Project Overview
NHS England's Pharmacy First service (launched January 2024) enables community pharmacists to manage 7 minor c...
Technology Stack
Compliance & Standards
The Challenge
NHS England's Pharmacy First service (launched January 2024) enables community pharmacists to manage 7 minor conditions without GP referral. A community pharmacy software provider wanted to build a Pharmacy First digital consultation platform — structured consultation for the 7 conditions (earache, impetigo, infected insect bites, shingles, sinusitis, sore throat, urinary tract infections), NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) claim submission, electronic prescription via EPS, and DTAC compliance. Budget: £85,000.
Our Approach
NHS England published clinical protocols for all 7 Pharmacy First conditions
- eligibility criteria, clinical assessment checklist, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and management pathway (supply or refer).
- Platform implements protocols as structured consultation forms.
Clinical decision logic
- inclusion/exclusion criteria as hard gates — patient automatically referred to GP if exclusion criteria met.
- No deviation from published NHS England protocols without NHS England approval.
NHSBSA Claim Submission
NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA)
Pharmacy First claim
each completed consultation generates an FP10 equivalent claim submitted to NHSBSA.
NHSBSA PharmaClaim API
structured submission with consultation ID, condition code, intervention type, patient NHS Number.
Claim reconciliation
- monthly claim statement compared to submitted claims — discrepancies flagged for pharmacist review.
- Electronic Prescription Service (EPS):
EPS Release 2
- electronic prescription generation from consultation.
- Pharmacist prescriber number (GPhC registration) as prescriber identifier. dm+d (NHS Dictionary of Medicines and Devices) drug codes for all Pharmacy First formulary items.
Dispensing
prescription dispensed immediately at the consulting pharmacy — automated EPS message generation and transmission via NHS Spine.
DCB0129
Clinical Safety Officer was a community pharmacist with Pharmacy First training.
Hazard Log
highest hazard was incorrect exclusion criterion application (patient with contraindicated condition receiving pharmacy treatment rather than GP referral) — mitigated by hard-coded clinical decision gates.
DTAC Domain 2
NHSBSA data sharing agreement for claim data.
Domain 4
EPS and NHS Number interoperability.
The Results
DTAC approved.
Platform live at 14 weeks, £78,000 — under budget.
Pharmacy First consultations completed: 14,200 in first 6 months.
Claim submission accuracy: 99.4% (0.6% requiring manual correction).
EPS prescription transmission: 98.8% first-attempt success rate.
UTI condition (highest volume): average consultation time 8.4 minutes.
NHSBSA reconciliation: automated — previously 3 days/month manual.
Pharmacist satisfaction: 4.4/5.
“14,200 consultations in 6 months. The Pharmacy First service is working exactly as NHS England intended — patients getting care faster, GPs freed from minor conditions. The EPS integration was the critical path — 98.8% first-attempt transmission means our pharmacists rarely need to manually intervene." — CEO, Community Pharmacy Software Provider (name withheld)”
Project Details
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