NEW PHARMACY SERVICE - Community Pharmacy Referral Service (CPRS) Launch event - 30th Nov 2017

A new Pharmacy service called CPRS (Community Pharmacy Referral Service) is being launched in the North East.  It is being commissioned by NHS England.  You may have received some calls about the service from NHS England via colleagues from the regional LPC's.

 Co Durham and Darlington LPC, Gateshead and South Tyneside LPC and Sunderland LPC have collaborated to deliver a CPRS launch event and will be co-hosting the event on 30 November 2017 at the Ramside Hall, Durham. DH1 1TD.

The LPCs would be delighted to see as many pharmacies as possible represented at the event. Mike Maguire and Andre Yeung, LPN Chairs and architects of CPRS, will be presenting details of the new pharmacy service and will provide you with all you need to know about  CPRS.
 
The meeting will start at 7pm however refreshments and sponsors will be there from 6pm.
To register for this event please use the booking form below.  Some further information about the new service can be found below.
 

---

---

CPRS Summary
​
Aims of the service

The aim of the service is to appropriately manage patients contacting NHS 111 with low acuity conditions, through referral to a community pharmacy to reduce pressure on the  primary and urgent care system, particularly GP out of hours.
The NHS Community Pharmacy Referral Service (‘CPRS’) is available in Northumbria, Tyne & Wear, Durham, Darlington and Tees. 

What the service will provide

The agreement is for the pharmacy to provide self-care advice and support. This will include printed information to all people referred to the pharmacy by NHS 111, due to a specified low acuity condition.

The end points of the consultation may include: 

• advice given only
• advice and the sale of an OTC medicine
• advice and referral into the pharmacy local MAS (dependent on local commissioning arrangements - please see each service specification)
• advice and ‘direct dial’ access to GP to set up appointment (each pharmacy will use a local arrangement for this)
• advice and signpost on to another service

How to access the service

Any patient, even those registered with a GP from outside the North East, can access CPRS as they would likely still have attended another care location in the area. 
To access the service patients must:

• have called NHS111 and been referred are eligible to receive advice and treatment
• opt-in 
• be assessed by the pharmacy, potentially being referred to other health and social care professionals, where appropriate

Patients who wish to consult their GP or other health care provider for their condition are still free to do so. 

Timescale

The North East CPRS is due to  commence from 4th December 2017 and run until 31 March 2018. 

Service Specification

As with all services contractors are advised to read the service specification to make yourselves familiar with the terms and conditions before agreeing to this service.  A copy of the spec can be downloaded below.
​
Register to provide the service

If you are a pharmacy within the specified North East areas and you intend to provide the service between 4 December 2017 and 31 March 2018, you must register your pharmacy’s details with NHS England first by completing the form on the NHSBSA website.  This can be accessed byclicking here.

Service Specification