Blog Archives

Electronic Repeat Dispensing (eRD) - LPN Communication & Webinar Details

23/9/2020

The LPN Chairs, Andre Young and Mike Maguire have been working accross the country to increase the uptake of eRD. They have worked heavily with GP's to increase awareness of eRD and how to use it. They have asked us to send out the information below to help highlight the benefit to Community Pharmacy. Alongside this they are putting on a webinar for Community Pharmacists. Details and links are also below.

Community Pharmacy Webinar

"Maximising eRD benefits for my Community Pharmacy"

The same webinar will be run on two occasions to allow contractors a choice of when they would like to view the webinar: Please use the linksbelow to access the webinar whihc will be run via Mircosoft Teams.

Wednesday 30th September, 7.00pm - Maximising the benefits of eRD for my Community Pharmacy Webinar
Tuesday 6th October, 7.00pm - Maximising the benefits of eRD for my Community Pharmacy

Advice to attendees:

- The event will last 40 minutes.
- Please join 5 minutes before the start to ensure you get set up in time for the start.
- To ensure you get a good connection please close any unneeded background applications that may use your broadband connection.
- To ensure the event runs to time there will not be a live Q&A however you can email [email protected] with any questions and these will be answered by the hosts.
- A recording of the event will be available.
- Feel free to tweet during the webinar using the hashtag #NorthernERD.

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North East Lockdown - Delivery Services

18/9/2020

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As you will no doubt have heard the residents of the North East have now had some new Lock Down restrictions placed on them. This went into force as of midnight last night.

We have been informed that it is likely that local councils may start up local delivery services again for medicines. Also the advanced service for deliveries should also be switched on for our area. PSNC have not confirmed this yet however we would advise to keep an eye on their website to see details of this being restarted in light of the local restrictions.

https://psnc.org.uk/the-healthcare-landscape/covid19/pandemic-delivery-service/

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Supervision Services - Reset of Supervision

11/9/2020

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Following a meeting with STARS (in South Tyneside), and a discussion with Gateshead Council, the LPC has agreed that methadone/buprenorphine supervision services will restart from 1st October. You may have already seen some communications about this from your commissioner.

Contractors will begin seeing prescriptions this month, as clients are reviewed and allocated back to supervisions or otherwise.
In some cases the supervision regimen will be the same as previously (pre-COVID-19), but in the majority of cases there may be changes due to the review based on a client risk assessment.

The LPC urges contractors to contact STARS or CGL if circumstances change within your pharmacy following a risk assessment, and you are unable to offer supervision services.

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EHC Training - E-Learning - Coming soon

10/9/2020

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Contractors may be interested to know that the LPC is discussing with EHC service commissioners the idea that e-learning which will replace some of the more traditional evening meetings as part of the necessary training obligations required for the service. We will update you as soon as we have more information on the format of the training. We are also hoping that capacity will be much higher than before enabling more people to attend.

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Needle Exchange ServicePharmacies needed - Expression of Interest

9/9/2020

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South Tyneside Adult Recovery Service (STARS) is looking to recruit pharmacies to offer a needle exchange service in the South Tyneside area. If you are interested in offering the service or wish to discuss any details further please contact Melanie Scott on
07584 681 852 or
[email protected]

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Flu Clinics - Infection Control

4/9/2020

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This year we have a unique challenge managing our pharmacy flu service alongside COVID.
The LPC is working closely with CCG's and councils - covering all health and social care - and the message is: "there is no wrong place to have your flu jab", it has to be "one big flu team" across our patch, which means pharmacy and general practice working well with each other like never before.

This is because there are enhanced targets to 75% for at risk groups, a massive anticipated increased demand due to Covid19, and the expectation that 100% of all health and social care staff will be vaccinated. This means that there will be much more pressure on the service along with social distancing, PPE and infection control measures to consider.
We have recently sent a PPE message via our newsfeed. This can be summarised as needing to wear a sessional facemask and good hand hygiene between patients.  You do not need single use PPE items for every patient. It is also important to have good infection control measures in place, such as, spraying/wiping down your work surfaces and door handles between patients.

Thinking about offering flu clinics, suggestions from the LPC would be:

offering clinics out of normal hours, such as evenings or weekends,
making appointments and advising patients to turn up on time, not early, to save queuing
maintaining social distancing between all patients and staff (aside from administering the jab)
early advertising of your pharmacy to patients
It may be wise to screen patients as they attend (or a phone-call the day prior) to check they have no covid like symptoms before attending for their jab
consider if the pharmacy is closed, having a one way system, if your pharmacy layout permits safely

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Chairmans Message - Reset of LPC Communications

2/9/2020

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Please see the message below from David Carter, Gateshead & South Tyneside LPC Chairman.

"When the coronavirus pandemic suddenly hit the U.K. and we went into lock down, the LPC was well aware that contractors were being bombarded with information from everyone - it was almost overkill with information and advice. Many of our LPC members were also thrust on to the front line to help keep community pharmacy open and functioning throughout..

Consequently, the LPC took the strategic decision to suspend traditional Comms via this LPC newsfeed; and instead the exec team sent smaller relevant communications to PCN leads for onward distribution using WhatsApp. This was done to speed up the communications process - as it takes quite a long time to write this sort of message and format it for onward marketing to contractors via email, Twitter and Facebook - as well as post it onto the G&ST website.
The LPC would like to thank PCN leads for their efforts during this difficult time in ensuring that our messages were distributed in a timely manner.
The LPC has now taken the view that the time is right for the resetting of the traditional LPC news feed - and you will have seen messages over the last few weeks as regular communications has started again.

The messages you see are, and will be, predominantly “local messages” of support and information for contractors - as we are assuming that you also get the national newsfeed from our national bodies: PSNC, RPS, NPA, CCA, GPhC etc.
The website has been refreshed and you will see all the messages both current and historical posted there for your convenience and reference.

The LPC hopes that you find our messages both relevant and useful. 
Please let us know if you have any comments on our news feed and we’ll try and modify it if required and where appropriate."

David Carter

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Electronic Repeat Dispensing (eRD) - LPN Communication & Webinar Details

North East Lockdown - Delivery Services

Supervision Services - Reset of Supervision

EHC Training - E-Learning - Coming soon

Needle Exchange ServicePharmacies needed - Expression of Interest

Flu Clinics - Infection Control

Chairmans Message - Reset of LPC Communications

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