East London patients can get cholesterol injections closer to home

Lifestyle & Wellness Desk 2026-10-22 13:02 3 min read

A medical syringe and booster shot vial on a clean blue background.

Ashleen Back used to travel to hospital for her cholesterol treatment, with the journey and wait taking much of a day. Now the 70-year-old from Chadwell Heath can receive her six-monthly injection at a local pharmacy, in an appointment that takes about 20 minutes.

The change is part of a pilot in East London run by Barts Health NHS Trust and UCLPartners, with funding from the British Heart Foundation. It aims to ease pressure on hospital lipid clinics and make treatment more accessible for people who need additional help lowering their cholesterol.

A pharmacy visit replaces a hospital trip

Back receives inclisiran at Rohpharm Pharmacy in Ilford. She said it takes about 10 minutes to reach the pharmacy and the treatment appointment is over in 20 minutes. Previously, attending Barts Hospital could take most of a day because of travel and waiting.

East London patients can get cholesterol injections closer to home

“I’m very happy that this new scheme has given me my day back,” she said. Back helps care for her mother, who had a stroke, and her two grandchildren, aged nine and 10.

She has coronary heart disease and had bypass surgery in January 2025. Back said her cholesterol fell after she began inclisiran injections at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in mid-2025 and has remained low. Her experience is one example from the pilot; the source does not report overall patient outcomes from the scheme.

How East London’s inclisiran pilot works

Selected community pharmacies are giving inclisiran injections twice a year to people referred for treatment. The medication is injected under the skin, usually around the stomach. Clinical trials have shown it can lower LDL, or “bad”, cholesterol by around 50 per cent. NICE has approved its use for patients with heart disease who meet certain criteria.

The treatment has generally been delivered through hospital lipid clinics. St Bartholomew’s clinic serves a population of 2.5 million people in East London, and the source says it faces a growing waiting list for inclisiran. Repeat appointments every six months add to demand for clinic time.

Professor Riyaz Patel, the Barts Heart Centre consultant cardiologist leading the pilot, said participants have heart disease and need more cholesterol-lowering treatment beyond tablets. The project is intended to bring that care closer to home, reduce waits and free hospital appointments.

Where treatment is available and who can access it

At least 180 people with high cholesterol are expected to be referred to local pharmacies over the pilot’s 14-month period. The first participating locations are Anjis Dispensing Chemist in Waltham Forest and Rohpharm Pharmacy branches in Ilford and Plaistow. More pharmacies are expected to join.

The source describes referrals for people who need additional cholesterol-lowering treatment, but does not provide a public self-referral route or a full list of clinical eligibility criteria. Inclisiran is approved for patients with heart disease who meet specified criteria; patients should check with their care team about their own treatment options.

The clinicians running the pilot hope that, if it succeeds, it could inform similar schemes at other NHS trusts. For now, the service is being tested at selected pharmacies across East London.

Source: British Heart Foundation News

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This report follows British Heart Foundation News and checks the pilot details against the information provided in its article.

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Checked the named NHS and health partnership organisations.
Checked the participating pharmacy locations and stated referral target.
Kept the clinical eligibility description within the criteria stated in the source.

British Heart Foundation News Check independent coverage