PCN Pharmacist Support for Primary Care Networks
Managing pharmacy provision across a Primary Care Network means balancing different practices, patient populations, workloads and priorities while making the best use of your available clinical capacity.
The Medicines Management Team (TMMT) provides managed PCN Pharmacist Support built around your network. We can provide clinical pharmacists, independent prescribers and pharmacy technicians, allocate capacity across member practices and manage the training, supervision and ongoing support behind the service.
Whether you need additional pharmacy capacity, support for existing staff or a managed team to deliver PCN-wide priorities, we’ll work with you to build the right model.
Clinical Hours
GP Practices
Medication reviews completed
PCNs
Pharmacy Support Built Around Your PCN
No two PCNs are the same. The right pharmacy model depends on the number and size of your member practices, the team you already have, the work that needs to be delivered and the funding available.
We work with you to agree the appropriate mix of clinicians and how their time should be used across the network. This might include:
Independent Prescribing Pharmacists
Supporting medication management, prescription signing and medicines-related queries, alongside clinical support for the wider pharmacy team.
Clinical Pharmacists
Undertaking medication reviews, long-term condition reviews, medicines optimisation, safety work, CQC searches and agreed PCN targets.
Pharmacy Technicians
Supporting medicines reconciliation, medication requests, CQC-related work and medicines optimisation priorities.
A typical team might include one or two pharmacists — such as an independent prescriber alongside a non-prescribing pharmacist — with pharmacy technician capacity added according to your requirements and budget. Responsibilities are always matched to each clinician’s qualifications, competence and agreed scope of practice
One PCN, Different Practices, One Flexible Service
Being part of the same network doesn’t mean every practice operates in the same way.
Member practices may have different list sizes, workloads, clinical systems and ways of working. TMMT adapts the service around those differences while giving your PCN the flexibility to use pharmacy capacity where it is most valuable.
Depending on your requirements, we can:
- Allocate capacity by practice – for example, according to patient list size, workload or local priorities.
- Use fixed or flexible hours – from regular allocated sessions to more adaptable capacity.
- Move capacity where it’s needed – such as temporarily prioritising a practice with a backlog or specific project.
- Rotate clinicians between practices – allowing defined work to be completed before capacity moves elsewhere.
- Pool appropriate work centrally – where shared systems and workflows make PCN-wide delivery more efficient.
These approaches can also be combined within the same service.
Practice-Based, Centralised or Blended Support
Practice-based
Clinicians work within individual practices, using their existing systems and processes
Centralised
Suitable work is delivered through a shared PCN service where systems and governance allow
Blended
Practice-based delivery is combined with selected workstreams pooled across the network
Flexible Workflows
Processes can be standardised PCN-wide while retaining useful practice-specific ways of working
Our Work Process
TMMT provides more than pharmacy capacity. We can manage how that capacity is introduced, supported and reviewed across your network.
Plan
We agree your priorities, required clinical skills and how capacity should be allocated.
Integrate
We learn how individual member practices operate and onboard clinicians around their systems, workflows and expectations.
Support & Deliver
TMMT provides training, clinical supervision and ongoing support while the pharmacy team delivers the agreed work.
Review & Adapt
We review progress and adjust capacity, workflows or priorities as your PCN’s requirements change.
Before delivery, TMMT can meet member practices individually to understand their local processes. The approach is to support existing ways of working first, then identify opportunities to streamline or standardise where there is a clear benefit.
Deliver PCN Targets & Medicines Priorities
Your pharmacy team can be directed towards the work your PCN needs to deliver, including:
- Structured Medication Reviews
- Medicines optimisation
- Polypharmacy and deprescribing
- Long-term condition reviews
- Cardiovascular medicines optimisation
- Medicines safety and high-risk prescribing
- QOF improvement
- Local PCN and ICB medicines priorities
TMMT can support the management behind this work too. We can help establish a delivery plan, attend Teams meetings, monitor progress, update practices and key stakeholders, and liaise with medicines optimisation teams where required.
Support for Your Existing PCN Pharmacy Team
You don’t need to replace your existing pharmacy workforce to use TMMT.
Our clinicians can work alongside pharmacists and pharmacy technicians already employed by your PCN. TMMT can also provide additional support with areas such as clinical leadership, training, workload management, workflows and PCN target delivery.
This gives you the flexibility to strengthen your existing team as well as bring in additional TMMT capacity.
Monitor Delivery Across Your PCN
Managing pharmacy provision across several practices requires visibility of what’s being delivered and where improvements could be made.
TMMT combines activity data with clinical and qualitative audit to monitor areas such as:
- Progress against agreed targets
- Activity and capacity
- Clinical interventions
- Failed patient contacts
- Clinician efficiency
- Trends, errors and opportunities for shared learning
Our data analytics team can use this information to identify patterns and investigate differences in performance or workflows, while qualitative audit adds clinical context. This helps keep PCN leaders informed while giving TMMT the information needed to improve delivery.
Clinical Pharmacist Support in Practice
Inclusive Health PCN: From 2 FTE to 7 FTE
TMMT began supporting Inclusive Health PCN in 2023 with 2 FTE pharmacists shared across seven GP practices.
Because the practices operated differently, TMMT met them separately and tailored delivery around their individual workflows. As the service developed, pharmacist provision grew to 7 FTE in 2026 — one pharmacist per practice.
The PCN Manager and Clinical Directors set the key priorities, while TMMT manages the workflows, training and coordination required to deliver them across the network. Work has included medication reviews, long-term condition reviews, QOF and PCN targets.
More Than 10,000 QOF Reviews
The supplied case study reports delivery across approximately 40,000 patients, including:
- 1,925 Asthma Reviews
- 436 AF Reviews
- 518 COPD Reviews
- 1,988 Cholesterol Reviews
- 306 Heart Failure Reviews
- 4,986 Hypertension Reviews
Together, these represent more than 10,000 QOF reviews.
Flexible Capacity as Your PCN Changes
Your pharmacy requirements don’t have to remain static.
Capacity can be adjusted as workloads, workforce availability and priorities change — whether you need to redistribute hours between practices, cover sickness or vacancies, address a backlog, increase capacity for a project or expand support across the network.
TMMT normally works with agreed hours and a three-month notice period, while retaining flexibility to review requirements and agree a new plan when circumstances change.
PCN Pharmacist Support FAQs
Build a Pharmacy Service Around Your PCN
Whether you need pharmacists across several practices, additional support for your existing team or a managed service to deliver PCN-wide priorities, we’ll build the model around your network.
We’ll look at your member practices, patient populations, existing workforce, available capacity and priorities before agreeing how the service should be structured.