Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of community pharmacies carrying out (a) blood pressure monitoring and (b) other NHS-funded health checks.

The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) 2019-24 five-year deal set the Government’s intention to nationally commission a range of evidence based clinical services in community pharmacy. Since 2019, several clinical services have been introduced including minor illness referrals from GPs and NHS111 and blood pressure checks. The Blood Pressure Checks Service was launched in October 2021 and enables community pharmacies to identify patients at risk of hypertension and measure their blood pressure. By June 2022 over 8,000 pharmacies had signed up to deliver the service and over 400,000 blood pressure checks were delivered between October 2021 and August 2022.

In September, the Government announced the agreement with the sector for the remainder of the five-year deal backed by a one-off investment of £100 million. Under the agreement we will further expand the range of clinical services offered in community pharmacy. Community pharmacists will be able to manage and initiate contraception and provide extra support to patients newly prescribed antidepressants. In addition, urgent emergency care settings will be able to refer patients to a community pharmacist for a minor illness consultation or an urgent medicine supply.

In addition to services commissioned nationally, Integrated Care Boards or NHS England regional teams can commission pharmaceutical services locally, and Local Authorities can commission community pharmacies to provide public health services to meet the needs of their populations, including the NHS Health Check.