Professional practice

• Safeguarding – pharmacy guide providing practical information to help you protect vulnerable adults, children and young people. There’s information on identifying and recognising signs of abuse or neglect, what to do if abuse or neglect is suspected, and signposting to further information and advice.
• Women’s health in the workplace: menopause and mental health – a webinar.
• Menopause Transitions and the Workplace (2024) – e-book (membership required).
• Confidence in consultation skills – discussing women’s health issues may be uncomfortable for some people, and they may feel nervous approaching the pharmacy team. To support these conversations, good communication is essential. Develop your confidence with our consultation skills pharmacy guide. There’s practical tips, tools and considerations to support the development of good consultation behaviours, whether you’re conducting face-to-face or remote consultations.
• Consultation skills – learning module supporting you to develop essential knowledge, skills, and confidence in delivering effective consultations to provide safe and effective care to your patients.
• Clinical consultation skills training from RCPharm and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) – PowerPoint to help you undertake a women’s health consultation.
• Clinical assessment skills – learning module supporting you to develop essential knowledge, skills and confidence needed to perform clinical assessments and physical examinations to provide safe and effective care to your patients.

Clinical and patient care

Sexual health and contraception

• Sexual health consultations: an introduction – learning module to help you develop essential knowledge and confidence to carry out basic consultations around sexual health in people aged 13 and over.
• Desogestrel (P medicine) – pharmacy guide helping you to supply desogestrel over the counter (OTC) for contraception safely and appropriately.
• Oral emergency contraceptive as pharmacy medicines – pharmacy guide helping you to supply oral emergency contraception OTC, safely and appropriately.

Endometriosis

• Endometriosis: supporting better outcomes – learning module to help you recognise the signs and symptoms of endometriosis and support those with menstrual pain.
• Menstrual health: educate, empower, engage – webinar to help you improve your knowledge on menstrual health and endometriosis.

Heavy menstrual bleeding

• Tranexamic acid (pharmacy/P medicine) – pharmacy guide helping you to supply tranexamic acid OTC for the treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding safely and appropriately.
• Heavy menstrual bleeding: Tranexamic acid OTC – learning module for pharmacists working in community pharmacy, but this may also be useful for pharmacists in other sectors, pharmacy technicians and other members of the pharmacy team.

Pregnancy and breastfeeding

• Oral retinoids and the pregnancy prevention programme – pharmacy guide that covers key safety considerations and counselling advice to protect people who use oral retinoids, including people who are at risk of pregnancy under the pregnancy prevention programme (PPP).
• Valproate and the pregnancy prevention programme – pharmacy guide which covers key safety considerations and counselling advice to protect people who use valproate, including people who are at risk of pregnancy under the PPP.
• Drugs During Pregnancy and Lactation (2015) – an e-book to help you find out if a medicine if safe to take/use during pregnancy or if breastfeeding, before you prescribe of dispense them (will need to log in to view).
  • Hale’s Medications and Mothers’ Milk: A Manual of Lactational Pharmacology.

Menopause and perimenopause

• Oestradiol (P medicine) – pharmacy guide helping you to supply oestradiol OTC for the treatment of post-menopausal vaginal atrophy, safely and appropriately.
• Menopause Transitions and the Workplace (2024) – e-book
• Menopause: an introduction – learning module to help you develop essential knowledge, skills and confidence in the management of perimenopause, menopause and post-menopause.

Polycystic ovary syndrome

Weight management

• Orlistat (P medicine) – pharmacy guide helping you to supply orlistat OTC for weight loss, safely and appropriately.
• Weight management – learning module to support you to develop essential knowledge, skills and confidence in weight management, including skills to assess weight, support behaviour strategies, and recommend nutritional guidance and pharmacological treatments, where appropriate.
• The Pharmaceutical Journal Pod – Spotlight: The truth about weight-loss injections.
• The Pharmaceutical Journal – MHRA urges women taking weight-loss drugs to use effective contraception (2025).
• The Pharmaceutical Journal – Pharmacists encouraged to report GLP-1 side effects amid pharmacogenomics study (2025).

Pain

• Sumatriptan (P medicine) – pharmacy guide helping you to supply sumatriptan OTC for the treatment of migraine safely and appropriately.
• Migraine: sumatriptan over the counter – learning module for pharmacists working in community pharmacy, but may also be useful for pharmacists in other sectors, pharmacy technicians and other members of the pharmacy team.

Prescribing and community pharmacy services

There are various symptoms and conditions that national common clinical conditions and ailments services at community pharmacies can offer advice and support on, such as: 

• Urinary tract infections
• Cystitis
• Period symptoms and pain
• Thrush
• Contraception

Nationally, these services at community pharmacies include:

• NHS Pharmacy First (England).
• NHS Pharmacy First Scotland and NHS Pharmacy First Plus (Scotland).
• Community Pharmacy Wales Common Ailments Service and Pharmacist Independent Prescribing Service: Common Ailments and Contraception (Wales).

Our pharmacy guide on common clinical conditions and ailments services has signposting to useful resources and practical information on the skills you need to deliver a successful service. 

For services with a prescribing element, you may also want to check out our prescribing guide for all your prescribing needs.

Further information

• College of Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare – standards and guidance on contraceptive care.
• The British Menopause Society.
• General Pharmaceutical Council – religion, personal values and beliefs: providing emergency hormonal contraception.
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence – Clinical Knowledge Summaries – clinical guidance on women’s health topics such as contraception, menopause and more.