Pharmacy First lets community pharmacies in England assess and, where appropriate, treat seven common conditions without a GP appointment, and pays the pharmacy for each consultation plus a monthly fixed payment once a minimum number of consultations is reached. The service works when patients know about it and walk in or book. Most still do not. This guide is about promoting Pharmacy First properly — accurately, within the rules, and in the places patients actually look.
What Pharmacy First is, in one paragraph
Launched in England on 31 January 2024, Pharmacy First combines the former Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (minor illness and urgent supply referrals) with seven new clinical pathways: sinusitis, sore throat, earache, infected insect bites, impetigo, shingles, and uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women. Each pathway has age and eligibility criteria set in the national service specification and clinical protocols, and the pharmacist follows those protocols — some patients will be advised, some treated, some referred. Pharmacies are paid a consultation fee per completed clinical pathway consultation and a monthly fixed payment subject to a minimum consultation threshold. Distance-selling pharmacies can provide the service with restrictions; the earache pathway is not available to them. The service specification is published by NHS England and summarised by Community Pharmacy England.
Why promotion is the whole problem
The consultation room is ready, the pharmacist is trained, the PGDs are in place. What is missing is the patient with an earache who does not know the pharmacy can help, rings the GP, waits, and eventually sees someone. Every one of those is a consultation that did not happen and a threshold that gets harder to reach. GP practices refer some patients in, but the pharmacies reaching the threshold comfortably are the ones patients walk into directly — and that is a marketing outcome.
Describe it accurately
The rules on promoting an NHS service are simple but unforgiving. Say what the service is, which conditions it covers, who is eligible, and how to access it. Do not:
- Name the antibiotics or other prescription-only medicines that may be supplied — the Human Medicines Regulations prohibit advertising POMs to the public, and “get antibiotics without a GP” is exactly that.
- Promise treatment — the pharmacist assesses against the protocol and may advise or refer instead. “Assessment and, where appropriate, treatment” is the honest phrase.
- Imply the pharmacy is part of the NHS or use NHS branding beyond what NHS England’s identity guidelines allow contractors.
- Overstate eligibility. Each pathway has age limits and exclusions (for example, the UTI pathway is for women aged 16–64); say “eligibility criteria apply” and set them out.
A page for the service
Pharmacy First needs its own page on the pharmacy website, titled the way people search (“Pharmacy First in [town] — sore throat, earache, UTI and more”). On it: the seven conditions each with a sentence and the age range; that no appointment is needed but booking is available; what happens in the consultation; that some patients will be referred; and the phone number. Add a short set of eligibility questions before the booking form so patients arrive knowing whether they fit the pathway. Parents searching “child earache pharmacy” at 7am are the most common visitors to this page; write it for them.
Google Business Profile
Add Pharmacy First as a service on the profile with a short description, and post about it — once at launch, then seasonally (sore throats and sinusitis in winter, insect bites in summer). Link the profile’s appointment field to the Pharmacy First page. A patient who searches “pharmacy first near me” should see you in the map pack with the service visible.
In the pharmacy and in the community
- A window poster and a counter card listing the seven conditions. NHS England has produced national campaign materials contractors can use; check the current versions.
- Train the counter team to recognise the triggers: someone buying throat lozenges, asking about a child’s ear, or mentioning they cannot get a GP appointment.
- Tell your local GP practices what you offer and how to refer; practice receptionists send patients where they know they will be seen.
- Care homes, schools and nurseries in your area are worth one letter each.
- A text or email to opted-in patients when the service launched, and a reminder each winter.
Capture the demand
Walk-ins are the norm, but a booking route matters for parents planning around school and work. A booking form on the service page, landing in a dashboard the team watches, with a confirmation message, turns an intention into a consultation. The PharmGrowth booking system does this per service; the Pharmacy First calculator shows what a handful more consultations a month is worth against the threshold.
Record and measure
Consultations are recorded in the IT system your pharmacy uses for the service, and that is where the payment claim comes from; no website replaces that. What the website adds is the top of the funnel. Track page visits, bookings, walk-ins mentioning the service, and completed consultations by pathway each month. If the page and profile are in place and consultations do not rise, the gap is usually awareness in the pharmacy itself — the counter conversation — not online.
Keep it current
Pathways, thresholds and fees have changed since launch and will change again. Review the page each time NHS England or Community Pharmacy England publish an update, and never leave a superseded threshold or condition list live.
Sources
- NHS England — Community Pharmacy advanced service specification: Pharmacy First, and the clinical pathways and PGDs
- Community Pharmacy England — Pharmacy First service pages (fees, thresholds, guidance)
- The Human Medicines Regulations 2012, Part 14 (advertising); MHRA Blue Guide
- NHS England — NHS identity guidelines for community pharmacy