NHS priorities

Whether it’s to prepare for the next Pharmacy Quality Scheme deadline, or to increase your confidence in helping people with a learning disability, this section provides topic-specific pages that link to current NHS priorities. This section will support you in keeping your knowledge and skills up to date in order to provide high-quality pharmacy services and be service-ready.

 Antimicrobial resistance
 Child health
 Consultation skills: face-to-face and remote
 Culturally competent person-centred care
 Digital healthcare
 Education
 Environmental sustainability
 Genomics
 Health and Justice pharmacy (prisons and secure environments)
 Leadership
 Learning disabilities
 Management
 Medication review
 Medicines reconciliation
 Older people
 Patient safety
 Pharmacy technicians
 Prescribing
 Primary care: general practice and care homes
 Repeat dispensing
 Research
 Return to practice
 Revalidation
 Safeguarding
 Sepsis
 Summary Care Records
 Transfer of care
 Urgent care

Clinical pharmacy

Our clinical portfolio is expanding on a frequent basis, helping you to advance your knowledge and skills and deliver medicines optimisation in practice for all sectors of pharmacy.

 Acute coronary syndromes
 Anticoagulation
 Atrial fibrillation and arrhythmias
 Biochemistry
 Cancer
 Coronary heart disease: Stable angina
 Dementia
 Dermatology
 Diabetes (type 1)
 Diabetes (type 2)
 Epilepsy
 Gastrointestinal
 Glaucoma
 Gout
 Heart failure
 Hypercholesterolaemia
 Hypertension
 Infections
 Liver
 Mental health
 Minor ailments
 Musculoskeletal
 Neurology
 Nutrition, medicines and myths: evolution of pharmacy practice
 Osteoporosis
 Pain
 Palliative care
 Parkinson's disease
 Renal
 Respiratory
 Stroke and transient ischaemic attack
 Urinary incontinence and retention
 Venous thromboembolism and embolism

Public health

The public health agenda is embedded in pharmacy, yet topics such as emergency contraception or stop smoking support are as prevalent as ever. As well as our public health workshops, use this section to access a wide range of resources to assure and maintain your competence, all underpinned by the Declaration of Competence system.

 Alcohol
 Contraception
 Emergency hormonal contraception
 Health Checks
 Healthy Living Pharmacies
 Immunisation
 Menopause
 Men's Health
 Oral health
 Sexual health
 Smoking
 Substance misuse
 Weight management
 Women's Health

Learning programmes and assessments

Back to programme listings

e-learning

NHS New Medicine Service (NMS)


  • Released: 11/2025
  • Reviewed: 11/2025
  • Study time: 2h:0m
    •
Login to access

In this programme we consider the role of the NHS New Medicine Service in optimising the use of prescribed medicines to support self-management of eligible conditions. We consider why a person may choose not to take their medicine as intended and explore ways to deliver a person-centred consultation to achieve shared decision-making.

The aim of this learning programme is to support you to deliver effective, person-centred consultations for the NHS New Medicine Service.

Learning outcomes

On completion of all aspects of this learning programme you should be able to:

  • explain the background, evidence base and objectives of the NHS New Medicine Service 
  • describe the requirements to provide the NHS New Medicine Service
  • apply a person-centred approach to recruiting and consulting with a person for the NHS New Medicine Service
  • determine when a person may need to be referred to another healthcare provider
  • describe the documentation requirements when conducting NHS New Medicine Service consultations 
  • evaluate your consultation skills when providing the NHS New Medicine Service.

How to use this programme

You can access this e-learning programme using a web browser on any device. You will need to be connected to the internet while you work through it.

Learning intended for

  • Pharmacists
  • Pharmacy technicians
  • Trainee pharmacists
  • CPPE registrants