Pharmacy Quality Scheme

The Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) forms part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF).

It supports delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan and rewards community pharmacy contractors that achieve quality criteria in the three domains of healthcare quality: clinical effectiveness, patient safety and patient experience.

For details on the latest Pharmacy Quality Scheme, please click here to visit CPE.

DHSC has published the full details of the PQS on the NHSBSA website, which will give contractors as much time as possible to consider whether they want to take part in this work. NHS England has also published guidance on the 2023/24 Scheme.

Community Pharmacy England’s position remains that they do not think contractors will have the capacity to take on additional services or work.  

Aspiration payment:

The aspiration payment must be claimed between 09.00 on 4 September 2023 and 23.59 on 29 September 2023 through the NHSBSA’s MYS application.

Declaration:

Contractors can make their PQS declaration at any time during the declaration window, between 09.00 on 5 February 2024 and 23.59 on 1 March 2024.

Support from CPPE

The Pharmacy Quality Scheme support you 2023/2024 went live on 1 June 2023, and CPPE’s updated Pharmacy Quality Scheme pages will support you and your community pharmacy team to meet this year’s training requirements.

The pages include information on the domains with quality criteria requiring completion of learning and assessment. This year, there are only two domains with training requirements: Respiratory and Prevention. You can monitor your own PQS progress using CPPE’s PQS tracker, which will support you to complete the CPPE learning and assessment included in this year’s scheme.

CPPE resources and workshops June 2023 (included PQS)

Virtual Outcomes:

Free training available to Pharmacies from Virtual Outcomes, view the flyer:PQS_2023_24