A new report published today by the leading HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust, sets out a clear case – and detailed mechanism – for making HIV prevention medication, PrEP, available through community pharmacies in England in 2026. Marking the new year and the organisation's desire to transform PrEP access, it builds aspirations in the new HIV Action Plan published by the government in December 2025, accepting that current systems are limiting access and risking progress towards ending new HIV cases by 2030.
PrEP in Community Pharmacy: Policy options for widening PrEP access in England, authored by Deborah Gold, argues that enabling trained community pharmacists to provide PrEP would significantly widen access, reduce health inequalities, and ease pressure on overstretched sexual health clinics.
Currently, most people access PrEP through sexual health services, but the report highlights that many people at risk of HIV either cannot or will not attend clinics due to stigma, distance, inflexible opening hours, or competing responsibilities. Community pharmacies, which are widely used, locally based and open for longer hours, could offer a more convenient and discreet route. This could be a game changer for rural gay and bisexual men and Black communities across the country.
The report makes a series of recommendations to the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and local authorities, including enabling community pharmacies to access PrEP through existing national medicines procurement systems, developing a national Patient Group Direction, and agreeing a sustainable commissioning and payment model for pharmacies.
Deborah Gold, author of the report, said: “We already know that PrEP works and that it is highly cost-effective. What this report shows is that the way PrEP is currently delivered is leaving too many people behind. Community pharmacies are trusted, accessible and embedded in communities. With the right policy changes, they could play a transformative role in HIV prevention and help close the gaps in access that persist today.”
Terrence Higgins Trust, the UK’s leading HIV charity, says expanding PrEP into community pharmacies would be a practical and powerful step towards meeting the Government’s ambition to end new HIV cases by 2030.
Richard Angell OBE, Chief Executive of Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “2026 is going to be another game changer for HIV prevention. England has made huge progress on HIV, but we won’t reach zero new cases unless we radically widen access to PrEP. This report shows that community pharmacies could be a game-changer, especially for people who don’t see sexual health clinics as accessible or welcoming. Ministers and NHS leaders must now act on these recommendations so that PrEP is available in the places people already go for care.”
The report is published as demand for PrEP continues to grow, with more than 111,000 people accessing it via sexual health services in the most recent national data. The author warns that without new delivery models, services will struggle to meet need and inequalities in who benefits from PrEP will persist.
This report was made possible with the financial support of ViiV Healthcare, which had no editorial control over its contents.
ENDS
Notes to editors
- PrEP in Community Pharmacy: Policy options for widening PrEP access in England is published by Terrence Higgins Trust and authored by Deborah Gold, former Chief Executive of National AIDS Trust.
- PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is medication that prevents HIV when taken as prescribed.
- Terrence Higgins Trust is the UK’s leading charity responding to HIV.
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