 The formation of LPC provider company, PSNE Limited, was approved on 29th June 2016 at a joint EGM of North of Tyne LPC, Gateshead and South Tyneside LPC and County Durham and Darlington LPC.
The company was formed as a vehicle to work with commissioners to ensure that Community Pharmacy was able to bid for services in the future and LPCs were aware that commissioners would be tendering for a prime provider of pharmacy services. PSNE Limited submitted a tender and we are delighted to announce that PSNE was selected as the preferred supplier. The Prime Provider is to ensure continued delivery of the following services via community pharmacies; Think Pharmacy First Service - in South Tyneside, Newcastle Gateshead, North Tyneside & Northumberland CCG areas. SharpsEnd Service - in Northumberland CCG area Specialist Drugs Service - in South Tyneside, Newcastle Gateshead, North Tyneside & Northumberland CCG areas. MAR Charts Service - South Tyneside CCG area PSNE have been working hard to complete contract agreements and mobilise the services. They will shortly be sending sub-contract agreements to existing providers in the above areas. PSNE is being paid a management fee so service fees to pharmacy contractors will remain the same as current fees. We hope that all current providers will continue to provide services and that there will be a seamless transfer to PSNE. PSNE will be using PharmOutcomes to manage all services. Look out for a message from PSNE via Pharmoutcomes soon and make sure you follow the instructions to ensure a smooth transition.
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 Community pharmacy contractors are now able to notify NHS England of their intention to begin providing the Flu Vaccination Service, which will commence on 1st September 2016, by completing the notification form available on the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) website.
This must be done annually. Even if a contractor provided the service in 2015/16 they must complete this sign-up process again. Contractors need to complete this form for all their pharmacies from which the Flu Vaccination Service will be offered. If the form is not completed before provision of the service, claims for payment will not be accepted by the NHS BSA. The notification form is available here Directions Published for the National Flu vaccination service Community pharmacy contractors that fully meet the requirements for provision of the Community Pharmacy Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Advanced Service now have the go ahead to provide the service from 1st September 2016. This follows the amendment of the Secretary of State Directions. A link to the Secretary of State Directions which provide the legal basis for provision of the service is available on the PSNC website you can access it by clicking here Influenza Service Guidance produced by PSNC can also be found by clicking here  The service specification and Patient Group Direction (PGD) for the community pharmacy Flu Vaccination Advanced Service 2016/17 have today been published. The specification and PGD set out information about provision of the service and they should be read alongside PSNC’s detailed guidance on the service (also published today).
Service Specification for the Flu Vaccination Advanced Service 2016/17 PGD for the Flu Vaccination Advanced Service 2016/17 PSNC Briefing 040/16: Guidance on the Seasonal Influenza Vaccination Advanced Service 2016/17 The documents explain what community pharmacy contractors need to do to offer the service, including how to confirm that their premises are appropriate, pharmacist training and Declaration of Competence requirements, data capture and sharing of information, vaccine storage, gaining patient consent, GP notification and claiming payments. Publication of the service specification, PGD and the PSNC guidance means that contractors now have further information on the service to use in finalising their preparations for provision of the service. However, contractors will not be able to begin providing the service and vaccinating patients until amendments to The Pharmaceutical Services (Advanced and Enhanced Services) (England) Directions 2013 (the Directions) have been made which provide the legal basis for provision of the service. We expect the NHS to confirm it has taken the final steps to allow the service to begin later this week and we will email again when we know this has happened. PSNC’s detailed guidance document will support the preparation process for the Flu Vaccination Service and it includes a checklist which contractors can print out and work through to ensure they have everything they need in place to successfully provide the service. Commenting on the publication of the service documents, Alastair Buxton, Director of NHS Services at PSNC, said: “The publication of the service specification and the PGD will now allow pharmacy teams to finalise preparations for the launch of the service. We expect the outstanding regulatory matter to be confirmed later this week and hope community pharmacies will be in a position to begin vaccinating patients from 1st September. Contractors will need to take some time to finalise their preparations and get everything in place, but our guidance talks them through this step by step so we hope it won’t to be too arduous. You can also sign up to our webinar tomorrow evening (Wednesday 24th August) to help plan your implementation of the service. Many contractors will have experience in delivering the national service last year and locally commissioned flu vaccination services and will be able to prepare very quickly, so we’re really looking forward to hearing about the first patients receiving their national NHS flu vaccinations from community pharmacies very soon after the service launches. Although this is the second year of the national Flu Vaccination Service, it is just as important as last year to make the most of this opportunity. Community pharmacy needs to show the difference the sector can make and we are looking forward to seeing if the sector can improve on the number of patients vaccinated under the service last year. Throughout the flu season we will be keen to promote examples of best practice so please do let us and your LPC know how you are getting on with the service.”  Gateshead & South Tyneside LPC along with the other LPC's in the region have commissioned Flu training for contractors that need it.
The training will ensure you have the relevant competences required to provide the national NHS Seasonal Flu Vaccination Service. This year we have arranged training with the National Pharmacy Association (NPA). You are not obliged to use the LPC training you can use training from any other provider or via your own in house training if available. For details of this years training requirements and online booking forms to the NPA sessions as well as details of PSNC Webinar and other training providers please visit the NorthernPharmacy website. http://www.northernpharmacy.net/2016-training.html  We have now published our annual report for 2015/16 and opened up our virtual AGM. You can download a copy of the annual report and vote on our AGM Page by clicking here A copy of the letter sent to contractors can also be downloaded below. We would encourage all contractors in Gateshead & South Tyneside to cast their votes.   The launch of the national community pharmacy Flu Vaccination Service 2016/17 is planned for 1st September 2016.
While not confirmed until the service specification and PGD are published, there a number of key points we believe community pharmacy contractors need to be aware of. They are:
Training As in previous years LPCs in the North East are trying to organise local face to face training which complies with the requirements of the service. At the time of writing I cannot confirm that local training will go ahead though we are hopeful that it will. As soon as I have confirmation either way I will let you know. Those pharmacies which intend to provide the flu service should familiarise themselves with the training requirements. All the details can be found on the PSNC website. Click here for the information. A list of organisations which provide vaccination training for pharmacies can also be found on the PSNC website via the link above. Flu webinar PSNC is hosting a webinar on 24 August 2016 at 7.30pm on the community pharmacy influenza vaccination service. The webinar will last for approximately 60 minutes. The webinar will help you to:
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