World Cup Pharmacy - Practices from Around The World
Published: 24th June 2026
As World Cup fever grips the planet, CPS is taking two ties and looking at it from a pharmacy perspective. It is mostly for fun, but there is a serious point underneath. Every country in this tournament runs its pharmacy network differently, and lining them up side by side is a great way to celebrate what we do well in Scotland, borrow the best ideas from elsewhere, and remind ourselves why the asks in our 2026 Manifesto matter so much.
In the Pharmacy
What each nation does for patients, and what Scotland can take from it.
On the Pitch
Our tongue-in-cheek guess at the football result.
Brazil vs Scotland - Group C decider · Thursday 25 June 2026 · Miami, USA
Brazil
Brazil has one of the densest pharmacy networks on earth, roughly one for every 2,000 people, and they are overwhelmingly private retail businesses run by anyone willing to employ a pharmacist as technical manager.
Since 2014, pharmacies are formally recognised as health units and can offer vaccinations, rapid tests and other services, often the first port of call for care.
The public SUS system and the Farmacia Popular programme subsidise key medicines, but a strong self-medication culture means much care happens over the counter.
Scotland
Scotland's 1,200+ community pharmacies are NHS-commissioned and free at the point of care, usually with no appointment needed, reaching every corner of the country.
NHS Pharmacy First Scotland lets pharmacists advise and treat a growing list of common conditions, and supply certain prescription-only medicines under clinical protocols.
A rapidly expanding independent prescribing workforce means more clinical care delivered locally. From 2026, every newly qualified pharmacist registers as an independent prescriber.
————————————- In the Pharmacy —————————————
This is where Scotland tops the group. Brazil's network is genuinely impressive for the sheer reach and accessibility, and there is something to admire in a pharmacy on every corner that people trust as their first stop. But it is largely a private, retail, self-medication model. Scotland's edge is a universal, NHS-commissioned, prescriber-led service that is free to the patient and built around clinical care, not just supply. Mapped against our manifesto, the Scottish story is a strong one:
Treat - NHS Pharmacy First Scotland was used by 35% of the population, almost 1.9 million people, in the year to September 2024, diverting demand from GPs and out of hours services. It already treats conditions such as UTIs, impetigo and shingles, and our Manifesto ambition 4 calls for more protocols and a bigger prescribing role.
Treat - Independent prescribing is expanding fast, and from 2026 every newly qualified pharmacist registers as a prescriber. Few countries are scaling clinical pharmacy this deliberately.
Prevent - Every pharmacy in Scotland has held a supply of naloxone for emergency overdose since 2023. Manifesto ambition 2 wants a national substance use service to build on this and protect our most vulnerable people.
Prevent - Detect - We are pressing to be commissioned for a national weight management service, targeted diabetes screening and cardiovascular screening, the prevention and early detection work that eases pressure across the whole NHS.
Treat - A growing women's health offering, from free emergency contraception to the newer bridging contraception service, with room to extend into period delay, menopause and beyond.
Around 90% of adults visit a pharmacy at least once a year. Brazil reaches its people through scale and convenience. Scotland reaches its people through trusted, accessible, NHS clinical care, and that is the model worth being proud of and investing in.
————————————- On the Pitch —————————————
Let us be honest about the football. Brazil are five-time champions with Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo to call on, and history is firmly on their side. But Scotland have shown grit already at these finals, McTominay, McGinn and Adams carry a goal threat, and the Tartan Army will turn Miami dark blue. Expect a brave, organised Scottish display and a goal to celebrate, but the champions to have a little too much in the end.
SCORE PREDICTOR
Brazil 3 - 1 Scotland
Full time · In the pharmacy
Whatever the score in Miami, on best practice Scotland is through to the knockout stages.
Norway vs France - Group I decider · Friday 26 June 2026 · Boston, USA
Norway
Norway runs a fully digital e-prescription system, with every prescription held in a single central national database that follows the patient wherever they go.
Residents in the National Insurance Scheme get subsidised medicines and a yearly cost ceiling that caps what anyone pays out of pocket.
In population and network size, Norway is the closest match in this tournament to Scotland.
France
French prescriptions use the international non-proprietary name (DCI), so pharmacists can readily supply a generic equivalent.
Costs are partly or fully reimbursed through Assurance Maladie, the public health insurance system.
Ownership is tightly controlled: each pharmacy is owned by a single licensed pharmacist, and one pharmacist cannot own more than one pharmacy.
————————————- In the Pharmacy —————————————
Norway is the standout here, and not just because the network is a near twin of ours. Their fully digital, single national prescription record is exactly the destination Scotland is working towards through the Digital Prescribing and Dispensing Pathways (DPDP) programme. It is the living proof behind Manifesto ambition 7: better digital infrastructure and information sharing, defined and delivered as a priority.
Our manifesto is candid that pharmacy teams are still held back by outdated IT systems and poor access to clinical data. Norway shows what good looks like when the plumbing is fixed: paperless from prescriber to patient, with the record doing the heavy lifting. France, meanwhile, is a useful reminder that a generics-first, single-owner model can keep a vast network consistent and locally owned. Scotland already does the clinical part brilliantly. The Norwegian lesson is to finish the digital job so our teams can spend more time on patients and less on paper.
————————————- On the Pitch —————————————
An intriguing tie, and a meeting of two great nations. The attacking flair of France, with Mbappe, Olise and Dembele, should be too much for the Norwegian back line, although danger always lurks where Erling Haaland is concerned. The superiority of the French defence looks like the deciding factor.
SCORE PREDICTOR
Norway 0 - 2 France
—————————— Full-time thoughts ———————————
Prevent, Detect, Treat is the heart of the CPS 2026 Manifesto, and these fixtures show how community pharmacy in Scotland already delivers across all three, day in and day out. The asks are simple: the right digital infrastructure, fair funding and the chance to do more of what our teams do best.
Owner members who would like to talk it through, or use it with their local MSP, can get in touch any time at enquiries@cps.scot
PSD Scotland has launched a new monthly newsletter, Pharmacy Matters, to help community pharmacy teams.