New Medicine Service (NMS)

Free pharmacist support for the first few weeks of a new medicine. Two follow-up consultations included. Reduces side effects, improves adherence, and means you actually get the benefit of the medicine your doctor prescribed.

Why NMS exists

Up to half of all patients stop taking a new long-term medicine within the first 10 days — usually because of side effects they weren't warned about, confusion about how to take it, or just plain forgetting. The NHS funds NMS because that's a huge waste of treatment, money and health.

One in four new prescriptions ends up never being adequately used. NMS catches the problem early — at the point where a 5-minute pharmacist chat can rescue the next 20 years of treatment.

Which conditions are covered

NMS is funded for new medicines prescribed for any of these:

Asthma and COPD — particularly inhalers, where technique matters as much as dose.
Type 2 diabetes — including newer GLP-1, SGLT2 inhibitors as well as metformin and gliclazide.
Hypertension — ACE inhibitors, ARBs, calcium-channel blockers, diuretics.
Atrial fibrillation and other conditions requiring antiplatelets or anticoagulants.
Hypercholesterolaemia — newly starting a statin.
Heart failure, osteoporosis, gout, epilepsy, Parkinson's, urinary incontinence, glaucoma — new NICE-listed medicines in these areas.

If you're newly prescribed a medicine and you're not sure if NMS covers it, ask us at dispensing. We check eligibility automatically.

How NMS works at Hyde Park

Trigger: you collect a new prescription — at the counter, online, or via delivery — for a qualifying medicine. We'll identify it during the safety check.
5-minute enrolment chat with the pharmacist when you collect. We explain the service, confirm your phone number, agree the timing of follow-ups.
First follow-up: 7-14 days after starting. By phone or in person. The pharmacist asks how you're getting on, checks for side effects, technique, any practical issues.
Second follow-up: 14-21 days after the first. Same format. By now most side effects have settled or we've identified ones that need attention.
If we identify a problem — wrong dose, unmanageable side effects, drug interactions you weren't told about — we discuss options with you and feed back to your GP via NHSmail.
Service ends at week 4. By that point, most patients are settled into long-term success with the medicine, or we've adjusted the plan.

Why bother — what NMS actually achieves. NHS England's evaluation found NMS improves adherence by 10-20 percentage points over usual care. That translates to lower hospitalisation rates, better disease control, fewer complications. It's one of the most cost-effective NHS pharmacy services ever introduced.

Already on the medicine for more than 4 weeks? NMS only covers the first 4 weeks of a new medicine. If you're past that and struggling, ask us about a Structured Medication Review (SMR) — your GP may be able to refer you, and we contribute as the dispensing pharmacy.