The Professional Record Standards Body (PRSB) has expanded its community pharmacy information standard to reflect growing integration between pharmacies and GPs.

The PRSB said that as the role of community pharmacists expands it is becoming increasingly important to ensure that it's important to ensure information collected at a community pharmacy can be shared digitally with GP practices.

While the original set of standards published in 2018 included information on vaccinations and other services being piloted as part of the Pharmacy Integration Fund programme, the updated standards – which were commissioned by NHS England & NHS Improvement – reflect the growing range of services being offered by community pharmacies.

Services such as the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service and the Discharge Medicines Service were added in January. The latest updates include services to quit smoking, hypertension testing in the community, contraception services, hepatitis C testing, sore throat support and palliative care services.  

Vaughan Lewis, South East regional medical director at NHS E&I said: “Following the success of digital flu vaccination notifications, we welcome these new updates to the PRSB pharmacy standard. Secure, digitised information sharing between systems is an integral part of delivering high quality, connected care in the community and we look forward to seeing the benefits to patients with both long-term conditions and acute episodes of care that can be safely and effectively managed in local pharmacies.” 

Professor Claire Anderson, chair of Royal Pharmaceutical Society's English Pharmacy Board, added: “The standards will support integrated care across systems as pharmacists expand their clinical role. At last, information from discussions with patients and interventions made by pharmacists can be shared with GPs and other care professionals, so everyone involved in their care has a full picture of their health.”