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The requirement to provide one Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring consultation per month as part of the 'bundling' requirements to achieve a Pharmacy First fixed monthly payment is not going head from 1 October as originally planned, Community Pharmacy England has announced.

DHSC and NHS England have agreed to the delay following CPE representations, as many pharmacy owners and their teams report that they struggle to get patients to agree to ABPM following a high clinic blood pressure reading.

CPE says it has been sharing this evidence with DHSC and NHS England over the last few months. “While the decision by Ministers provides little notice to pharmacy owners of this change, we hope the news will be welcomed by them,” says CPE.

As committed to in the 2025/26 contractual settlement, NHS England is reviewing the use of home blood pressure monitoring to further support the diagnosis of hypertension. “The future addition of this to the Hypertension Case-finding Service (HCFS) could be an appropriate way to meet the needs of patients who cannot tolerate or reject the offer of ABPM, whilst also reflecting the way many general practices choose to confirm a diagnosis of hypertension,” says CPE.

The negotiator says it will continue to discuss the issues with DHSC and NHS England over the coming weeks as part of the wider review of the HCFS requirements committed to in the 2025/26 contractual settlement.