PrescQIPP

South East London Community Pharmacy Health & Wellbeing Service: Accessible prevention in underserved communities (2025)

South East London ICS & SEL Community Pharmacy Alliance 

Project summary

The Community Pharmacy Health and Wellbeing Service (CP HWB) is a locally led prevention initiative supporting delivery of the Vital 5 Check in community pharmacies across South East London (SEL). The service was co-developed with the SEL Community Pharmacy Alliance and evolved from the PrescQIPP award-winning Covid Vaccine Champions scheme. The Vital 5 framework targets five modifiable risk factors: blood pressure, smoking, alcohol use, mental health, and weight — all major contributors to preventable illness and health inequalities.

Delivered in areas of high deprivation and health need, the service is designed to support SEL ICS’s Core20PLUS5 strategy, reaching those least likely to engage through traditional healthcare routes. SEL has a population of 2.1 million and over 350 pharmacies. This pilot, currently operating in just 13 pharmacies, provides an early intervention model with significant potential to scale.

People in the most deprived communities often face multiple risk factors but do not access prevention services due to stigma, accessibility, or lack of trust. Community pharmacies, as embedded and familiar settings, offer a unique opportunity to address these gaps. This model ensures that prevention becomes part of day-to-day interactions, using pharmacy teams’ existing relationships and skillsets to identify risk and support action.

The service is one component of the wider SEL Vital 5 Check programme, which is also being delivered across outreach teams, primary and secondary care services. Community pharmacy plays a critical role in offering low-barrier, opportunistic access and complements national initiatives such as the BP service and Pharmacy First.

Consultations are brief but supportive and allow residents to choose which areas they want to focus on. In many cases, conversations include discussions around vaccination, helping to address low uptake in priority groups. This approach builds confidence, improves health literacy, and supports long-term engagement with care.

As the service moves toward wider rollout, it demonstrates how integrated, person-centred prevention can be embedded at scale, aligned with system goals and shaped by real-world delivery experience.