National PGD, protocol and written instructions templates

National templates are developed with experts for clinical specialties. They reduce duplication and variation, and improve consistency of care.

SPS National Medicines Governance Do Once programme

About the SPS Medicines Governance Do Once Programme

The programme reduces duplication of effort and improves quality and consistency through national templates and medicines policy and governance principles

Implementing the SPS legal mechanism templates

SPS PGD, written instruction and protocol templates can be implemented by organisations to improve consistency and reduce duplication of effort.

SPS National Patient Group Direction (PGD) exemplar templates

The SPS National Medicines Governance Do Once programme produce national Patient Group Direction (PGD) exemplar templates for local adaptation

Scope of templates

The SPS national Patient Group Direction (PGD), protocol and written-instruction templates are written in alignment with relevant national guidance to be applicable to a wide range of services, clinical environments and patient cohorts.

The templates are intended to support, not substitute, relevant national guidance and as such should always be used in practice alongside supporting guidance.

As the templates are intended to be used in a variety of different services and clinical environments, organisations may need to locally adapt the content to meet the needs of their local populations or service model, and other aspects such as laboratory reporting systems. For more information see Implementing the SPS legal mechanism templates (SPS page).

Transfer of templates to an accessible format

All SPS PGD and protocol templates are being transferred to an accessible format as part of wider work within SPS to improve accessibility and user experience.
All new and updated templates published from autumn 2025 will be in the accessible format.
Current published templates will be gradually transferred to the new format and republished. As there will be no change to the clinical or pharmaceutical content the version number and expiry dates will remain unchanged. This work will be completed by autumn 2026.
There is no requirement for organisations using previous non-accessible formats of the templates to transfer to the new accessible templates upon publication unless they wish to do so.

New or recently updated templates

Our most recently updated or new templates, listed in date order.

October 2026

July 2026

Ambulance

Created by SPS with the support of National Ambulance Service Medical Directors (NASMeD) and Joint Royal Colleges Ambulance Liaison Committee (JRCALC).

Community Pharmacy

The NHS Pharmacy First Service PGDs/protocols can be found at:
Community Pharmacy advanced service specification: NHS Pharmacy First Service

Any queries regarding the NHS Pharmacy First Service PGDs/protocols should be directed to: ENGLAND.CommunityPharmacy@nhs.net

Infection and infectious diseases

Created by SPS with the support of specialist stakeholders including National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH), UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and NHS England (NHSE).

Central nervous system infections

Benzylpenicillin injection for suspected meningitis

Hepatitis C

Created by SPS with the support of specialist stakeholders working within clinical practice.
The hepatitis C PGDs have now been shared with the Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) by the hepatitis C elimination team at NHS England.
Any queries regarding access to the hepatitis C PGDs should be directed to: ENGLAND.hepc-enquiries@nhs.net

Respiratory tract infections

Skin infections

Skin infestations

Urinary tract infections

Occupational health services

Written instruction templates for use in occupational health services, created by SPS and published annually.

Influenza vaccine written instruction template for adoption

Pregnancy and supportive medicines

For use in antenatal and maternity services across all healthcare sectors.

Created by SPS and NHSE, with the support of specialist stakeholders working within clinical practice and the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (RCOG), as part of the wider Preventative Medicines in Pregnancy programme.

Public Health

PGD templates are developed by UKHSA for a variety of clinical scenarios.

Note these PGDs are not developed by SPS; any queries regarding these templates should be directed to the UKHSA immunisation team at immunisation@ukhsa.gov.uk

UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) PGD and VGD Templates

Radiology

Created by SPS, NHS England, the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) and the Society and College of Radiographers (SCoR), with the support of specialists working within NHS clinical practice. For use in radiology service in NHS England commissioned services.

Reproductive health and contraception

For use within reproductive health and contraception services across all healthcare sectors.

Created by SPS and the College of Sexual and Reproductive Health (CoSRH), with the support of specialist stakeholders working within clinical practice.

Sexual health

For use within sexual health services across all healthcare sectors.

Created by SPS and the British Association of Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH)/British Association of HIV (BHIVA), with the support of specialist stakeholders working within clinical practice.

Smoking cessation

Created by SPS with the support of specialist stakeholders including the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training (NCSCT), College of Mental Health Pharmacy (CMHP) and NHSE.

Templates in development

No new templates currently in development.