The Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) forms part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF). The 2026/27 PQS rewards community pharmacy contractors that deliver quality criteria in two domains:
CPPE offer and signpost to learning and assessments supporting you in achieving criteria relating to the PQS 2026/27 Medicines Optimisation and Patient Safety domain.
To qualify for the PQS 2026/27, pharmacy contractors must meet the gateway criterion. Before you start any learning or assessment, you may wish to access the Drug Tariff PQS information which explains the criterion and the quality criteria included in the two domains.
You can find more support and resources on the Community Pharmacy England PQS Hub page.
You can find full details of the requirements for the Medicines Optimisation and Patient Safety domain in the Drug Tariff PQS information.
The following CPPE learning and assessment are linked to one quality criterion for this domain:
Evidence of completion of the e-learning and e-assessment must be between 19 February 2025 and 31 March 2027 to correspond with the change in asthma clinical guidelines and the PQS 2026/27 deadline for completing the learning.
This PQS tracker can help you quickly determine whether you have completed the assessment within the validity period.
Login to see your CPPE PQS progress shown here
Completing the learning and assessment detailed here does not mean your pharmacy is entitled to a PQS payment for this domain. Contractors need to ensure they meet all elements of this domain (as well as the gateway criterion) to be eligible to claim for the Medicines Optimisation and Patient Safety domain when they make their PQS declaration, as detailed in the Drug Tariff PQS information.
Use the items in the dropdown menus below to find out more about the relevant criteria for this domain.
7.2 million people in the UK have asthma, which is about eight in every 100 people, making it the most prevalent airway condition. The UK has the highest prevalence of asthma and allergy in the world. Despite improvements in diagnosis and treatment, asthma continues to be a global health concern. A new collaborative guideline developed jointly by the British Thoracic Society (BTS), National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) was published in November 2024 which aims to improve the accuracy of diagnosis, help people to control their asthma and reduce the risk of asthma attacks.
By the end of 31 March 2027, all pharmacists working at the pharmacy on the day of the declaration must have completed the CPPE Asthma for Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2026/27 e-learning (or Unit 4 (Asthma) of the Fundamentals of Respiratory therapeutics e-course) and successfully passed the CPPE Asthma (2026/27) e-assessment. Only completions from 19 February 2025 onwards will be accepted to ensure alignment with the latest BTS/NICE/SIGN asthma guideline.
Step one: Asthma for Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2026/27 e-learning
This e-learning improves your knowledge of asthma in line with the BTS/NICE/SIGN Joint Guideline and helps you support people living with asthma.
Step two: Asthma (2026/27) e-assessment
This e-assessment consolidates your learning from completing the Asthma for Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2026/27 e-learning and assesses you on the learning outcomes.
After passing the e-assessment, you can download a certificate of achievement from your learning record, or via the tracker. Contractors must keep a copy of the certificate for each member of staff as evidence that the e-learning and e-assessment have been completed.
Following the Charlie Marriage: Prevention of Future Deaths Report and following feedback from Controlled Drug Accountable Officers (CDAOs) on the inappropriate supply of controlled drugs, this criterion focuses on the safe management of urgent repeat medicines supply requests.
By the end of 31 March 2027, pharmacy contractors must have updated all relevant standard operating procedures (SOPs) to include specific guidance to follow in the event they are unable to respond to requests and/or urgent supplies of medicines. The updated SOPs must contain guidance on:
Completion of the following learning, published by the Specialist Pharmacy Service (SPS), is not mandated nor a requirement for the PQS 2026/27. However, pharmacy contractors may find the learning useful to support the development of SOPs to meet this domain.
Understanding time critical medicines to support improvement:
This learning resource aims to increase awareness and understanding of medicines that are more likely to cause harm if they are not taken at their intended timepoint.
Improving the safe use of time critical medicines:
This learning resource aims to support healthcare professionals in taking action to improve the safe use of time critical medicines by equipping them with tools to implement improvement interventions.
More support and resources to help you meet the requirements for this domain can be found on the Community Pharmacy England PQS Hub page.
You can find full details of the requirements for the Professional Practice domain in the Drug Tariff PQS information.
There is one quality criterion in the Professional Practice domain – Clinical services audit.
Contractors must complete a clinical audit, which will be on the quality of Pharmacy First clinical pathways consultations, to develop an action plan for improving practice. Pharmacists are required to complete a peer discussion (approximately 1 to 2 hours) focused on reviewing the findings of the audit and the action plan, with a ‘buddy’ pharmacist.
As part of the declaration for this criterion, contractors must confirm that:
Reflecting on the audit, your action plan and the peer discussion will enable you to analyse your professional practice and ensure the learnings you take from the process drive improvement within your practice for your service users.
A peer discussion is an activity that encourages you to engage with others in reflection on learning and practice. CPPE have developed resources to support you to develop your reflective practice skills.
Completion of this learning is NOT a requirement for the PQS 2026/27 – we’ve included it here to support you in improving how you reflect on your clinical practice.
CPPE Reflection e-lecture
This programme will provide you with practical tips to enable you to:
CPPE Reflective practice online workshop
This workshop will support you to gain more confidence using reflective practice as part of your developing clinical role. Attending the workshop will enable you to:
Pharmacists are required by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) to complete a peer discussion as part of their annual revalidation. The peer discussion as part of the PQS clinical services audit can be used for your revalidation submission. If you want to know more about peer discussions, the GPhC has produced some helpful guides:
More support and resources to help you meet the requirements for this domain can be found on the Community Pharmacy England PQS Hub page.
