The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published guidance covering how community pharmacies can help maintain and improve people’s physical and mental health and wellbeing, including people with long-term conditions. It also aims to encourage more people to use community pharmacies.

The guideline, NG102: Community pharmacies: promoting health and wellbeing, advises a collaborative approach, suggesting that local authorities, clinical commissioning groups and health and wellbeing boards “work together to help all community pharmacies gradually integrate into existing care and referral pathways
as health and wellbeing hubs”.

The National Pharmacy Association has welcomed the guidance, pointing out the consistencies with its own recommendations in ‘Improving Access to NHS Care By Investing in Community Pharmacy (April 2018)’ and the Community Pharmacy Forward View.