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The Government has urged pharmacy owners to ensure they migrate their telephony systems to a new technology which is being rolled out to improve the UK’s telecommunications infrastructure.

In a letter to all pharmacies this month, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said owners should prepare for the national switch-off of the public switched telephone network (PSTN), which is expected to be decommissioned by January 2027.

It will be replaced by the voice over internet protocol (VoIP) which the Government said “offers several advantages over traditional PSTN services” because it improves the digital communications infrastructure as part of its wider plan to digitise the NHS.

It said advantages of the new system include “improved call quality, greater scalability, enhanced reliability and cost-effectiveness”.

It's critical prescription services are not impacted by switch-off

The Government also urged owners to contact their communications provider “as a priority” and “upgrade or switch off services” they no longer need but warned it was “critical” prescription services are not impacted by the switch-off.

“We would ask that you ensure, as a priority, that all services supporting prescriptions that rely on the PSTN are upgraded well ahead of January 2027,” it said.

In a reminder to owners last week, Community Pharmacy England said they should ensure “all critical services are VoIP-ready” by mid-2026.

“This change affects not only standard phone calls but also other pharmacy systems relying on analogue lines and patients’ telephone lines as well as patients’ PSTN telecare alarm lines,” CPE said.

“The industry’s decision to upgrade the PSTN is due to necessity, as the network is increasingly unreliable and prone to failure.”

CPE also warned owners to be aware that patients who use telecare alarms, including pendant devices that link them to emergency call centres, will be affected by the switch.

Pharmacy’s negotiator laid out five steps owners should take, including checking if their telecoms provider relies on PSTN, auditing their systems to check which machines and processes might be impacted, prioritising prescription services that use PSTN, informing their teams about the switchover and displaying awareness materials about the switchover and impact on telecare alarms.