A pilot of community pharmacy-based cholesterol testing has been expanded to include 70 east London pharmacies, since its launch in November 2024 with just one pharmacy.
Barts Health NHS Trust said on 9 January 2026 that the point-of-care test (POCT) shows patients’ cholesterol levels and estimates a risk of heart problems over the next ten years.
The pilot is a collaboration between Barts Health NHS Trust, NHS North East London, North East London Local Pharmaceutical Committee, UCLPartners and Heart UK, which uses a seven-minute test pioneered by Barts Health NHS Trust.
Sotiris Antoniou, divisional director of clinical services at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and clinical lead for the programme, told The Pharmaceutical Journal on 12 January 2025: “In the initial pilot, around one in five people tested were identified as being at raised cardiovascular risk, many of whom would not otherwise have accessed timely lipid testing through traditional routes.
“Crucially, this allowed for immediate clinical conversations, risk stratification and onward management rather than delayed referral.”
“The expansion of the programme builds on this success by embedding cholesterol POCT within structured prescribing pathways, supported by independent prescribing pharmacists and strong clinical governance from secondary care,” he added.
Barts Health NHS Trust highlighted that around 220 people in the East London area die each month from heart and circulatory conditions.
Bringing aspects of lipid management traditionally delivered in hospital settings into community pharmacies helps to improve access to these services and support long-term adherence for people with established cardiovascular disease, Antoniou said.
He added that the project “clearly demonstrates the value of primary and secondary care teams working together at neighbourhood level”, which helps to address cardiovascular health inequalities.
“Ultimately, this pilot is about generating the evidence needed for future commissioning,” Antoniou said.
“The early results strongly suggest that a nationally commissioned cholesterol POCT service in community pharmacies is both feasible and impactful, complementing existing NHS prevention programmes and supporting the broader shift towards proactive, population-based cardiovascular care.”
The NHS ten-year health plan, published in July 2025, sets out plans for shifting more care into the community via neighbourhood health services and switching focus from sickness to prevention.