The NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service (PCS) is a tiered pharmacy contraception service. It is designed to:
- offer people greater choice where they can access contraception services from
- create extra capacity in primary care and sexual health clinics (or equivalent) to support meeting the demand for more complex assessments
The objectives of the service are to:
- provide a model for community pharmacy teams to initiate provision of oral contraception (OC) and to continue the provision of OC supplies initiated in primary care (including general practice and pharmacies) or sexual health clinics and equivalent. Both initiation and ongoing supply will be undertaken using PGDs to support the review and supply process
- establish an integrated pathway between existing services and community pharmacies that provides people with greater choice and access when considering starting or continuing their current form of OC
The service specification and associated PGDs for the extended Pharmacy Contraception Service can be found at: NHS England » NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service Tier 1 – Ongoing supply of oral contraception.
Registration for the Pharmacy Contraception Service
Pharmacy contractors can register to provide the extended Advanced Service from 1 December 2023 via the Manage Your Service (MYS) system.
In order to register for the service pharmacy contractors are required to meet all of the terms of the specification including competence requirements of staff (which may involve completion of training).
Pharmacy contractors must use an approved IT system for service delivery.
Service delivery can begin once these requirements have been met, and registration via MYS has been completed.
Contractors registered for NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service before 1 December 2023.
If you are a contractor who has registered to deliver the current Tier 1 NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service on or before 30 November 2023 you must opt-in to the new extended service via the Manage Your Service (MYS) system by 29 February 2024.
The service specification and associated PGDs for the current Tier 1 service can be found below and should be used by contractors until such time they have opted-in to the new extended service as outlined above.
Read the current specification and Patient Group Directions (PGD):
- NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service Specification - (PDF: 483KB)
- Progestogen Only Contraceptive Pill (POP) PGD - (PDF: 406KB)
- Combined Oral Hormonal Contraceptive (COC) PGD - (PDF: 515KB)
Claiming for the Contraception Service.
Pharmacy contractors who have registered for the service will be able to submit a claim for the reimbursement of products supplied and fees for consultations provided. These claims will be submitted on the MYS system. Reimbursement for products supplied and consultations provided will take place in the prescription month of when the claims were submitted. For example, claims in December 2023 will be reimbursed alongside the December 2023 prescription month.