Blog Archives

Reminder - DOS & NHS Profile Pharmacies must keep up to date Good Afternoon

25/3/2022

We have been advised by our colleagues at NHS England that some pharmacy opening hours are incorrect on their Pharmacy Profile on the NHS website and also on the DOS (Directory of Service). In particular with regards to Bank Holiday openings especially if you have been directed to open by NHS England.

It is important that your opening hours are kept up to date to ensure that both patients and the other services such as 111 are aware of your opening times.

Contractors are reminded of the Terms of Service requirement to ensure they verify and, where necessary, update the information contained in their NHS website profile and their DoS profile at least once each quarter of the financial year.

For the current financial quarter, the deadline for completing this is 31st March 2022. Further information on this requirement can be found by clicking here. Update - NHS Profile Manager

NHS England has advised that the new NHS Profile Manager will no longer launch this month (March 2022). A new go-live date has not currently been announced.While awaiting the launch of the NHS Profile Manager, community pharmacy contractors should continue to use both the existing tools to ensure the information on is up to date. (Links below)

Gateshead Council Public Health Service Contract Extensions and Variations

25/3/2022

Gateshead Council will today be proposing to update the Pharmacy Primary Care Contract specifications (EHC, Health Checks, NRT, Supervised Consumption and Stop Smoking Service).

The process for accepting the new specifications and terms will differ for independent pharmacies and large multiples.

For independents – you will need to logon to PharmOutcomes where you will see a module called ‘Public Health Contract Variation Proposal" (From the Council)’. Pharmacies will need to follow the instructions within that module. You will be asked to download a letter explaining the variation, follow a link to access the specifications and terms and accept the variation by completing
the module and submitting.

For large multiples (Boots, Lloyds, Well Bestway, Rowlands, Tesco, Asda) – the Council will contact your regional or head office contacts directly by way of email. The email address used will the one supplied previously to the Council for contracting purposes. The email will ask them to download a letter explaining the variation, a link to access the specifications and terms and to accept the variation by signing the letter and returning it by email.

Please look out for these and ensure you complete the process to ensure your contract with the council is extended and there is no break in service.

Should you have any queries regarding Pharmoutcomes please don't hesitate to contact me. If you have any contacts regarding the extension or the variations please contact Colleen Briton. Details contained in the letter.

CPCS - How to Escalate Guide

21/3/2022

The LPC has been alerted to some patients being referred back to 111 after having been initially referred to the pharmacy from 111 for a CPCS. Please can we remind pharmacies that this must not happen. If during a CPCS you feel a patient needs to be escalated you must follow the guidance which can be downloaded here. Sending the patient back to 111 should not occur.

Please can you make sure all pharmacists and staff within you pharmacy are aware of this guidance.

Small Group Education Programme – Polypharmacy - 31st March 2022

18/3/2022

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Dr Matthew Walmsley (Chair, South Tyneside CCG) will currently running a small group education sessions for GP's on optimising treatment. He is planing to run a catch up session session on the 31st March and asked if Pharmacists would like to attend.

The Small Group education concept was established in 1992 for primary care health professionals in Canterbury, New Zealand, to support best practice through independent, evidence-informed, peer-led professional development. A participative, reflective model of learning, training consists of small groups of 12-15 healthcare professionals. Meetings are facilitated by a trained Small Group leader and benefit from expertise across professional disciplines.
South Tyneside Group CCG is participating in a pilot trial of the Small Group education programme. The pilot is running 3 education topics between November 2021 – March 2022,

The current topic of Polypharmacy was recently covered and will be run again on

31st March 2022 6pm - 8pm

This is a great opportunity to attend a learning session along side GP colleagues to aid collaborative working

If you are interested in registering click here to register. The registration link will send an email to a colleague in the CCG (Anna Davidson) who with then send you the meeting links.

If you would like to know more about the topics the handouts and resources can be downloaded below.

*Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels

Community Pharmacy PCN Leads to receive funding to help support and enhance their roles within the PCN

18/3/2022

The LPC is delighted to announce that working alongside colleagues in the region we have secured and started to receive funding from the ICS via a variety of sources to provide some much needed resource to PCN leads to allow them to engage in their role more effectively.

PCN leads will have access to resources to help book locums and attend meetings with the PCN in a wider manner than has been possible to date. The funding can also be used in other ways such as networking within the PCN itself. The funding is being facilitated via the LPC.
Gateshead & South Tyneside has 8 PCN's and many will know who their lead is as we have developed good communication links between the lead and the pharmacies in their patch. We would ask all contractors to support their PCN leads as the role develops. Remember they are the link for collaborative working between pharmacies and GP practices in a PCN area.

The LPC recently brought together the PCN leads and LPC Members in a face to face meeting to discuss their work to date, the funding and the future for the to role.

Commenting at the meeting Dave Carter, G&ST LPC Chairman, said
"this money will go a long way to help facilitate engagement within the PCN - to promote the quality clinical services such as GPCPCS and Hypertension Finding Service which if utilised fully have the power to really reduce GP appointment time and workload whilst simultaneously utilising the clinical skills of the community pharmacy”
Attendee, Susie Barnes, PCN Lead for Gateshead Outer West said
"It was great to be able to meet other PCN Lead and discuss the work we have all been doing. I feel enthused about the future and my role as PCN Lead. Its great to have some support from both the LPC and the regional funding to enable me to leave the pharmacy to attend meetings and progress the role"

South Tyneside Wellbeing Fund - Pharmacies to receive up to £3,000

10/3/2022

The LPC is delighted to announce that following discussions with South Tyneside CCG they will be allocating £100k (Approx £3,000 per pharmacy) of funding to the community pharmacy workforce in South Tyneside.

This money is to be spent on initiatives and items that will support staff wellbeing. The CCG have acknowledged that the pharmacy teams have continued working to provide the highest standards of care to the community of South Tyneside, in the face of huge challenges and they hope that this allocation will in a small way support staff to maintain access and capacity in primary care.
The fund can be used on practical steps, schemes or items to focus on staff safety, welfare and psychological wellbeing. It can also be used to create additional capacity in the pharmacy to ease pressure / create space for learning & development and wellbeing.

Additional capacity can be used to free up staff to have their time off or help temporarily with workload etc. The intention of this fund is that it is spent on areas that benefit all members of the community pharmacy. A detailed email will be sent direct to each pharmacy in South Tyneside via their NHS Mail address. This will detail the process required to access the funding. Gateshead & South Tyneside LPC will help facilitate the process. Please keep an eye out for this email.
This is welcome news for the pharmacies of South Tyneside and shows a collaborative and integrated approach from the CCG.

Commenting on the funding,
Jo Farey, Associate Director at the CCG said "Community Pharmacy teams in South Tyneside are really forward thinking, inventive and always offering more and more support for our residents. They always go the extra mile and are simply a brilliant and invaluable part of our health & social infrastructure"

Louise Lydon, LPC Secretary said "We have always had a good working relationship with the CCG in South Tyneside, they acknowledged many years ago the contribution that community pharmacy makes and have invested over the years resulting in innovative services such as Think Pharmacy First, GP2Pharmacy and Pharmacy Led Hosuebound Covid Service. These services were trailblazing and over the years have been adopted by other parts of the region as well infroming national service development. By including community pharmacy in primary care funding they are again showing their commitment to community pharmacy and the impact on patient care of the local community"

Levy Holiday for Pharmacies in Gateshead & South Tyneside

9/3/2022

At a recent meeting of the LPC,  the decision to commence a levy holiday for contractors was agreed.  This will take effect on 1st April 2022, initially for 3 months, subject to future reviews to ensure that the committee holds enough funds to operate effectively.

During the pandemic the committee has seen a reduction in  funding required to operate due to new ways of online working and consolidation of work load.  Our reserves have now increased above  needs.  Taking into consideration anticipated future work load and budgeting the levy holiday will repatriate funds back to contractors which we are sure will be welcome news.  The committee unanimously agreed to the holiday and believed that it was timely given the immense pressures faced by contractors during the pandemic.

Commenting on the holiday Emma Morris, our Treasurer said. "Given the pressure that pharmacies were under to ensure they kept their doors open throughout the pandemic and the outstanding care that was given to their patients the committee felt a levy holiday would go some way to helping reduce some of their pressure.  Having reviewed our reserves and future budgets we believe that the committee will be able to continue to provide contractors with the high quality support and representation given historically"

Regional Funding Support - To help Continued CPCS Mobilisation

8/3/2022

Following discussions with our LPC colleagues and NHS England in our region we are delighted to announce that NHS England -( North East & Yorkshire Region ) have agreed to fund £200 to each pharmacy offering CPCS. This is to help support the continued service provision and aid the transition to the new IT arrangements for the service.

This demonstrates support for the service and shows a willingness from NHS England to work with Pharmacies to ensure that CPCS remains a successful service.

Communications will be sent via NHS England direct to pharmacies via their NHS Mail to detail the specifics. We understand that you will need to still be offering CPCS and that payments will be made direct via the BSA. Please keep a look out for the email for full details.

In response to the news Dave Carter, LPC Chairman commented " This is great news for community pharmacy and shows a commitment from NHS England. We hope this will continue going forward. Pharmacies have shown resilience over the past 2 years and have shown that they are an essential primary care resource, CPCS is a great service which utilises the Pharmacy teams skills and helps patients. Its continued success will demonstrate how valuable community pharmacies are to the NHS and ultimately to patient care."

REMINDER - Pharmacy Registration with Anenta Ltd required for NHS Waste Collections

8/3/2022

Pharmacies are reminded that all Pharmacy contractors in the North East need to register with Anenta Ltd.
Anenta is the company appointed by NHS England to manage waste collections from pharmacies. This was communicated in October last year.

Click here to see a copy of the letter.

Anenta will be responsible for all waste collections across North East and North Cumbria. (this includes any adhoc collections and queries)

NHS England have informed us that there are still some pharmacies who have not yet registered. Please can you ensure that your pharmacy is registered asap. It is better to sign up now than at a time when you have a query.
Pharmacies can register using the link below:-

https://vector.anenta.com/nhse_registration

DMS - Local CNTW Process and PSNC Guide

7/3/2022

Our colleagues in CNTW foundation trust have developed a DMS process for the hospitals in their area (Cumbria, Northumberland Tyne and Wear) . This will help enable utilisation of DMS.

As DMS is now an essential service all community pharmacies need to ensure they are ready to receive DMS and are familiar with the service.

PSNC has published a digital guide to the Discharge Medicines Service (DMS) for community pharmacy contractors. The half-hour guide provides some background on the service and an overview of the service requirements.

The guide offers busy contractors, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians an alternative way to ensure they are aware of what is required to provide the service and complements the other information and guidance available on PSNC's DMS webpage.
Click HERE to Watch the digital guide

CNTW Process

CNTW have tested their process using teams working from St Georges Park in Northumberland, St Nicholas Park in Newcastle and Hopewood Park in Sunderland.

The service will be available on all CNTW inpatient wards which have electronic prescribing (ePMA) by March 2022.   This should include patients discharged from St Georges Park, Hadrian Clinic, Monkwearmouth Hospital and Hopewood Park.

DMS will be then be rolled out to all sites in Cumbria and any remaining North East Wards when ePMA has been implemented later this year.

Please note hospitals will be contacting Pharmacies using their NHS.net email addresses.

Any errors related to the process will be reported via the trust Incident reporting system.
They plan to review the process after months 1 and 3, this will include feedback from community pharmacy colleagues.

A copy of the CNTW procedure and a template of the letter that pharmacies will receive can be downloaded below.

CNTW DMS procedure
Template Letter for DMS Procedure

Please familarise yourself and your pharmacy teams with the above process and DMS Guide in order to make DMS a success in your pharmacy.