New Medicine Service (NMS)

This webpage provides information on the New Medicine Service (NMS), which commenced on 1st October 2011. NMS was the fourth Advanced Service to be added to the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF).

The service provides support for people with long-term conditions newly prescribed a medicine to help improve medicines adherence; it is focused on specific patient groups and conditions.

In October 2025, the service was expanded to include depression as an eligible therapeutic area. The service specification was also updated to amend the wording around the timing of Intervention and Follow up consultations, as well as amendments added to clarify that subcontracting of the service is not allowed (which was highlighted to all pharmacy owners at the time of the CPCF settlement announcement in March 2025).

Latest update

As part of negotiations on the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) arrangements for 2026/27, we secured DHSC and NHS England agreement that a late claim period will be introduced for the NMS. This will be introduced later in 2026 and will allow a 2-month late claim window, giving pharmacy owners a total of 3 months to claim. We will notify pharmacy owners when the implementation date is confirmed.