Community Pharmacy Information Standard
The community pharmacy standard supports information sharing between community pharmacists and GP practices.
Contents
- Documentation
About this standard
- Publisher
- NHS England
- Reference code
- DAPB4008 5/2023
- Publication date
- 26 June 2023
- Status
- Active
Show definitions of statuses
Active. Active standards are stable, maintained and have been approved, assured or endorsed for use by qualified bodies.
Deprecated Deprecated standards are available for use and are maintained, but are being phased out, so new functionality will not be added.
Retired standards Retired standards are not being maintained or supported and should not be used.
- Standard type
- Information standards
Show definitions of standard types
Collections. A Collection is a systematic gathering of a specified selection of data or information for a particular stated purpose from existing records held within health and care systems and electronic devices.
Extractions. An extraction is a type of collection that is pulled from an operational system by the data controller and transmitted to the receiver without additional processing or transcription by the sender.
Information standards. Information standards are agreed ways of doing something, written down as a set of precise criteria so they can be used as rules, guidelines, or definitions.
Technical Standards and specifications. Technical standards and specifications specify how to make information available technically including how the data is structured and transported.
- Contact point
england.standards.assurance@nhs.net
Using this standard
The Professional Record Standards Body (PRSB) were commissioned by NHS England to develop the following set of resources. These have been migrated into the NHS Standards Directory and will be managed by NHS England from 01 January 2026.
- Associated medias
- Details of the technical messaging specifications for the following services; Urgent supply of medicines as part of the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS), and pharmacy administered flu vaccinations, are available here: https://digital.nhs.uk/services/podac NHS England are working with their architecture team on how the messages to the person’s GP will be transferred and for the other Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) services. In the meantime they should be sent by email.
- Describes the purpose, methodology and stakeholder engagement for developing the standard, along with the findings and recommendations for further work.
- Details the potential hazards from implementing the standard with their risk rating and mitigation.
- Summarises the hazards which could result from implementing the standard.
- Rules for implementation of the standard.
- Applies to
- Community pharmacies
- GPs and their system suppliers.
- Impacts on
- Implementation of this information standard impacts all health IT systems suppliers providing systems to the above providers; suppliers should work with their customers to determine necessary changes.
- Effective from
- 1 July 2023
Topics and care settings
- Topic
- Care records
- Demographics
- Dispensing
- Information governance
- Key care information
- Patient communication
- Pharmacy, Medicines and Prescribing
- Referrals
- Tests and diagnostics
- Vaccination
- Care setting
- Community health
- GP / Primary care
- Pharmacy
Dependencies and related standards
- Dependencies
This standard needs to be reviewed and implemented alongside:
- SNOMED CT
- Health Level 7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources
- Electronic systems both sending and receiving.
- Related standards
This standard relates to Digital Medicine - FHIR. It also aims to consolidate the previous six uses of Pharmacy Information Flows standards.
Review Information
- Scope
- Health Services, NHS Services
- Sponsor
Ali Sparke, Director for Dentistry, Community, NHS England.
- Senior Responsible Officer
Libby Pink, Head of Delivery, Community Pharmacy Digital Strategy, NHS England.
- Business Lead
- Martin Orton, Programme manager, PRSB.
- Contributor
- Professional Record Standards Body (PRSB)
- Approval date
- 23 May 2023
- Post Implementation review Date
- 31 March 2026
- Technical Committee
Data Alliance Partnership Board (DAPB)
Legal basis
- Link to Information Standards Notice (ISN)
- View the information standards notice
Information Standards Notices (ISNs) are published to announce new or changes to information standards published under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012
- Legal authority
Section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012
This information standard is published under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
- Licence information
This standard is owned by NHS England and is made available for reuse or amendment under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (OGL 3.0).
- Licence
Open Government Licence v3.0 (OGL 3.0) https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/
More information
Community pharmacies are offering an increased range of services to support and care for people in the community. It is essential that they are able to record and share vital information about a person’s care with GP practices and other services.
By doing this digitally using standards, we can ensure that care professionals and citizens have timely access to relevant information, leading to better, safer and more personalised care in the community.
The purpose of the standard is to support the expanding use of community pharmacies and pharmacists providing services as part of the NHS, which in England are under the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF). The standard will provide consistency in recording information which can be shared with other parts of the health and care system and support a more integrated overall care system. It will support people by integrating information about their care from all parts of the system including community pharmacy.
The standard defines:- the information that should be recorded in a community pharmacy
- the information which should be sent to the person’s general practice about the services provided to be added to their primary care record and potentially with shared care records
- Improved communication methods support community pharmacy to take on a greater range of clinical services to reduce burden on other parts of the health and care system and ensures that the clinical contribution of community pharmacists is visible to the wider NHS
- Timely sharing of clinically relevant data in relation to pharmacy services undertaken to other NHS providers
- Transfer of standardised coded data sets to patients’ primary care health record
- A more comprehensive patient health record with the inclusion of clinically relevant outcomes from pharmacy services, which has the potential to improve medication safety and support medicines optimisation
- Reduced risk of errors and administrative burden due to elimination of paper templates and transfer of information through non-direct routes into patients’ primary care health record
The standard supports the English Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (2019-2024). Some aspects of it could be relevant for other UK nations. It is for all ages including children
It covers the following services:- New medicine service
- Appliance use review
- Vaccine administration
- Community pharmacy consultation service (CPCS)
- CPCS emergency supply of medications
- CPCS minor illness
- Smoking cessation
- Blood pressure check
- Contraception
- Hepatitis C
- Discharge Medicines Service
The standard defines the information which should be recorded in the community pharmacy across all the services listed above. Some data items are shown as mandatory, these are kept to a minimum and this information must be recorded in the pharmacy.
There are also some optional data items. After contact with the person, information should be sent to the their GP. The implementation guidance document contains tables which show the information that should be sent to the GP for each of the services.
Page last updated: 19 December 2025