The New Medicine Service (NMS) is a well-established advanced pharmacy service. The NMS is based on evidence which suggests that pharmacists can successfully intervene when a medicine is newly prescribed, with repeated follow-up in the short term, to increase effective medicine-taking for the treatment of a long-term condition.1
When the NMS was first launched, the therapeutic areas covered were hypertension, type 2 diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and antiplatelet therapy. A health economic analysis of the NMS in 2017 concluded that it would be beneficial to extend this service to other medicines.2 In September 2021, the conditions and therapeutic areas were updated to include asthma and COPD, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, osteoporosis, gout, glaucoma, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, urinary incontinence/retention, heart failure, acute coronary syndromes, stroke/transient ischemic attack, coronary heart disease, atrial fibrillation and long-term risks of venous thromboembolism/embolism.
From 2017 to 2018, approximately 7.3 million people (17 percent of adults) were prescribed antidepressants in England. It is estimated that about a third of these are newly prescribed. This represents a large cohort that could benefit from the NMS service. There is evidence to suggest that community pharmacists may have a role in improving adherence in the context of depression; therefore, a Pharmacy Integration Programme pilot has been developed to evaluate the potential inclusion of antidepressants in the NMS.
On this page, you will find a collection of resources to support you in your preparation for delivering this service. We recommend that you familiarise yourself with the service specification, which can be found under the first tab below, before working through the mandatory learning. If you feel that you would benefit from further reading, then we recommend that you access the optional further reading resources, which are broken down into topic areas.
Please note: Contractors eligible to take part in this pilot will be contacted by their NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSEI) regional team.
Click on the following tabs to find further information and directions on how to access the training.
The Antidepressants New Medicine Service – service specification provides further background information, aims and intended outcomes, and details around service provision. Click the button below to download the service specification.
Antidepressants New Medicine Service – service specificationThere are five learning resources that have been identified as key to preparing for the delivery of this service, and these resources are therefore mandatory learning.
The CPPE Consulting with people with mental health problems e-learning will help you to consider what is different about consulting with people with mental health problems, and how you can prepare for and approach these consultations so that people get the most benefit from them.
This learning takes an estimated three hours to complete.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists Antidepressants information page is for anyone who wants to know more about antidepressants. It describes how they work, why they are prescribed, their effects and side effects, and alternative treatments
The Royal College of Psychiatrists Anxiety, panic and phobias information page is for anyone who wants to understand more about anxiety.
This information takes up to an estimated two hours to work through (one hour per page).
The following five videos have been developed specifically for this Antidepressants New Medicine Service pilot.
Nick Barber is Emeritus Professor of Pharmacy at the School of Pharmacy, University of London. Throughout his career Nick has helped to shape the way that the profession supports people with medicines adherence and the New Medicine Service is based on 15 years of his research.
Nina Barnett is a consultant pharmacist and clinical leader with expertise in older people. She has pioneered the use of coaching in pharmacy to promote a person-centred approach to medicines-related consultations. As well as her pharmacy roles, Nina is a coach on the NHS England #lookingafteryoutoo wellbeing programme.
Nicola Greenhalgh is the lead pharmacist for Mental Health Services at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. Nicola provides expert insight into how the challenges of having conversations about depression and antidepressant treatment can be navigated.
You will find a summary of the key learning points on a slide at the end of each of the videos.
In this short video, we meet Emma. She is struggling to balance her work life with caring for her family, and is finding it hard to sleep. See how she gets on when she meets Georgina, the pharmacist, to discuss her mental health.
This video is 6 minutes and 36 seconds long.
As a pre-requisite, you should have already undertaken ZSA Suicide Awareness Training as part of the Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2020/2021. If you have not already completed this training, you should do so now.This learning aims to give you the skills and confidence to help someone who may be considering suicide, and focuses on breaking stigma and encouraging open conversations.
This learning takes an estimated 20 minutes to complete.
Please note that ZSA also offer information on how to get urgent help for those at risk of suicide.
At this stage, you may wish to test yourself and gain an understanding of your level of knowledge on the above mandatory learning. Depending on your existing level of knowledge and experience, you may also wish to undertake further learning.
To help you to direct your learning, we have developed a Test yourself quiz – completing this quiz is not a requirement for this service; however, it can be used as a tool to help you direct your own learning. Once you have completed the quiz, you may wish to visit the topic area(s) relevant to your personal learning needs. This may mean that you choose to revisit the mandatory learning materials and/or the optional further reading outlined below.
If you have identified further learning needs that relate to the clinical elements of delivering this service, then you may benefit from accessing the following resources.
The MHRA Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) learning module identifies the most important hazards of SSRIs and informs on actions that health professionals should take in order to minimise and manage the risks. This learning takes an estimated two hours to complete, and the associated assessment takes an estimated 30 minutes.
HEE has commissioned the Framework of core mental health competencies for all pharmacy professionals to raise awareness of the role that all pharmacy professionals can play in providing accessible services that allow an open dialogue around mental health.
The CKS Depression topic covers the assessment and management of adults with depression in primary care. The Prescribing information section contains important aspects of prescribing information for the medicines covered by the topic. The information is relevant to primary care.
The CPPE Mental health cards distance learning programme is designed for pharmacy professionals in all areas of practice to gain new insights into different areas of mental health, and how you, in your own setting and practice, can make a difference to people with these, often invisible, conditions.
The CPPE Documenting in patient clinical records e-learning programme will support you with documenting in patient clinical records to enable continuity of patient care in integrated local services.
The following CPPE videos share insights into emphasising the experience of people living with anxiety and improving how pharmacy professionals could support people in their practice. As you watch them consider, how you have interacted with people experiencing anxiety and how you could consider their comments and suggestions to improve your practice moving forwards.
If you have identified further learning needs that relate to the resources that are available for patients, then you may benefit from accessing the following resources.
Mind UK is a registered charity that provides advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem.
In Mind’s Living with depression: my experience, Amy shares her experience of living with depression.
Mind also offer information about depression for people living with this condition, and for their friends and family.
The Charlie Waller Trust offers a selection of video training sessions produced by their experienced mental health trainers. Within these sessions, the trainers explore strategies for maintaining positive mental health, paying attention to our own wellbeing and supporting those around us.
The NHS offers the following pages aimed at members of the public:
Treatment – clinical depression contains information about the different treatment options available for the different types of depression.
Overview – antidepressants contains information about antidepressants, including how they work and the different types that are available.
If you have identified further learning needs that relate to the commissioning of this service, then you may benefit from accessing the following resource.
The NHS Mental Health Implementation Plan 2019/20 – 2023/24 provides details about a new framework for helping to deliver on the commitment to pursue the most ambitious transformation in mental health care, at the local level.
At CPPE, we offer consultation skills learning to help you ensure that both you and the people you consult with are getting the most from your consultations. Our Consultation skills: face-to-face and remote learning gateway contains key resources to support you
Consultation skills: face-to-face and remoteThis NHS England guide supports teams who are seeking to improve their health and wellbeing.
Any queries about this service should be directed to england england.pharmacyintegration@nhs.net.
