LFD service: changes to patient eligibility
Following an update to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance on antiviral treatment for COVID-19, which removes some of the cohorts of patients eligible for these treatments, these changes will also need to be reflected in the Lateral Flow Device (LFD) service.
The changes in the NICE guidance means the following patient cohorts are no longer eligible to receive free LFD tests through the service:
- People aged 85 years and over
- People with end-stage heart failure who have a long-term ventricular assistance device
- People on the organ transplant waiting list
- People resident in a care home who are aged 70 years and over
- People resident in a care home who have a BMI of 35 kg/m2 or more
- People resident in a care home who have diabetes
- People resident in a care home who have heart failure
- People currently in a hospital who are aged 70 years and over
- People currently in a hospital who have a BMI of 35 kg/m2 or more
- People currently in a hospital who have diabetes
- People currently in a hospital who have heart failure
Pharmacy owners are asked to brief their teams on the changes to the eligible patient cohorts for the service, update their standard operating procedure (SOP) for the service and stop supplying LFD tests to the above patient groups by Monday 16th June 2025.
Full details and resources can be found on the CPE website here.
Image credit: Freepik
