Pharmacy leaders to ‘clamp down’ on inappropriate EPS nominations

Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has announced a ‘clamp down’ on inappropriate Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) pharmacy nominations.

CPE said it is moving to tackle automatic re-nomination without patient consent because it violates the principles of patient choice.

It follows CPE receiving a ‘number of concerns’ about automatic re-nomination without patient consent.

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CPE said its regulatory and IT experts have been working to address these issues with NHS England, the British Medical Association (BMA) and pharmacy IT system suppliers.

NHS England is revising the Patient Nomination Protocols to clarify how pharmacy teams, system suppliers and others must manage nominations. The updated protocol will emphasise that patient choice must remain central.

The documentation has been shared with the Community Pharmacy IT Group (CP ITG) in advance of publication so that it can be discussed at the meeting on 4 March. The updated guidance will be published shortly after and come into effect immediately, CPE said.

Its legal director, Gordon Hockey, added: ‘CPE has been clear for some time that inappropriate EPS nominations and service direction are unacceptable and risk undermining patient confidence in the pharmacy sector.

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‘The vast majority of pharmacy owners and their teams work incredibly hard to provide safe, patient‑centred care, and they should not be disadvantaged by the small number of operators who attempt to manipulate the system.

‘Protecting patient choice and maintaining trust in community pharmacy remain paramount, and we will keep pushing for robust safeguards.’

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) guidance on patient consent and the EPS says that deliberately changing a patient’s EPS nomination without their consent could cause unnecessary delays to patients receiving medication, as well as undermining trust in the profession. It may also amount to a misuse of sensitive patient information in breach of data protection legislation.

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Additional progress CPE has made towards eliminating inappropriate EPS nomination includes:

• Issuing updated guidance about respecting patient choice for pharmacy EPS nominations.
• NHS England has written to pharmacy IT suppliers to reaffirm nomination guidelines and set expectations on system behaviour.
• CPE working with NHS England to revise its nomination guidance for pharmacy teams and IT suppliers.
• Supporting NHS England to ensure any non-compliant features are removed by system suppliers.
• Developing a patient-facing website which can be used by other healthcare providers to give information on NHS pharmacy services and encourage the use of the NHS website’s pharmacy and service finder tools.
• Inviting NHS England’s EPS team to attend the March meeting of the CP ITG and provide an update on EPS patient nomination protocols.
• Collaborating with the BMA to revise the existing joint guidance on prescription direction to include guidance on service direction.
• Working to update its existing nomination and patient choice materials (for pharmacy teams and patients) to provide greater clarity on the rules and requirements.
• Considering changes to pharmacy owners’ terms of service to strengthen the provisions on nominations.

CPE said it was also ‘pleased’ to see a pledge to protect patient choice of pharmacy in the 2026/27 GP contract in relation to nominations and pharmacy services.