What we learned from visiting London pharmacies (#327)

Summary of in-person research from November.

---------

Co-authored-by: Jo Lumley <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Danny Chadburn <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Anna-Sutton <[email protected]>

Author: 4 people

app/record-a-vaccination/2025/12/london-pharmacy-research/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+---
+title: What we learnt from visiting London pharmacies
+date: 2025-12-19
+description: In November we visited London pharmacies who’d just started using the service. Here’s what they told us.
+image:
+  src: /record-a-vaccination/2025/12/london-pharmacy-research/standing-outside-a-pharmacy.jpg
+  alt: Text saying ‘Record vaccinations’ followed by ‘New’ in a blue box
+  opengraphImage: true
+author:
+  - Mark Harnett
+  - Anna Sutton
+  - Frankie Roberto
+tags:
+  - pharmacies
+  - onboarding
+  - flu
+  - COVID-19
+---
+
+In a cold and snowy November 2025, we visited 13 community pharmacies in London that had recently started using Record a vaccination for the autumn-winter flu and COVID-19 vaccinations campaigns.
+
+These pharmacies were a mixture of those that had chosen to use the service and had [self signed up](/record-a-vaccination/2025/08/enabling-pharmacies-to-sign-up/), and those that had been onboarded by the NHS England London region as part of the London flu and pneumococcal vaccine programmes.
+
+Visiting the pharmacies in-person was invaluable for getting an understanding of their experience of using the service, as many pharmacists are too busy to take part in remote research or video calls.
+
+Here’s a summary of what we learnt:
+
+## Onboarding
+
+No one had any issues onboarding. People felt it was easy to get access to the service and very easy to begin using it.
+
+Some joined the webinar, some looked at the videos and some just figured it out themselves.
+
+## Entering NHS numbers
+
+Pharmacies were using different ways to locate a patient’s NHS number before entering it into Record a vaccination.
+
+Some were using the [National Care Records Service](https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-care-records-service), others were using the pharmacy’s patient medical record (PMR) system, or copying it from [Manage your appointments](/manage-your-appointments/).
+
+## Managing vaccine batches
+
+Several pharmacies asked how they could remove batches which they had run out of. They were unaware of the ‘deplete’ feature, and commented that that term was unfamiliar.
+
+Some users wanted an option to add several batches at once.
+
+There was some confusion around not being able to add the same batch number and expiry date more than once. We think this is because they assume they need to add the batch once per box, as a form of stock management. But the service does not currently offer this, and only unique batch numbers need to be added.
+
+## Recording vaccinations
+
+The pharmacies started using the service during a moment of transition, when there were [2 different ways](/record-a-vaccination/2025/10/how-we-told-users-about-a-change-to-the-interface/) to record a vaccinations:
+
+* Find a patient – the old way
+* Record vaccinations – the new, [streamlined](/record-a-vaccination/2025/03/asking-fewer-better-questions/) interface
+
+Those that had used both generally preferred 'Record vaccinations' to 'Find a patient', saying it was ‘easier’ and ‘quicker’.
+
+> It’s like, click, click, click, boom [done]
+
+However, we found that some users were not aware there were 2 options and were only using 'Find a patient'.
+
+In the new 'Record vaccinations' journey, it currently takes 7 screens before you see the patient’s details and vaccination history. Users suggested this should come earlier, as they use this information to help determine eligibility.
+
+> You put all the data in… and then discover that the
+patient wasn’t actually eligible for it!
+
+This is something we plan to address early next year.
+
+We had many comments about needing to be able to change eligibility criteria when using the ‘same vaccination, different patient’ option. This feature has since gone live.
+
+## Partial save
+
+A couple of the pharmacies wanted to be able to ‘check in’ patients at a front desk, partially saving a record for a pharmacist to then complete after giving the vaccination.
+
+This was mentioned as a feature on some other sytems.
+
+The users suggested that it would:
+
+* save them time
+* ensure patients are eligible, before they're made to wait
+* enable fairer queuing, combining walk-ins and booked appointments
+
+## London flu confusion
+
+Some users were not clear on the difference between
+'Flu (London service)' and 'Flu' in the interface, and were not aware of the differences in eligibility between the 2 programmes.
+
+There were also some pharmacies using different digital systems to record the London flu vaccinations versus the national flu vaccinations, unaware they can use Record a vaccination for both.
+
+There was also some confusion about which system to use in order to receive payment for the London flu vaccinations.
+
+## Other issues
+
+A couple of users mentioned a desire to have the cursor move to the next field automatically when inputting dates.
+
+Some users complained about being logged out too quickly, and the service does so even if it asks you whether you want to stay logged in and you answer ‘yes’.
+
+One user spoke about reducing the text size to reduce the amount of scrolling they had to do on each page. (They were using quite a small screen.)
+
+One user wanted a bit more help to determine whether someone qualifies under immunosuppressed (COVID-19) and clinical risk group (flu), given that the criteria can change every year.
+
+One pharmacy chain chose to additionally enter vaccinations into their patient medical records (PMR) system.