The cost of a clinical pharmacist service depends on what you ask the provider to deliver, so the most useful thing you can do is send a clear brief. Include your list size, the workstreams you want, your clinical systems and the reporting you need. This guide lists what to send and why each item matters; it does not quote prices, because every quote is built to the scope.
Why does the brief shape the quote?
The brief shapes the quote because the provider sizes clinical time against the work you describe. A practice asking for high-risk drug monitoring alone needs a different service from a network asking for SMRs, reconciliation and QOF work across nine practices. The more precise the brief, the closer the quote is to what you will receive. A precise brief also makes quotes easier to compare, because every provider sizes the same work. It also shortens the back-and-forth, because the provider has what it needs from the first message.
What details about your practice or PCN should you send?
Send your list size and, for a PCN, the member practices with their list sizes and clinical systems. Also include:
- The number of practices and whether they share protocols
- The clinical systems in use: EMIS, SystmOne, Vision or Medicus
- Any care homes or specific patient groups in scope
- Your named contact for the service
We work in all four systems, and one network can use a mix of them.
Add anything that changes how the work is done, such as a dispensing practice, a large care home population or practices in different ICBs. These details affect the protocols and the reporting, so they belong in the brief. For a PCN, note which practices are most stretched and which already have in-house pharmacy support, so the provider can size the work practice by practice.
Which workstreams should you list?
List every workstream you want covered, in order of priority. The common ones:
- Structured medication reviews, with the cohort and number if known
- High-risk drug monitoring
- Medicines reconciliation after discharge and clinic letters
- Repeat and acute prescription requests and medicines queries
- Signing prescriptions where the pharmacist is an independent prescriber
- Medicines-related QOF work
- MHRA safety alert searches
If you want a defined block of work, such as a set number of reviews, say so. Many networks start that way and extend later.
Include current volumes where you know them: discharge letters per week, prescription requests per day or the number of patients on a monitoring list. Approximate figures help the provider size clinical time. Say which workstreams matter most, so the provider can shape the service around your top priorities first. Where a workstream is optional, mark it as such, and the provider can show how the service changes with and without it.
Our clinical pharmacist service describes each workstream if you want to check what fits.
What should you say about reporting?
Say who reads the reports, how often and in what form. Reporting that matches how the practice already works gets read. A practice may want a partner summary and a running list of GP actions. A PCN usually wants reporting for each practice and for the network. Reporting needs affect how the service is set up, so include them in the brief. If your ICB or PCN board asks for particular measures, name them, so they are built into the reports from the start. Include an example of a report you already use, if you have one.
What about governance and data security?
Ask each provider to describe its clinical governance framework and data security position alongside the quote. For Virtual Pharmacist, that means more than 100 GPhC-registered pharmacists and technicians under one clinical governance framework, 85% of the pharmacists independent prescribers, NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit Standards Met for 2025-26, Cyber Essentials certification and ICO registration ZB127110.
Our provider checklist lists the questions to put to every provider.
Governance belongs in the comparison because it is part of what you are buying. A provider that runs supervision, training and cover for its own team takes that work off the practice.
How do you compare quotes fairly?
Compare quotes against the same brief. Send the same document to each provider, ask each to quote the same workstreams and reporting, and check that each quote includes cover for leave and sickness. Check also that each quote names the systems it covers and the reporting it includes, so nothing assumed in one quote is missing from another. A quote that includes cover and governance gives the practice a complete service; one that leaves them out passes that work back to you.
Ask each provider how it would handle a change in scope, such as adding a workstream or another practice, and ask for a reference call with a practice or PCN doing similar work.
What we see in practice
Clear briefs lead to clearly counted work. A nine-practice Lincolnshire PCN commissioned 315 hours of medication reviews to one pathway, then moved to a full-year contract. A Derbyshire practice used an ICB scheme that paid £80 for each clinically appropriate anticoagulant switch: of 65 patients screened, 37 were switched and the practice claimed £2,960 in gross incentive income, before service fees and other costs. Both started from a defined scope.
More examples are in our case studies.
Ready for a quote built to your scope? Send us an enquiry and we will reply within one working day.
Frequently asked questions
Why do providers ask for list size?
List size shows the likely volume of reviews, monitoring and queries, which is how clinical time is sized.
Can we ask for a quote for a single workstream?
Yes. A single workstream or a counted block of reviews is a common starting point.
Should a PCN send one brief or one per practice?
One brief for the network, with a short section for each practice. It lets the provider size the work per practice and keep one standard.
What else should we ask for with the quote?
A written description of the service, the governance framework, the data security position and an example report.
How soon will we hear back after sending a brief?
We answer enquiries within one working day, and we may come back with questions so the work is sized accurately.
