Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the safety of NHS England’s plan to allow community pharmacists to prescribe certain antibiotics.

Pharmacists with an additional prescribing qualification are already allowed to prescribe medicines within their competence, including antibiotics. These skills are already being used in general practice and hospitals where many pharmacists have a prescribing qualification. Changes have been made to the initial training and education of pharmacists so that from 2026 all pharmacists will qualify with a prescribing qualification.

As part of the Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care, an additional investment up to £645 million will support a new Pharmacy First service which will allow community pharmacists to assess patients and provide treatments, including the supply of certain antibiotics. These will be supplied against Patient Group Directions (PGDs) which have been designed following extensive input from expert clinicians across the National Health Service to mitigate against the risk of increased antimicrobial resistance. The PGDs will be informed by the latest National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance to embed best practice and the new service will be closely monitored to ensure treatments, including antibiotics, are being supplied appropriately. In addition, a separate evaluation of the service will be commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Care Research.