Blog Archives

South Tyneside Substance Misuse - Update

24/8/2022

Following a meeting with Humankind / STARS we agreed it would be helpful to remind pharmacies of the following message to improve patient care and help minimise harm to patients:

If a pharmacy becomes aware of a patient receiving therapy on a blue form (eg supervised methadone) being admitted to hospital, then the pharmacy should inform STARS immediately and PAUSE the prescription. The prescription should ONLY be restarted on advice from STARS.
Please be aware of the three day rule and remember to inform STARS if a patient misses 2 days of doses.
If the pharmacy receives a batch of prescriptions, say 5 weeks, this does not mean that the client has an appointment in about 5 weeks time as there is very likely to be an interim appointments. Consequently if asked “when does my prescription run out?” Please advise client to contact STARS for their next appointment as opposed to saying "you have x weeks left on your prescription." - STARS have detected that patients sometime believe they do not need to attend interim appointments once they have a batch of prescriptions at the pharmacy.

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GP CPCSPractices Engaged - Service to Take Off - Ensure Teams are ready.

22/8/2022

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The LPC has had discussions in Gateshead & South Tyneside with the place based teams (formerly known as CCG's) and we understand that GP practices are now very keen to engage with GP CPCS. As a consequence contractors are advised to re-familiarise themselves with the referral process and keep an eye out on Pharmoutcomes (or any other platform you have commissioned) for referrals.

It is vital that pharmacies act on referrals to ensure the service is a success. We have had some feedback where some pharmacy staff have been unaware of the service or have not been able to access the IT platforms. We ask that all Pharmacies ensure that their staff fully understand this national service and ensure it is embedded in day to day practice.

We would like to remind contractors who offer the service that they will have signed up to this via the national sign up and consequently the pharmacy's details will be available to GP practices to use for referrals. So if you have signed up, you are very likely to receive referrals and it is important that you are able to deliver the service in a timely manner.
The fact that GPs will be using the service more often is good news for contractors, and very much welcomed by the LPC as it will lead to improved service for the patients and adds extra renumeration to pharmacies offering the service.

Click Here to access the PSNC webpage for further information and guidance around the CPCS service.

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Annual Report & AGM 2022 - Virtual AGM now open

19/8/2022

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We have now opened our AGM Process for 2022. A letter has been sent out to contractors.
A copy of the letter can be obtained by clicking here.
This years annual report is now available for download from the Gateshead & South Tyneside LPC AGM webpage.

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Pharmacist Needed

11/8/2022

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Following on from our message earlier about the Urgent and Emergency Care CPCS Pilot in Gateshead (See Below)

We are looking for a Pharmacist to help with the pilot. We need a pharmacist to spend some time with the triage team at the Urgent Care centre to help them make appropriate referrals to community pharmacies.

We are hoping to have someone work with the Blaydon team on 22nd August. The time will be remunerated. If your are interested please contact our secretary Louise on l [email protected]

Thanks
Sami

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Urgent & Emergency Care CPCS Pilot - Pharmacies in Gateshead Invited to Join

10/8/2022

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NHS England are looking for pharmacies who currently offer CPCS service to join the national pilot enabling pharmacy to receive CPCS referrals from Emergency and Urgent Care centres. In particular Pharmacies in Gateshead are needed as the Urgent Care at the QE hospital and Blaydon are due to be involved in the pilot very shortly.
Further details are provided below. This is a great opportunity for pharmacies in Gateshead to receive more CPCS referrals as well as become more embedded in the local system. We would encourage all CPCS providing pharmacies in Gateshead to sign up. Especially if you are located near to the urgent care centres. We asked volunteers for this a while back however it is now open to all the pharmacies in Gateshead on a first come first served basis until all the places are used up.

We would encourage pharmacies to sign up today to make sure they are included.

Pilot Details
This is be another CPCS referral route in addition to existing 111 and GP services.

This part of the pilot is open to pharmacies already providing CPCS in Northumberland, North Tyneside, Newcastle and Gateshead
Click Here to see the service specification. (The specification references the need for pharmacists to have completed the CPPE CPCS training, which is currently unavailable, therefore if you have not completed it this will not preclude you from joining the pilot.)
There is a participation fee of £665 for joining the pilot with the expectation that your pharmacy will fulfil all the requirements in the service spec, including the evaluation of the pilot and if your pharmacy is selected for an interview an additional fee will be applicable.
Your application to join the pilot is made by an electronic registration declaration through the NHS BSA registration site set up specifically for this pilot. The link to register for the service is shown in section 3.1 on page 10 of the attached service spec. It can also be accessed by clicking here

.The NHS BSA application link is now open until sufficient pharmacies have been accepted onto the pilot.
If you would like to be part of the pilot, apply as soon as you can, as applications will be taken on a first come first served basis.

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South Tyneside Substance Misuse - Update

GP CPCSPractices Engaged - Service to Take Off - Ensure Teams are ready.

Annual Report & AGM 2022 - Virtual AGM now open

Pharmacist Needed

Urgent & Emergency Care CPCS Pilot - Pharmacies in Gateshead Invited to Join

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