NHS UK (formerly NHS Choices)
The NHS website
Its pages include directories of local health services, information on a wide range of conditions and treatments and accessible public health information. This includes a profile for most pharmacies in England, with information on the location, contact details, services provided, accessibility and opening hours of the pharmacy.
The site also provides comparative data about healthcare providers, to help people make informed choices about their healthcare and allows patients to provide online feedback on services. This includes feedback on pharmacies and pharmacy contractors have the ability to post responses to feedback received on their pharmacy profile.
The NHS website also includes a Medicines A-Z directory at nhs.uk/medicines which has more than two million visitors each month. The directory offers patient-friendly information on commonly-used medicines, with guidance on dosage to management of side effects. Information within the directory is aligned to that included within the product’s patient information leaflet, but often presented in a more accessible way. Many community pharmacists have found this a useful resource to refer patients to following discussions on a medicine in the pharmacy.
Please click here to visit PSNC for more info on the following:
- Pharmacy contractor’s duty to keep their profile up to date
- Registering to edit your pharmacy profile
- Updating your pharmacy profile
- Pharmacy profiles for Distance Selling Pharmacies (DSPs)
- Replying to patient feedback left on your pharmacy profile
- Flu vaccine service finder option for patients
- Sexual health service finder option for patients
- FAQs
DoS Updater and NHS website editor to be replaced soon
Contractors currently use two different NHS systems to ensure their pharmacy details are up to date in the NHS 111 Directory of Services (DoS) and on the NHS website: the NHS website profile editor and the DoS Profile Updater. Both of these tools are due to be replaced by a new tool, called NHS Profile Manager, which is scheduled for release in early March 2022.
To prepare for this change, pharmacy contractors or team members should register for the new NHS Profile Manager with their personal NHSmail address as soon as possible.