Blog Archives

Breaking News: - PSNC and NHS England joint announcement: additional payment to pharmacies

23/3/2015

NHS England will make an additional payment to pharmacies in March payments.

The payment will be calculated as an additional fee for each pharmacy, based on professional fee numbers. The fee will be 3.3 pence for each professional fee paid from April 2014 to December 2014.

This additional fee is paid in recognition of the reduction in margin available to contractors in the early months of this financial year.

As part of the 2014-15 community pharmacy contractual framework it had been agreed that pharmacies would be allowed to retain £800 million of margin income and, whilst the final outcome of the margin survey will not be known until later in this calendar year, early analysis indicates that this total is unlikely to be reached.

In a joint statement, PSNC and NHS England said:

“It remains our intention to smooth the delivery of funding to community pharmacy contractors as much as possible. This additional fee has been agreed in light of the predicted under delivery of margin in 2014-15.”

Behind the Headlines - Pharmacists in GP Surgeries.

18/3/2015

You may have seen a lot of publicity in the media yesterday about the concept of Pharmacists working in GP practices and may be wondering about these proposal and where they have stemmed from.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the Royal College of General Practitioners have worked together on these proposals and to help keep you informed we have reproduced the RPS's press release below.

You can also read our Chairmans blog on the topic by clicking here.

RPS Press Release

Pharmacists set to work in GP surgeries in radical move to ease pressures on GPs

Radical proposals calling for pharmacists to work in GP surgeries will be unveiled at a summit in London today (Tuesday 17 March).
The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) have come up with the plans in a bid to ease current pressures in general practice and address the severe shortage of GPs. They say that the move will improve patient safety and care and, crucially, reduce waiting times for GP appointments.

GPs and their teams are estimated to make 370m patient consultations this year – 70m more than five years ago – due to an ageing population and more patients being treated for long-term and complex conditions. But as demand has risen rapidly, the number of GPs in England has remained relatively stagnant.

By contrast there is an over-supply of pharmacists who train as clinicians for five years - one year less than a doctor, one year more than a nurse – and could step in to treat patients directly at the surgery.

Many GP surgeries already work closely with pharmacists. The proposals would see pharmacists working as part of the general practice team, much in the same way as practice nurses. They would work closely with GPs and other colleagues to resolve day to day medicine issues, particularly for patients with long term conditions and who are taking a number of different medications. They would also liaise with hospitals, community pharmacists and care homes to ensure seamless care for patients.

With many GPs approaching retirement age, and insufficient numbers of medical graduates going into general practice to replace them, practices are struggling to meet patient demand and waiting times to see a GP are getting longer. According to RCGP research, there will be 67m occasions during 2015 when patients will have to wait a week or more to see a GP or practice nurse.

The RCGP is calling for an increase in the NHS budget for general practice to be increased to 11% by 2017 – it is currently just over 8% - and for 8,000 more GPs in England by the end of the next parliament.

The proposals launched today are the latest in a line of joint initiatives from the RCGP and the RPS to encourage closer working between GPs and pharmacists.

David Branford, Chair of the RPS English Board said: “General practice is the foundation of the NHS but it needs proper resourcing and support. Having a pharmacist as part of the team can make a huge difference to both patients and clinical colleagues. Pharmacists can consult with and treat patients directly, relieving GPs of casework and enabling them to focus their skills where they are most needed, for example on diagnosing and treating patients with complex conditions.

"As part of the multidisciplinary team, pharmacists can advise other professionals about medicines, resolve problems with prescriptions and reduce prescribing errors. Pharmacists can also work with GPs to resolve day-to-day medicine issues and with practice teams to provide advice on medicines to care homes, as well as visiting patients in their own homes when needed.

"It’s a win-win situation for everyone concerned. The NHS simply can’t afford to wait any longer to create capacity in the system. We must be more strategic and change the services on offer to make best use of the NHS workforce.

“Pharmacists should be working in GP practices all over the country. Patients deserve access to high quality care and services wherever they live and pharmacists are central to providing this.”

Dr Maureen Baker, Chair of the RCGP, said: “Waiting times for a GP appointment are now a national talking point – and a national cause for concern, not least amongst GPs themselves. But, even if we were to get an urgent influx of extra funding and more GPs, we could not turn around the situation overnight due to the length of time it takes to train a GP. Yet we already have a ‘hidden army’ of highly-trained pharmacists who could provide a solution.

“Practice-based pharmacists, working as part of the clinical team, would relieve the pressure on GPs and make a huge difference to patient care. This isn’t about having a pharmacy premises within a surgery, but about making full use of the pharmacist’s clinical skills to help patients and the over-stretched GP workforce. Patients with long term conditions such as asthma or diabetes with complex medicine needs would particularly benefit from having a pharmacist to help them navigate the conflicting and confusing information they sometimes receive about their treatment as they move between hospital and community care.

“Practice teams can also benefit from a pharmacist’s advice to help avoid medicines waste, improve the management of medicines and rationalise costs at this time of a squeeze on NHS finances. We are already incredibly grateful for the work community pharmacists do for our patients, and this proposal will take that work to the next level.

“We are extremely grateful to our colleagues at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society for their willingness to work with us in producing such innovative but realistic and workable proposals. The health needs of the population are changing and we need to be adaptable and flexible enough to accommodate this without losing the unique strengths of general practice such as continuity of care.

“We hope to see pharmacists working as part of the practice team as soon as possible to improve the care that we can deliver to all our patients in primary care.”

LPC to explore formation of Provider Company

18/3/2015

Gateshead & South Tyneside LPC, working with the other LPC's in the region, have been exploring idea of forming a provider company to tender, receive and manage enhanced service contracts for community pharmacy.

Your LPC has been exploring the possible benefits of forming a provider company so that it can tender more efficiently for commissioned services. It is becoming increasingly evident that, as the defined (by statute) role of the LPC restricts it from holding and administering contracts, we are unable to properly fulfill the role that commissioners require of us; and that increasingly a single contract with the commissioner held with a provider company - which then sub-contracts to pharmacies – is a desirable option for more and more of the commissioning organisations we deal with.

Please ensure that the pharmacy contractor receives the information in the letter below and replies using the web form here
Company Chemists head offices have received this information to reply directly on behalf of their company.

Prescription charge to rise to £8.20

13/3/2015

The government has announced an increase to the NHS prescription charge of 15 pence, to £8.20 per prescription item. This change will come into effect from 1st April 2015.

The cost of prescription pre-payment certificates (PPCs) has remained the same for a further year, with the price of a three-month PPC at £29.10 and a 12-month PPC at £104. PPCs offer savings for those needing four or more items in three months or more than 13 items in one year.

The government said the charges remained an important source of revenue to support the delivery of high quality NHS services.

Pharmacy teams should look out for their copies of the 2015 Prescription Charge Card being sent with the March edition of Community Pharmacy News (CPN) out later this month.

PSNC Chief Executive Sue Sharpe said:

“The prescription charge is a tax on the sick and as all pharmacies will know, many people who have to pay the charges find it extremely difficult to do so. We understand that all public services are having to tighten their belts and so the charge is viewed as a regrettable evil, but at a time when many people are experiencing financial pressures themselves, the increase announced today is unwelcome.”

Event;- Minor Ailments Re-Launch Event - Book Now 26th March 2015

13/3/2015

Further to our news that about the re-launch of the South Tyneside minor ailment service details and booking page have now been open on our website.

Click here for further details.

Breaking News: - New dates & finalised paperwork for national audit announced

12/3/2015

PSNC, NHS England and NHS Employers have agreed that the national community pharmacy clinical audit on the emergency supply of medicines will now go ahead over two revised audit periods:

Period 1: Monday 23rd March until Sunday 5th April 2015
Period 2: Monday 6th April until Sunday 19th April 2015

The audit was agreed as part of the community pharmacy settlement for 2014/15. The audit documentation has now been published and can be downloaded from: psnc.org.uk/nationalaudit and www.england.nhs.uk/pharmacy

Pharmacy contractors must now undertake the audit over one of the two audit periods.

The LPC would suggest that, as per our previous advice, contractors should do the period based on the last digit of thier F code.
Odd figure – audit period 1 - Monday 23rd March until Sunday 5th April 20155 (inclusive)
Even figure – audit period 2 - Monday 6th April until Sunday 19th April 2015 (inclusive)

In a joint statement the three organisations said:

“We are very pleased that we are now in a position to take forward this important audit. We believe the outcomes of the audit will provide valuable information on the existing community pharmacy service and will influence how the service is configured in the future.”

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - From the PSNC Website

Q Why was there a delay in publication of the audit documentation?
The audit was originally planned to start on 9th March 2015, but NHS England was not able to get the audit paperwork approved via its internal governance procedures in time for that date. PSNC therefore advised the NHS that the delays would mean the audit due to begin on 9th March could not go ahead.

Q Why has PSNC agreed that the audit should still go ahead?
At PSNC’s recent meeting on 11th March 2015 the Committee agreed that the audit could still proceed across the two revised audit periods. The Committee was very disappointed that the audit had to be delayed due to NHS administrative processes, but it believes the audit will provide valuable information on the pharmacy service and it is therefore pleased to have agreed that this can now go ahead. It is hoped that positive data from the audit alongside other data from NHS 111 and GP Out of Hours providers, will help make the case for the commissioning of community pharmacy emergency supply services at NHS expense.

PSNC Comment Alastair Buxton, Head of NHS Services, said:

“The national clinical audit is the first of its kind in the NHS and was an important part of the 2014/15 funding settlement. It will be a great way to showcase community pharmacy’s work. It is a pity that the wider implementation was somewhat overshadowed by delays to the publication of the audit documentation; but we hope that pharmacies will now be able to prepare for the audit and will find it as straightforward as those in the pilot did.”

Bharat Patel, independent pharmacy contractor and member of the PSNC Negotiating Team, said:

“This has been an exasperating time for those pharmacies who had been planning to carry out the clinical audit this week. PSNC has been equally frustrated by the delays, and we have stressed to NHS England the importance of giving contractors adequate time to prepare for these sorts of things. However, we now have the paperwork, and from what I have seen and heard from the pharmacies involved in the pilots, I think that the audit will be straightforward for pharmacy teams to carry out. When we agreed the clinical audit with NHS England I was very excited about its potential; this will be the first national audit of its kind and if it can help to highlight an important but often unrecognised part of our work, showing the value we are delivering to patients, then I think it will pay dividends. I still believe this to be the case, and hope pharmacies will still really be able to get behind this audit.”

Important IG update on business continuity

9/3/2015

NHS England has today confirmed that community pharmacies will be granted an exemption from the business continuity requirements within the Information Governance (IG) Toolkit. The exemption will apply for 2014/15, but not for next year.
PSNC had been pressing for this exemption and hopes it will now be more straightforward for pharmacies to meet their IG requirements this year.

Contractors will recall that the deadline for completion of the IG Toolkit for 2014/15 is 31st March 2015. Contractors will still need to complete the rest of the Toolkit by this deadline.

PSNC has produced guidance on completion of the Toolkit which is available at psnc.org.uk/ig. This includes frequently asked questions and a template business continuity plan which contractors may like to use in spite of the exemption in line with good business practice.

Local Easter and May Bank Holiday Opening Hours

8/3/2015

Please see the message from Claire Mcvay regarding Opening hours over Easter and May Bank Holiday.

Dear Colleague
Cumbria and the North East Sub Region of NHS England have prepared draft versions of Easter and Spring Bank Holiday opening, following notifications from yourselves (please see below).

Please would you be able to check the notifications for your area and submit any changes to be made
no later than 19th March 2015 to: England.pharmacyandoptometry@nhs.net

Many thanks for your assistance with this.

Please note that the only pharmacies listed on the notifications were those that returned the proforma letting us know of their opening intentions. We worked on the assumption that if a form was not returned for yourselves that the pharmacy is closed on the Bank Holidays.

Claire McVay
Assistant Primary Care Commissioning Support
Cumbria and North East Sub Region of
NHS England
Waterfront 4
Goldcrest Way
Newbury
Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE15 8NY

Direct Dial: 0113 824 7206
Email: claire.mcvay@nhs.net

Gateshead

All Areas in CNTW and DDT

South Tyneside

Sunderland

Special Container Database - PSNC Resource now available

7/3/2015

PSNC have produced a special container database. The database contains information about all the products which have special container status or a sub-pack as a special container as recognised by the Pricing Authority.

You can access the database by clicking here
You can use the search box to find products either by name or manufacturer.
This database is updated every month and is only valid for that specific month.

Special container details for specific products can also be identified using the Dictionary of Medicines and Devices
(for help on how to use this resource, click here).

If you require further guidance please contact the PSNC Dispensing & Supply Team on 0203 120 810 or email them.

Promotion of Pharmacy premises - PSNC produce useful guide for contractors

7/3/2015

PSNC have produced a useful briefing document about promotion of pharmacy premises. It describes what a pharmacy promotional leaflet must and must not contain and also the steps that pharmacists should take if their patients are receiving promotional leaflets which are not in accordance with the rules.

You can access the document below