ICB medicines optimisation support
ICB medicines optimisation support
What the service covers
Our ICB medicines optimisation support turns a system priority into clinical work done in GP practices. Your medicines optimisation team sets the priority and signs off the protocol. Our clinical team then carries out the patient-level work inside each practice’s own clinical system, codes every action on the record and reports progress to your team in the format you set.
The work is scoped as defined projects: a switch programme, a polypharmacy cohort, a monitoring sweep or an incentive scheme delivered through practices. Each project has an agreed scope and a count of what was done, so your team can see what each priority produced in the patient record.
- Best-value medicines and switch programmes, including DOAC and other formulary switches, made patient by patient and only where clinically right
- Problematic polypharmacy cohorts, with structured medication reviews for the patients your searches identify
- High-risk drug monitoring sweeps across a set of practices, worked to one method
- ICB incentive schemes and enhanced services delivered in participating practices, including the clinical work each claim depends on
- Formulary alignment when local formulary choices change
- Reviews of low-priority and legacy prescribing, with deprescribing where appropriate
- Search design and patient lists in EMIS, SystmOne, Vision and Medicus
- Progress reporting for each practice, each PCN and the whole project
Who does the work
Projects are delivered by our clinical team: more than 100 GPhC-registered pharmacists and pharmacy technicians working under one clinical governance framework. 85% of the pharmacists are independent prescribers, so many changes can be completed within their competence and the agreed protocol, then coded straight away.
Technicians build and run the searches and prepare the patient lists. Pharmacists carry out the clinical reviews. The same core team stays with a project from the first practice to the last, so the method is the same in every practice it reaches.
How it works day to day
- Your team sets the priority, the patient cohort and the clinical protocol, including what always goes to a GP.
- We agree the participating practices, the searches and the reporting format with you. Each practice agrees access and its escalation route to its own GPs.
- Technicians build and run the searches and prepare patient lists in each practice’s system.
- A pharmacist reviews each patient individually. Our independent prescribers make prescribing changes within their competence and the agreed protocol; other decisions go to the practice’s GP with the reason recorded.
- Every action is coded on the patient record at the time, so the results show in the practice’s own data and in prescribing data.
- Your team receives progress reporting by practice, by PCN and for the whole project, in one format.
A managed service, not extra headcount
The ICB commissions a defined piece of work, and we deliver it under our own clinical governance. The method, the clinical supervision, the quality checks and cover for leave and sickness all sit with us. Your medicines optimisation team keeps the strategy, the protocol and the relationship with each practice, and practices keep every decision that needs a GP.
The service sits alongside the team you already have. Many ICBs publish their prescribing guidance through a medicines optimisation hub or website. We work from that guidance and carry it into the patient record, one practice at a time.
Practices and PCNs can also commission the same work themselves under an ICB scheme, with reporting that matches what the ICB asks for.
What our clinical team has delivered
Our published results come from work commissioned by GP practices and PCNs. They show one method run to one clinical standard across many practices, which is what a system project needs:
- A Derbyshire practice used an ICB enhanced service paying £80 for each clinically appropriate anticoagulant switch. Of 65 patients screened, 37 were switched and the practice claimed £2,960. The same model was then run in a second ICB area.
- A nine-practice PCN in Lincolnshire received 315 hours of medication reviews in a first block, delivered to one pathway and one clinical standard across all nine practices. The PCN then moved to a full-year contract.
- A Norfolk and Waveney PCN received 1,000 structured medication reviews, each one a clinical encounter with a documented conclusion coded on the record.
We have supported 375+ GP practices and 88+ PCNs, with practices and PCNs in 23 ICB areas across all seven NHS regions. Ask and we will arrange a reference call with a practice or PCN doing similar work. Read the case studies.
Governance and data security
Virtual Pharmacist meets the NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit standards for 2025-26, holds Cyber Essentials certification and is registered with the ICO (ZB127110). All work is done inside each practice’s own clinical system through secure, NHS-approved access, to your protocol, NICE guidance and your local formulary. Read our clinical governance and data security framework.
Virtual Pharmacist won the Pharmacy Solutions Provider award at the General Practice Awards.
Related services and reading
- Medicines optimisation for GP practices and PCNs
- Prescribing initiatives and schemes
- High-risk drug monitoring
- Clinical medication reviews
- Clinical pharmacy service for GP federations
- Clinical pharmacy for integrated neighbourhood teams
- Aligning PCN medicines work with ICB objectives
- Medicines optimisation and medicines management: the difference
Switch programmes, patient by patient
Best-value and formulary switches made only where clinically right.
Polypharmacy cohorts reviewed
Structured medication reviews for the patients your searches identify.
High-risk monitoring sweeps
Worked to one method across a set of practices.
Incentive schemes delivered
The clinical work each claim depends on, in participating practices.
Legacy prescribing reviewed
Low-priority medicines reviewed, with deprescribing where appropriate.
Reporting at every level
Progress for each practice, each PCN and the whole project.
“The team is consistently reliable. Phones are always answered and emails come back the same day. It’s made a real difference to how we run our medication reviews.”
“Fast email replies and clinical input whenever we need it. They picked up our medicines work seamlessly and delivered from day one.”
“Excellent service from start to finish. Easy to reach, quick to reply, and they clearly know NHS workflows inside out. We couldn’t recommend the team more highly.”
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can an ICB commission this service directly?
Yes. An ICB can commission a defined project, such as a switch programme or a polypharmacy cohort, and choose the practices it runs in. Practices and PCNs can also commission the same work themselves under an ICB scheme.
Who sets the clinical protocol?
Your medicines optimisation team does. You set the cohort, the criteria and what always goes to a GP. Our pharmacists work to that protocol, to NICE guidance and to your local formulary.
How is progress reported to our team?
You receive reporting by practice, by PCN and for the whole project: patients identified, patients reviewed, changes made and items passed to GPs. We agree the format with you at the start so it fits your own reporting.
Can you deliver our incentive scheme or enhanced service in practices?
Yes. We carry out the clinical work in participating practices to the scheme's criteria, and code each action so the practice has the record behind its claim. A Derbyshire practice used this approach under an ICB anticoagulant scheme and claimed £2,960.
How do you make sure switches are clinically appropriate?
Each proposed switch is assessed against the clinical record and discussed with the patient, with carers involved where appropriate. A change is made only where clinically suitable by a prescriber working within their competence and the agreed protocol. Issues outside that scope go to the practice’s GP.
Can one project cover practices on different clinical systems?
Yes. We work in EMIS, SystmOne, Vision and Medicus, so one project can cover a mix of systems. Access is arranged with each practice through its existing systems.
How does this fit with our own medicines optimisation team?
Your team keeps the strategy, the protocol and the practice relationships. We deliver defined clinical pharmacy projects against the agreed priorities and protocols, with our own clinical governance and cover arrangements.
What evidence can you share before we commission?
Our published case studies, our clinical governance framework, and our DSPT, Cyber Essentials and ICO details. We support practices and PCNs in 23 ICB areas, and we can arrange a reference call with a practice or PCN that has done similar work.
