Pharmacy Contraception Service
The Pharmacy Contraception Service is an Advanced Service which enables community pharmacists to initiate oral contraception (OC), and provide ongoing monitoring and supply of repeat OC where a person has been supplied with OC by a primary care provider or a sexual health clinic (or equivalent).
The supplies will be authorised via a PGD, with appropriate checks, such as the measurement of the patient’s blood pressure and body mass index, being undertaken, where necessary.
People can access the service by one of the following routes:
- Identified as clinically suitable by the community pharmacist and accept the offer of the service.
- Self-refer to a community pharmacy.
- Referred* by their general practice.
- Referred* from a sexual health clinic (or equivalent).
- Referred from other NHS service providers, e.g., urgent treatment centres or NHS 111.
*Note – Digital referrals are not required. For this service, a referral includes active signposting to attend the pharmacy to receive the service.
When a person attends the pharmacy to collect an NHS repeat prescription for OC, the service can be highlighted to them to consider when they need their next supply.
For full details for the service, please visit the Community Pharmacy England website.
Key Documents
Service specification and Patient Group Directions (PDF)
Service pathway for initiation of OC (PDF)
Service pathway for ongoing supply of OC (PDF)
Pharmacy Owner Checklist – Implementing the Pharmacy Contraception Service
Training
Have a look at this summary of training requirements for the Pharmacy Contraception Service below.
PCS Training Requirement Summary
VirtualOutcomes Training (free for all West Yorkshire pharmacy teams).
The VirtualOutcomes training is split into two modules. One module is for pharmacists and the other is for the pharmacy team. See the VirtualOutcomes website here.
NHS North East & Yorkshire (NEY) PCS Webinar
NHS NEY held a webinar in November 2024 to support pharmacies currently offering the service and anyone considering registering to provide the service. If you are looking to start providing this service, or wanting to increase delivery of the service, please watch the recorded webinar here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXKuMOkTZK0
Promoting the Service (Resources)
Public-facing promotional materials for community pharmacies are available under the resources section of the PCS webpage. A sample of these are listed below but other available resources include social media tools and, where facilities exist, digital marketing resources.
Prescription bag flyers (Microsoft Word)
Template patient leaflet (Microsoft Word)
Service digital general practice poster
Providing the Service (Resources)
Oral Contraception Initiation – Conversation Aid
Providing the Pharmacy Contraception Service – A One-Stop Summary of Resources
See our Pharmacy First Bulletins here, some of which focus on the Pharmacy Contraception Service.
GP Resources
PCS – What GPs & Sexual Health Clinics Need to Know Poster
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 the CPE 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.
Claiming
All payments must be claimed monthly via the NHSBSA Manage Your Service (MYS) portal.
It is a requirement of the service specification that contractors use an NHS assured point of care system (see IT requirements above). This will pre-populate claim information in the MYS portal so that the contractor just needs to login to MYS at the start of every month to review and confirm that the information is correct before submitting the claim.
Claims for payment should be submitted within one month of, and no later than three months from the claim period for the activity provided. Claims which relate to work completed more than three months after the claim period in question, will not be paid.
Local Formularies for Combined Oral Contraception
| Place | Formulary | Comments |
|
Bradford & Craven |
See the Joint Airedale NHS Foundation Trust & Primary Care Formulary (under chapter 7 – Obstetrics, Gynaecology & UTIs) | No preferred first-line option but consider cost-effectiveness.
Align to what local practices prescribe. |
|
Calderdale |
The following are listed on the clinical system formulary:
|
No preferred first-line option but consider cost-effectiveness. Align to what local practices prescribe. |
|
Kirklees |
TBC |
Align to what local practices prescribe.
Supply the best value product which meets clinical needs of the patient. |
|
Leeds |
See the Leeds Formulary (under chapter 7 – Obstetrics, Gynaecology & UTIs) |
No preferred first-line option but consider cost-effectiveness.
Align to what local practices prescribe. |
|
Wakefield |
TBC |
Align to what local practices prescribe.
Supply the best value product which meets clinical needs of the patient. |
Local Signposting Information
If the criteria is not met for the supply of oral contraception, or the pharmacist deems that a supply is not clinically appropriate, the pharmacist should explain why this is the case and refer them to an alternative service provider such as the GP or local sexual health clinic. Please see below for details of local sexual health providers.
Bradford & Kirklees
Sexual health services provided by Locala – see below for contact details.
Last Updated: 28th March 2025
