers in ‘pathfinder’ sites to deliver prescribing models as part of integrated primary care clinical services.

The programme establishes a framework for future commissioning of NHS community pharmacy clinical services, incorporating independent prescribing for primary care patients.

The University of Manchester and ICF Consulting have evaluated the Pathfinder Programme, working with sites to learn about what had worked well for them and how independent prescribing models might work for the benefit of the wider population in future. Read the evaluation.

Next steps

NHS England has written to integrated care boards setting out next steps for the programme.

Developing and utilising the clinical skills and capabilities of community pharmacists is part of a wider shift across the health system to improve patient access, ensure medication safety, improve prevention of ill health and integrate pharmacy professionals across neighbourhood health services.

Lessons from the programme will be used to look at future clinical services from community pharmacy in line with the 10 Year Health Plan.

For more information contact england.pharmacyintegration@nhs.net