As a part of a range of pilots in the pipeline involving community pharmacy, NHS England is preparing to test the inclusion of depression in the new medicine service. The new medicine service was established in 2011 and enables community pharmacists to help patients who have been prescribed medicines across numerous therapy areas, including gout, osteoporosis, glaucoma and heart failure.

As part of the deal for the 3rd year of the five year community pharmacy contract, the service was increased to 16 therapy areas in August 2021 from 4.

“NHS England is preparing to test the inclusion of depression in a new medicine service.“

Antidepressants should be included in services like the NMS, according to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS). In October 2021, NHS England revealed that it was contemplating adding depression to its list of covered diseases.

Chief pharmaceutical officer for England, David Webb, stated: “Community pharmacy has been delivering impressive results for patients and community pharmacy colleagues. It’s hugely positive to see the growing confidence everyone has in community pharmacy, with more pharmacy integration programme pilots already underway and several more in the pipeline. The pilots shown on this slide are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of opportunity, once independent prescribing becomes mainstream.”

Chair of the RPS in England, Thorrun Govind, stated: “Optimal use of prescribed medicines is vital to the management of depression, and we want to see people with mental health problems benefit from the service like other patient groups. We had previously stated our view that the exclusion of mental health medicines from the NMS was a significant omission. This news will now hopefully lead to better integration of pharmacists into the patient pathway and increase access to expert medicines support for people diagnosed with a mental health condition.”