Pharmacies asked to prepare for national digital phoneline switchover

Community pharmacy owners have been advised to prepare for an upcoming national digital phoneline switchover that will see telephone networks upgraded from analogue to digital.

The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), which currently supports traditional landline services, is being replaced by Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology in a move which the government says will improve call quality, cost effectiveness and reliability.

In a letter to the sector, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) outlined what pharmacy owners must do ahead of the telephone network switchover.

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Pharmacies have been asked to begin migration planning now and to ensure all ‘critical services’ are VoIP-ready by mid-2026. The PSTN will be fully switched off by January 2027.

The government departments encouraged pharmacy teams to:

• Check whether your telecoms provider relies on PSTN;
• Audit your systems to check which machines and processes might be impacted;
• Prioritise prescription services that use PSTN;
• Inform your team about the switchover;
• Display awareness materials about the switchover and impact on telecare alarms.

The departments highlighted that it was especially ‘critical that prescription services are not affected by the switch-off’ and asked pharmacies ‘as a priority’ to ensure that all services supporting prescriptions that rely on the PSTN are upgraded well ahead of January 2027.

The letter said the decision to upgrade the system was ‘due to necessity, as the network is increasingly unreliable and prone to failure’.

‘The upgrade is a critical step in modernising our telecommunications infrastructure. This improvement in our digital infrastructure supports wider work to digitalise the NHS,’ the letter from DHSC and DSIT added.

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This change will contribute to one of the government’s three core ‘shifts’ laid out in the NHS 10-year plan: the move from analogue to digital.

Many patients – including those who use telecare alarms that rely on analogue phone lines – may also be impacted by the switchover. Unless action is taken to ensure these devices are compatible with the new VoIP system, they may stop working.

Community Pharmacy England has encouraged pharmacy teams to raise awareness among patients and carers, especially those who may be vulnerable or unaware of the change.

They can do so by signposting patients to contact their landline provider and confirm that their telecare device will continue to function after the switchover, and by displaying official awareness materials in the pharmacy.

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Pharmacies receiving high call volumes may also consider adding an automated greeting with directions to the pharmacy website for common queries or using a VoIP system with auto-attendant features to allow patients to leave messages when lines are busy, CPE added.

The Local Government Association has created patient-facing materials including posters with guidance for patients about telecare alarm impacts.