Community pharmacy cholesterol testing pilot & conclusion

A Barts Health NHS Trust pilot of community pharmacy-based cholesterol testing has been expanded to include 70 pharmacies across East London, following its launch in November 2024 with just one pharmacy.  

The project brings together primary and secondary care teams working at a neighbourhood level to help address CVD prevention. They are using POCT to measure cholesterol levels to inform an estimate of heart risk over the next 10 years in a seven-minute test. 

The pilot is a collaboration between Barts, NHS North East London, Community Pharmacy North East London, UCL Partners and Heart UK. 

In the initial pilot, around one in five people tested were identified as being at raised cardiovascular risk, many of whom would not otherwise have accessed timely lipid testing through traditional routes. This allowed for immediate clinical conversations, risk stratification and onward management rather than delayed referral.

The project team said that early results “strongly suggest that a nationally commissioned cholesterol POCT service in community pharmacies is both feasible and impactful, complementing existing NHS prevention programmes and supporting the broader shift towards proactive, population-based cardiovascular care”. 

Conclusion

This module has focused on cholesterol as a modifiable risk factor for CVD and has outlined the role of pharmacy technicians in identifying and supporting people at increased cardiovascular risk.

It has also explored future opportunities for community pharmacy, including cholesterol testing, CVD risk assessment, and the prescribing, monitoring, and optimisation of lipid-lowering therapies.