EPS nominations are the metric that matters most to a community pharmacy in England. A nominated patient's prescriptions arrive electronically, every issue, for as long as the nomination stands. Win one and you win the next several years of that patient's items; lose one and the reverse. This guide covers how nominations work, how patients set them, and the practical ways pharmacies win more — at the counter, online and after the fact.
How nominations work
Under the Electronic Prescription Service, a patient can nominate one community pharmacy (and separately one appliance contractor and one dispensing doctor where relevant). When their GP issues a prescription, it is sent electronically to the nominated pharmacy without the patient carrying a paper form. The patient can change their nomination at any time, and it can be set or changed:
- By the patient in the NHS App or NHS website account
- By the GP practice at the patient's request
- By the pharmacy, with the patient's informed consent, recorded in the pharmacy's system
Patients without a nomination receive a paper token and can take it anywhere. A pharmacy website cannot set a nomination itself — there is no public connection into EPS for that — but it can capture the patient's request and consent so the pharmacy can set it in the PMR. That distinction matters, and your website should not imply otherwise.
Why nominations are the metric that matters
A nominated patient on regular medication generates items every month. Each item earns the single activity fee, contributes to your dispensing volume, and brings the patient through the door where private services and OTC sales happen. Multiply the per-item income by the number of items and the number of months, and one patient is worth several hundred pounds a year. The nomination value calculator does this with your own figures. It also explains why a single lost nomination — to a distance-selling pharmacy, to a chain, to the GP's own dispensary — is expensive, and why the loss is often invisible until the monthly item count dips.
Make the ask routine at the counter
The most reliable source of nominations is the patient standing in front of you with a paper token or a prescription from elsewhere. The ask is simple: "Would you like us to be your nominated pharmacy so your prescriptions come here automatically?" Most say yes when asked; almost none ask unprompted.
- Make it a line in the standard handover, not an occasional initiative.
- Give the team the words. Our free templates pack includes counter scripts that have worked in a real pharmacy.
- Record consent properly when you set the nomination in the PMR.
- Watch for the triggers: a new patient, a paper token, a patient mentioning they have moved, a carer picking up for someone new.
Be nominatable at 11pm
Patients decide to change pharmacy at odd hours — after a bad experience elsewhere, when a delivery fails, when they move house. If the only way to nominate you is to come in during opening hours, you lose those moments. A nomination form on your website captures the request when it happens:
- Name, date of birth, contact details, and consent for you to set the nomination — nothing more.
- Works on a phone in under a minute.
- Lands in a dashboard with a status, so the team sets it in the PMR next morning and confirms to the patient.
- Sits next to the repeat prescription form, so the same patient orders through the site from then on.
The form's wording should be accurate: "Request to nominate [pharmacy] for your prescriptions — we'll set this up and confirm with you", not "nominate us instantly". Our guide to building an EPS nomination form patients finish covers the details, and every PharmGrowth website ships with one.
Be found in the first place
A patient looking for a new pharmacy searches Google. If your Google Business Profile is incomplete or your website does not say what services you offer and when you are open, the pharmacy that does gets the nomination. Local visibility is upstream of every nomination you win online; the local SEO guide covers what to fix.
Close the loop
When a nomination is set, tell the patient. A text or email saying "You're now nominated with us — order your repeat here whenever you need it" confirms it worked, teaches them the repeat route, and starts the relationship on the right foot. When a repeat is ready, tell them that too. Patients who are kept informed stay; patients who have to ring to find out drift.
Watch for nominations leaving
Nominations are lost as quietly as they are won. A GP practice dispensary, a new chain branch, a distance-selling pharmacy's marketing push — any of them can move dozens of patients in a month. Track your EPS nomination count and your monthly item count together, and investigate any dip within the month rather than the quarter. If a group of patients has moved, there is usually a reason (a delivery problem, a staffing change, a queue) that can be fixed, and a conversation that can bring them back.
What does not work
- Setting nominations without clear, recorded consent — not permitted and not worth the risk.
- Claiming your website or app is "linked to the NHS" for nominations — it is not, and patients will discover that.
- Incentives for nominating — pharmacies cannot offer inducements for NHS prescriptions.
- A nomination page nobody can find — it should be in the main menu and one tap from the homepage.
A simple monthly routine
- Count nominations and items on the first of the month; note both.
- Check the website nomination form submissions were all actioned.
- Ask the counter team how many nomination conversations they had.
- Look at your Google profile: any new reviews to reply to, any wrong hours.
- Send the "you're nominated" confirmation to everyone set up that month.
If you want the routine delivered as a short course, the free five-day email course walks through each step, one email a day.