NHS England is proposing to provide financial support to pharmacy system suppliers if they commit to develop all the APIs and, where appropriate, the ‘front-end’ systems for new clinical services to be delivered by community pharmacies.

NHSE has not yet got full approval for the business case to undertake this work, but once it is obtained, they will work with the NHS Business Services Authority and system suppliers to develop detailed plans for the programme, PSNC’s service development subcommittee was told at its February meeting.

NHSE is expecting that the ‘focus of development’ will just be on the four suppliers that have already developed CPCS compliant systems. If other suppliers want to participate in the programme, they will be able to do so, but would first need to be compliant with the CPCS requirements.

The Pharmacy Contraception Service is the first API to be developed in the programme to ensure the service can launch with supporting IT in place.