North-East and North Cumbria integrated care board (NENC ICB) has this month commissioned six suppliers in the North-East of England to provide sites for the independent prescribing pathfinder programme.

The contract, worth up to £285,000, awarded by North of England Commissioning Support on behalf of NENC ICB, is due to start on April 1 and ends on September 30 this year.

The NHS Community Pharmacy Independent Prescribing Pathfinder Programme is designed to establish a framework for the commissioning of community pharmacy services that incorporate independent prescribing.

The six suppliers chosen as pathfinder sites by NENC ICB are Boots, AK Medical Consultancy Ltd, Chemcare Ltd, Farah Chemists Ltd, M.D & A.G Burdon Ltd and Welcome Health Pharmacies Limited.

Two Boots branches, one in County Durham and one in Newcastle Upon Tyne, were handed a combined contract worth £57,000, while two pharmacies belonging to Welcome Health Pharmacies Limited, one in Skelton and one in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, were also given a £57,000 contract.

The biggest contract worth £85,000 was handed to M.D & A.G Burdon Ltd, whose three pharmacies in Whickham, Northumberland and Tyne & Wear will provide sites. One of M.D & A.G Burdon Ltd's directors is Mark Burdon, who resigned as a committee member of Community Pharmacy England, then known as PSNC, in 2022. 

A branch of Farah Chemists Ltd in Newcastle Upon Tyne was handed a £28,500 contract while a branch belonging to Chemcare Ltd, SE Gill Chemist Ltd in Cleadon, was given a contract worth the same to become a pathfinder site.

Cockerton Pharmacy in Darlington was also chosen to be a site after AK Medical Consultancy Ltd was handed a £28,500 contract.