Over 11,000 pharmacies, the vast majority of the sector, completed declarations for the Quality Payments Scheme for the first review period on 12 May.

Alastair Buxton, director of NHS Services at PSNC congratulated pharmacy teams and LPCs on their 'hard work and phenomenal engagement' with the Quality Payment Scheme, saying: 'We are delighted at the very high levels of participation.'

'I am very grateful for the hard work that LPCs have put into supporting their contractors to successfully engage with the scheme,' Mr Buxton said.

LPCs around England organised events, provided telephone and email support to their contractors and in some cases visited individual pharmacies to make sure their teams understood how to complete the various elements of the scheme ahead of the first declaration deadline.

The second period of declaration will be open until November 2017. See the PSNC's page on the QPS for more deatils.

The majority of feedback received from the PSNC from LPCs and contractors revealed that their support and resources have been instrumental to helping pharmacy teams successfully engage with the scheme.

Many elements of the scheme, such as use of the NHS Summary Care Record and NHSmail, can create a useful foundation for further community service developments.

'The fabulous level of engagement with the scheme demonstrates that pharmacy teams are committed to continuously improving the quality of the services they provide to patients and the public and I hope that this is acknowledged by DH and NHS England,' Mr Buxton said.