How one ICB is committing to community pharmacy prescribing

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Record learning outcomes

At NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight, we’ve consistently supported expanding the role of community pharmacy in our healthcare system and are pleased that independent prescribing will become a key aspect of the contractual framework in England from 2026/27 onwards.

Our pilot programmes for hypertension screening and oral contraception were very successful, with record numbers of people using these services at the six pharmacy sites. We are committed to building on this progress throughout 2026/27.

Referral success

Community pharmacy has been crucial to our Modern Primary Care Access Plan, and this year we achieved one of the highest national figures for community Pharmacy First referrals.

There has been a 26% increase in referrals, with 240,000 patients accessing community pharmacy services. Our contractors continue to demonstrate the need for expanding core services, and we are dedicated to further developing pharmacy’s role – enhancing its delivery of essential clinical services and supporting neighbourhood health and renewal, including making healthcare more accessible on the high street.

Access care earlier

We believe independent prescribing will drive clinical transformation in pharmacy, allowing us to handle more complex cases within communities as outlined in the Neighbourhood Health Guidelines 2025/26.

This helps us provide earlier care where patients access core services. We’ve already mapped out our independent prescriber workforce across community pharmacy, identifying areas of expertise and clinical scope to better understand our current strengths and future needs.

Phased introduction

After the recent confirmation of the CPCF 2026/27 arrangements, which include independent prescribing for the first time, and pending the release of national guidance, our phased approach for pharmacy prescribing is as follows:

First six months

• Ensuring operational readiness for implementation within the ICB
• Setting up governance, clinical oversight and implementation frameworks
• Assessing digital and prescribing infrastructure
• Aligning medicines optimisation, commissioning and primary care teams with delivery goals.

Year 1

• Identifying opportunities to shift existing PGD-led services to independent prescriber-led models
• Developing and commissioning enhanced services where local needs exist and community pharmacy IPs can help deliver safely
• Integrating community pharmacy IP capacity into local integrated neighbourhood team plans and broader primary care transformation
• Starting to embed IP into operational service pathways.

Year 2

• Expanding commissioned IP services based on population needs and outcomes
• Continuing to develop and scale services where they improve access and medicines optimisation, and reduce system pressures
• Further integrating with wider primary and community care services.

Alongside these steps, we’ll keep supporting workforce development and build designated prescribing practitioner (DPP) capacity to ensure a steady pipeline of future independent prescribers in community pharmacy. This is critical for delivering the long-term strategy safely.

We expect community pharmacy IP to support:

• Delivering Pharmacy First services by overcoming barriers linked to PGDs
• Expanding management of acute conditions that currently pressure GP access
• Ongoing monitoring and medicines optimisation for long-term conditions where appropriate and safe
• Possible initiation of antihypertensive treatment as part of the community pharmacy hypertension case-finding service
• Other locally commissioned enhanced services based on population needs.

Balancing act

We recognise the need to balance ambition with practical considerations. We are collaborating with contractors to address challenges affecting the pace and scale of implementation including constraints around workforce, supervision, DPP
support, governance, digital enablement and resource availability.

Ultimately, our aim is to introduce community pharmacy independent prescribing through a phased, clinically governed and sustainable process that improves patient access and supports the broader primary care system. Achieving this relies on proper resources, integrated services and increased commissioning.