The NHS New Medicine Service (NMS) is an advanced service, through which community pharmacists provide structured support to people, or their carers, about newly prescribed medicines for a range of conditions and promote lifestyle changes or other non-pharmacological interventions to enhance well-being.
The service began in October 2011, and in October 2021, the range of conditions and therapeutic areas eligible for the NMS was significantly expanded. In October 2025, the service was expanded further to include depression. The conditions and therapeutic areas now eligible for the service are:
| Asthma and COPD | Diabetes (Type 2) | Hypertension | Hypercholesterolaemia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Osteoporosis | Gout | Glaucoma | Epilepsy |
| Parkinson’s disease | Urinary incontinence/retention | Heart failure | Acute coronary syndromes |
| Stroke and transient ischaemic attack | Coronary heart disease | Atrial fibrillation | Long term risks of venous thromboembolism/embolism |
| Depression (only those ≥ 18 years of age) | |||
For each condition and therapeutic area, a list of medicines has been published (please see the Drug Tariff and NHS BSA website).
Community Pharmacy England offers a New Medicine Service hub page with further supporting information.
This page has been developed to support you to become ready to provide the NMS or, if you are already providing the NMS, to support you to familiarise yourself with the expanded service. We start by offering background information and learning, then, we signpost to key clinical learning on each of the above topics. We link to consultation skills and personalised care resources, to help you ensure that your consultations are as effective as they can be.
The final section provides further learning resources specifically to help you develop your knowledge, skills and confidence to support people initiated on antidepressants for depression.
Select the dropdown menu items to learn more.
If you are new to the provision of the NMS and would like some background information, or wish to refresh your knowledge, you can access the New medicine service e-learning programme. This programme aims to give you an understanding of how the NMS should be delivered in a person-centred, effective way as part of your day-to-day practice.
The Advanced Service Specification – NHS New Medicine Service provides background information, the aims and intended outcomes of the service and the details around service provision. It was updated alongside the changes to the service in October 2025 and we recommend that you familiarise yourself with it before delivering the service.
Advanced Service Specification – NHS New Medicine ServiceBefore you can provide the NMS, you need to complete the NMS self-assessment of readiness framework which assures you, your employer and the NHS, that you have reflected upon the skills and knowledge necessary to provide the NMS, and that you can demonstrate them.
NMS – self-assessment of readiness frameworkWe recognise that in addition to learning about the background to the NMS, you may be looking to refresh your knowledge of the conditions and therapeutic areas eligible for the service.
At CPPE, we have a series of gateway pages linked to the clinical conditions. On each page, we have collected key learning materials you can use to update your knowledge. We link to the latest CPPE programmes on each clinical topic, and signpost to external resources to help you keep up to date.
The antiplatelet/anticoagulant therapy group that was included in the NMS originally is now included in the above list by reference to the underlying condition/reason for prescribing. If you would like to refresh your knowledge of anticoagulation then we offer the following additional gateway page:
AnticoagulationThe CPPE Mental health learning gateway offers learning resources across a range of mental health conditions, including depression, and provides tools and resources for you and people who use your services. Additional learning resources related to depression can be found in the Depression – resources to support your NHS New Medicine Service consultations section below.
Once you have an up-to-date understanding of the NMS, and feel confident on each of the clinical topic areas, you may wish to think about your consultation skills and how you provide personalised care.
At CPPE, we offer consultation skills learning to help you ensure that both you and the people that you consult with are getting the most from your consultations. As with clinical topics above, we run a learning gateway that links to key resources to support you.
Consultation skills: face-to-face and remoteIn addition to considering your consultation skills, you may want to consider how you provide personalised care, specifically shared decision making. Personalised care and shared decision making are core elements of the NHS 10 Year Health plan for England: Fit for the future. Shared decision making is linked to improved outcomes for patients and puts people at the centre of their own care, making them experts in their own healthcare decisions. There are several shared decision making programmes available. They are of varying lengths and can all be used to support your learning in this area.
The CPPE Shared decision making programme consists of a six unit, self-directed e-course and two ‘virtual kitbags’, which are a collection of resources to support application of your learning to practice. Completion time is approximately 30 hours. It is open to all pharmacy professionals working in a patient-facing role in England. The aim of this course is to create a culture shift in practice, by supporting pharmacists to embed shared decision making, as part of personalised care.
CPPE Shared decision making programmeNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) offer Shared decision making guidance and a supportive learning package developed with Keele University. The NICE/Keele University Shared decision making learning package consists of six online modules and takes approximately four hours to complete.
NICE learning packageThe Personalised Care Institute offers a 30-minute online Shared decision making e-learning programme. This e-learning aligns to the Personalised Care Institute curriculum, and covers aspects of the core capabilities to communicate and build relationships, and to engage, enable and support people.
Personalised Care Institute Shared decision making e-learningIn 2024/25, approximately 8.89 million people were prescribed antidepressants in England.1 It is estimated that about a third of these are newly prescribed. Adherence to medicines prescribed for depression is reported to drop from 95.5 to 52.6 percent over a one-month period.2
In this section, you will find a collection of resources to support you to deliver the NMS to people newly prescribed antidepressants for depression.
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 NHS New Medicine Service is based on 15 years of his research.
Nina Barnett was a consultant pharmacist and clinical leader with expertise in older people. She pioneered the use of coaching in pharmacy to promote a person-centred approach to medicines-related consultations. As well as her pharmacy roles, Nina was a coach on the NHS England #lookingafteryoutoo wellbeing programme.
Nicola Greenhalgh is the Deputy Chief Pharmacist at Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, and Vice President of the College of Mental Health Pharmacy. 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.
CPPE Consulting with people with mental health problems e-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.
CPPE Depression: having meaningful conversations – focal point online workshop
The CPPE Depression: having meaningful conversations focal point workshop will help you to develop your skills and confidence in using a person-centred approach to having conversations with people about depression.
Zero Suicide Alliance (ZSA) Suicide Awareness Training
You may have undertaken ZSA Suicide Awareness Training as part of the Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2020/2021. If you have not already completed this training, 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: ZSA also offer information on how to get urgent help for those at risk of suicide.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Depression in adults: treatment and management
The NICE guideline [NG222]: Depression in adults: treatment and management covers identifying, treating and managing depression in people aged 18 and over.
Royal College of Psychiatrists Antidepressants
The Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Antidepressants information page is for anyone who wants to know more about antidepressants. It describes how antidepressants work, why they are prescribed, their effects and side effects, and alternative treatments.
This information takes up to an estimated one hour to work through.
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) learning module
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.
Health Education England (HEE) Framework of core mental health competencies for all pharmacy professionals
HEE 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.
NICE Clinical Knowledge Summary (CKS): Depression: prescribing information
The Depression CKS 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.
CPPE Documenting in patient clinical records e-learning
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.
Royal College of Psychiatrists Depression in adults
The Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Depression in adults information leaflet is for anyone who has been feeling down, distressed, overwhelmed or hopeless, who feels like they are struggling and who thinks they may have depression. We hope it will also be helpful for relatives and friends.
Mind UK
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.
NHS information pages
The NHS offers the following pages aimed at members of the public:
Treatment – Depresssion in adults contains information about the different treatment options available for the different types of depression.
Antidepressants contains information about antidepressants, including how they work and the different types that are available.
The NHS Looking after your team’s health and wellbeing guide supports teams who are seeking to improve their health and wellbeing.
1NHSBSA. Medicines used in mental health – England – 2015/16 to 2024/25. 24 July 2025.
2Elliott RA, Boyd MJ, Salema N, et al. Supporting adherence for people starting a new medication for a long-term condition through community pharmacies: a pragmatic randomised controlled trial of the New Medicine Service. BMJ Quality & Safety. 2016;25:747-758.
