NMS Overview

This topic tells you about the New medicine service (NMS) support that is available in Pharmacy Manager.

The New Medicine Service (NMS) is the fourth Advanced Service to be added to the NHS community pharmacy contract in England; it commenced on 1st October 2011.

This new service aims to improve medication compliance/adherence amongst patients with long-term conditions in order to maximize the benefits of the medicines prescribed, it is initially focused on particular patient groups and conditions.

Community Pharmacy England (PSNC) and NHS Employers envisage that the successful implementation of NMS will:

  • improve patient adherence which will generally lead to better health outcomes

  • increase patient engagement with their condition and medicines, supporting patients in making decisions about their treatment and self- management

  • reduce medicines wastage

  • reduce hospital admissions due to adverse events from medicines

  • lead to increased Yellow Card reporting of adverse reactions to medicines by pharmacists and patients, thereby supporting improved pharmacovigilance

  • receive positive assessment from patients

  • improve the evidence base on the effectiveness of the service

  • support the development of outcome and/or quality measures for community pharmacy.

See NMS categories for details.
Note - It is important to note that payment for providing the NMS is not made on a per completed NMS episode basis. Instead payment is based on the performance of each pharmacy in maximising the completions achieved from the expected NMS opportunities. Pharmacy Manager does not provide any reports for submitting to the authorities. Furthermore, pharmacy records for the service will have to be maintained to support the delivery of the service and audit. Pharmacy Manager does not provide either scheduling functionality for patient consultations or follow-up appointments, nor the means of recording outcomes of any such patient appointments.
Note - NMS is only available through pharmacies in England.
To enable the New Medicine Service, see Pharmacy Details - Checking.