Primary care bulletin - 29 October 2025

Expansion of the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service

NHS England has confirmed that the expansion of the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service to include oral emergency contraception will go live on Wednesday 29 October 2025.

IT suppliers have updated their current IT clinical systems and have been assured by NHS England to allow emergency contraception consultations to be recorded appropriately.

The clinical systems will be ready for contractors to use on Wednesday 29 October 2025.

A document contains details about the service and systems.

Windows 11 medical device compatibility and support for practices

As part of our ongoing transition to Windows 11 across north west London primary care, we wish to provide an important update regarding medical device compatibility and the support available to your practice.

Device compatibility and testing:

Our IT teams have been actively supporting practices in testing device functionality and some workarounds that have come forward. The results of these tests are as follows;

Recent testing has shown that several Welch Allyn devices—including the AM12 ECG, MDXX1 ECG, and 6100 ABPM— may successfully operate on Windows 11 desktops without requiring new cables or intervention. However, the WA 7100 ABPM still requires either a legacy driver rollback or a new USB interface cable (SKU: WA-7100-24)

Due to inconsistent testing outcomes and the requirement for legacy driver and/or USB interface rollback this is not a supported solution but rather a temporary workaround.

Practices that choose to opt in for these workarounds while procuring Windows 11-compliant solutions, do so at their own risk. Practices should note that there may service disruption should these workarounds cease to work and so NHS North West London IT cannot recommend these options. The IT team will continue to support practices on a best endeavour basis.

Refunds and financial support:

Practices that have invested in new equipment are advised to retain receipts and logs of purchases made since June 2025. While no additional funding is currently available, we are actively exploring financial support options and will escalate unresolved issues as necessary.

Next steps:

continue to verify device compatibility and consult with suppliers
consider rental or subscription models for necessary upgrades or replacements
for technical support, please email nhsnwl.medicaldevicesupport@nhs.net.

We appreciate your patience and cooperation as we work to ensure a seamless and secure transition to Windows 11, with a continued focus on cybersecurity, clinical safety and operational continuity.

Pharmacy First campaigns

As part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2025/26, pharmacy contractors are required to take part in two national health campaigns promoting Pharmacy First to the public, and two local health campaigns agreed by ICBs and Local Pharmaceutical Committees at a local level.

Thank you to community pharmacy teams for your efforts in promoting the campaigns.

This first national health campaign went live on Monday 20 October 2025 and community pharmacies should promote until 9 November 2025. Pharmacy owners can promote the Pharmacy First service to the public during this time, such as by:

displaying promotional materials at their pharmacy
information on their pharmacy’s website
information posted on their pharmacy’s social media channels
including information in emails or SMS sent to patients.

Colleagues can use these materials for their own promotional activity, which are available on the Department of Health and Social Care Campaign Resource Centre.

Annual #MedSafetyWeek campaign

The annual #MedSafetyWeek campaign takes place 3 - 9 November 2025. This year’s campaign theme is ‘we can all help make medicines safer.’

Calling all healthcare professionals to support #MedSafetyWeek 2025:

follow MHRA social media channels and share campaign content using hashtags #MHRAYellowCard, #MedSafetyWeek, #ReportSideEffects, and #patientsafety to increase the awareness of reporting
use campaign materials and other resources available on the Yellow Card website to raise awareness locally, including a digital poster for screens and for patient waiting areas
tell your colleagues and report problems with healthcare products to the Yellow Card scheme or via the Yellow Card app
inform patients about potential risks of healthcare products and what to do if they experience any side effects; this includes encouraging them to self-report using the Yellow Card scheme and the importance of reporting to improve patient safety.

Find out more on the Gov.uk website.

Sign up for the Health Equity Summit: 25 November 2025

This year’s Summit will focus on delivering health equity through the lens of neighbourhood health. It will inspire and encourage collective action to achieve equitable health outcomes for our Core20Plus5 communities across north west London, using the neighbourhood health approach.

Register here for a ticket.

Nominate your community hero – 2025 Health Equity Awards

Do you know someone making a difference in reducing health inequalities in north west London? Nominate an individual or organisation from the voluntary sector, NHS, or local authority for the North West London Integrated Care System (ICS) 2025 Health Equity Awards.

category: recognising North West London heroes who are empowering communities
domination deadline: Friday 31 October 2025, 12 noon
winners announced: 25 November 2025 at the ICS Health Equity Summit.

Submit your nomination using the nomination form. Let’s celebrate those breaking down barriers and building a fairer, healthier north west London.

Neonatal BCG protocol

The latest version of the Neonatal BCG protocol has been published. Please discard the previous version. If you have any queries, please get in touch via the NHS England London region Immunisations Team.

Updated patient group direction

NHS England London region has published an updated Patient Group Direction on its website. It is entitled NHSE UKHSA dTaP IPV PGD v6.0, and can be found towards the bottom of the page.

Practices should ensure that any registered healthcare professional who is due to administer vaccinations under this PGD should be made aware of this updated version.
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New contact number for West London NHS Trust’s Mental Health Integrated Network Teams

The contact number for West London NHS Trust’s (WLT) Mental Health Integrated Network Teams (MINT) has now changed and is in place. All WLT MINT services across Ealing, Hounslow, and Hammersmith & Fulham can now be reached via a single number, 0203 991 1123.

Skin cancer – guidance and top tips

RM Partners has developed short guidance document, which:

outline risk factors and causes of skin cancer
support primary care in detecting cancerous lesions
top tips for referral
education available and links to other sources of information.

Please contact the RM Partners primary care team. If you have any queries on this guidance or other queries relating to early diagnosis.

Education and training