All Categories - Gateshead & South Tyneside LPC

Feedback Wanted

13/2/2026

We are inviting pharmacy contractors in South Tyneside & Gateshead to share their feedback on past LPC training, update and engagement events, and to tell us what you would like us to focus on in the year ahead.
Your feedback will help shape future events to better support you and your teams.
Please take a few minutes to complete our short survey here

Pharmacy - GP Engagement Service Help to Boost Pharmacy First Services

2/2/2026

The LPC has secured a new funding opportunity designed to help Pharmacies strengthen their relationships with local GP practices and drive the growth of your Pharmacy First services alongside other NHS Service (E.g. Hypertension, Contraception)
The Scheme provides your pharmacy with a minimum of one full day of pharmacist backfill funding. This protected time allows you to step away from the dispensary bench to focus on activities that will directly increase service referrals and income across your PCN.
In a move to ensure the best results for the whole PCN network, the pharmacist utilising this funding will visit the GP surgery on behalf of all pharmacies in that PCN area. This collaborative approach ensures a unified voice for community pharmacy and a consistent message for our GP colleagues.
What Can You Do With Your Funded Day?
The day is split between collaboration and internal pharmacy development:

GP Engagement: Deliver briefing sessions to practice staff, discuss local referral processes, and share case studies of effective practice.
In-Pharmacy Development: Evaluate your own team’s capability, identify any knowledge gaps, and provide targeted training to ensure you are "service-ready."

How It Works

Coordination: Activities are coordinated with the Community Pharmacy PCN Lead to ensure we are meeting PCN priorities.
Pharmacy-Based Review: Use part of the time to evaluate your own team’s readiness and identify any internal training needs.
The activity must be planned and completed before 31st March.
Simple Claiming: Once the activity is complete, you can submit your claim and activity summary via PharmOutcomes.

This is a fantastic chance to secure protected time to grow your business and improve patient care through better local collaboration.
Please contact your PCN Lead to get involved. Click here for details of your PCN Leads.
Full details of the Scheme can be seen by clicking here.

Post Event Information - Dermatology and Depression NMS Update

20/12/2025

Thank you to everyone who attended our training session on Dermatology and the Depression NMS Update - We've had some great feedback on the event!

For those who attended, or who are interested in topics covered that evening, then please click here to access the slides from our guest speakers: Dr Catriona Rutland - GP and Consultant Dermatologist, and Hannah Lubbeke-Brown - Advanced Pharmacist Practitioner.

The Depression NMS update brought up plenty of questions after the event about who/how Community Pharmacy could signpost patients for further support. Please take a look at https://www.stsftmentalhealth.nhs.uk/ for further information on how patients can self refer to talking therapies, who to contact in a crisis and more information about local mental health services.

Local EHC services to be decommissioned - as national service commences.

17/11/2025

In response to the inclusion of the Emergency Hormonal Contraceptive (EHC) Service in the National NHS England Pharmacy Contraceptive Service from 29 October, Gateshead Council and South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (who commission South Tyneside Council's Service) will no longer be commissioning this service from Gateshead and South Tyneside pharmacies. All pharmacies that were providing this service under the local contracts should now providing this service under the NHSE contract, and therefore there will be no break in service provision for patients.

In order to enable a smooth transition for pharmacies from the local to the national service, the local service module will remain live until 30th November 2025.
From 1st December the local EHC modules will be switched off.

World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week: 18th-24th November 2025

15/11/2025

Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework -
Little Bug Buster Campaign.

Ahead of World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week 2025, which runs from the 18th to the 24th of November, community pharmacies should have already received posters and information about the Little Bug Busters campaign. The campaign is a NENC initiative aimed at engaging families, schools and early years settings to promote infection prevention and reduce inappropriate antibiotic use in children. This campaign, agreed by the ICB, is a required part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework for pharmacies and links in to World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week 2025.

For further information on how community pharmacy can get behind this campaign please click here to see the briefing

Vaccination Services - COVID / FLU National Booking System Issues

28/10/2025

This message is for all pharmacies offering NHS Vaccination Services
Following the start of the vaccination season we would like to make contractors aware that the National Booking System (NBS) is only a booking system with no triage controls. It does not filter patients by age or conditions. It is purely a booking system. It relies on patients making a declaration that they are eligible whilst booking. Essentially it allows anyone to book. We would like to remind contractors that they must clinically check the eligibility of all patients for either vaccine. Flu or Covid.

Full details of the eligibility can be found in the service specs.
Covid
(Please note this has changed from last autumn and now mirrors the spring campaign)
Over 75 Years of age
lives in a care home
Immunosuppressed (as defined in the green book)

We understand that pharmacies are having to deal with extra workload to deal with disappointed patients and we have made strong representations to the local and national teams about this extra unfunded workload. The LPC’s are concerned that if vaccines are given to the wrong cohort as as result of the NBS pharmacies may be subject to Post Payment Verifications later down the line so would urge contractors to ensure their teams are ensuring the correct eligibility is being adhered to. We understand that pharmacies have made a significant contribution to this year’s campaign in the first couple of days and are proud they are making a difference.

Whilst we understand the problems the NBS has caused and heightened patients expectations it has created we are really keen that pharmacies continue to provide an excellent service with in the parameter of the service specification.

South Tyneside Council / Waythrough Supervised Consumption Tariff Increases by 25%

24/10/2025

The LPC has been working with South Tyneside Council and Waythrough (formally Humankind) and are pleased to announce that from the 1st October 2025 an increase of 25% (plus annual inflationary uplifts) on tariff fees paid for drug supervision services will apply.
Service Current Tariff. New Tariff
Sup. Con. - Methadone £2.22 £2.78
Sup. Con. - Buprenorphine £ 3.32 £4.15

This will be applied automatically through PharmOutcomes and backdated to the 1st October. Waythrough are currently preparing a new SLA to reflect this agreed increase and this will be shared with contractors in due course.

The Council and Waythrough understand the important role that community pharmacy teams play in supporting some of our most vulnerable residents and the extremely difficult financial situation that exists in community pharmacy at the moment.
Commenting on the increase in fees, Dave Carter, LPC Chair said
“We are really pleased that both the Council and Waythrough understand the important role that community pharmacy teams plays in substance misuse with these vulnerable patients; and the extremely difficult financial situation that exists in community pharmacy at the moment. This increase goes a long way towards covering community pharmacy costs for this service and I’m sure will be welcomed by contractors providing it.”

Council / ICB Flu services 2025/26

22/9/2025

Gateshead Council, South Tyneside Council and Integrated Care Board (ICB) Flu vaccination service

As in recent years, for 2025/26 PSNE Ltd has built a flu vaccination programme for eligible staff of Gateshead Council, South Tyneside Council and the ICB. The service is open to all pharmacies across North East and North Cumbria. Eligible staff from one area can visit a pharmacy near to their home in a different area and still obtain their employee funded flu vaccination.

For clarity the organisations that will be able to use the service are as follows.
Gateshead Council
South Tyneside Council
North East and North Cumbria ICB
The service will be managed and operated through PSNE via a contract variation. A new module will appear on PharmOutcomes where you'll be able to download the contract variation and sign up. Please look for this new module, which will be titled: PSNE Flu Service - 2025/26 - Contract Variation.

If you are employed by a multiple, PSNE Ltd will be in touch with your regional or head office to handle the sign-up process on your behalf. Please check with your line manager or head office to confirm if your pharmacy has been enrolled to provide this service.

Once PSNE has received a completed contract variation, the necessary PharmOutcomes consultation modules will be made available to you. These modules will allow you to record administered vaccinations and will guide you on the specific evidence required for each organisation.

We will also add your pharmacy to the PSNE website, which employees will use to find a participating location.

To help you familiarise yourself with the service, we have summarised some important details below. Please take a few minutes to read this information carefully.

PSNE Flu vaccination service

Regional Pharmacy Network
By signing up for this service, you will join the PSNE Flu Pharmacy Network. This network will be offered to councils and other organisations that seek flu vaccination services. Any new organisation that joins will be able to direct their employees to any pharmacy within the network.

Organisations signed up to date
This service has been commissioned by
Gateshead Council, South Tyneside Council, and the North East North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB).

We'll let you know as other organisations join the scheme. Please keep an eye on your PharmOutcomes messages for these updates.

Pharmoutcomes 
PharmOutcomes will be used for both claiming the service and guiding you through the specific registration information required by each council and organisation. Employees will need to present ID from their organisation and you will need to record their work area / dept within Pharmoutcomes.

Fees
Fees are detailed in the service specification.

PGD and Insurance
This service will operate under your own private Patient Group Direction (PGD). It is your responsibility to ensure you have a private PGD in place.
If you also choose to deliver off-site clinics, you must ensure that your PGD and insurance provide appropriate coverage for that work. You will be asked to confirm to PSNE, the councils, the ICB and any other organisations through a question on PharmOutcomes that you have the necessary coverage.

Walk-In / Appointments
Eligible employees will be advised to contact the pharmacy directly to ask about service details, such as whether appointments or walk-ins are offered, and to confirm vaccine availability.

EHC Services - Update Fee Increase South Tyneside & Future Funding Repurposing ST & GH

27/6/2025

EHC Services - South Tyneside

We are pleased to announce that South Tyneside commissioners have also approved an increase in the EHC consultation fee to £21.36, mirroring the recent change in Gateshead. This arrangement required a bit more time to finalise, as the commissioning landscape in South Tyneside is slightly more complex, involving multiple commissioners including SST Foundation Trust working in partnership with the South Tyneside Council.

This change will start on the 1st July for any providers in South Tyneside.

This is great news! However, the LPC acknowledges this will be a temporary measure until the national service, which doesn't have a confirmed operational start date yet. Until then, the current local service will continue at this new rate.

Repurposing of Sexual Health Funding - Gateshead & South Tyneside

We've had productive discussions with Gateshead and South Tyneside Commissioners about the funding for the EHC service once it goes national. Both have confirmed their commitment to keeping these funds within Community Pharmacy. As a result, we're exploring new sexual health services that could be provided through Community Pharmacy and will share updates soon. Please contact the LPC if you have any ideas or comments to contribute to these discussions.

End of NHS Spring COVID Booster Campaign - Pharmacies need to provide Information to SVOC

20/6/2025

The NHS Covid Spring Booster campaign came to an end on the 17th June. Pharmacies involved in the campaign will have received an email from SVOC requesting them to complete certain tasks including completing a close down form for the campaign.

This is just a reminder for pharmacies to look out for this email from SVOC and ensure you comply with the requirements contained within it as soon as possible.