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.

Just started a new medicine? Ask us to enrol you — free Call 0113 244 1551 or mention it at the counter. We check eligibility automatically. Step · Free Nominate Hyde Park as your pharmacy → So your new prescriptions come to us and we can enrol you automatically.

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.