National Rollout of Summary Care Record Access - Local Plans to Follow

Summary Care Record (SCR) access for pharmacy is being rolled out nationally.  Locally NHS England met with the regions LPC's yesterday to discuss its roll out locally and we will send out details of finalised plans as soon as we can. In the meantime Pharmacists and GPHC registered Technicians who wish to have access will need to have completed the CPPE package on SCR's.  Gateshead & South Tyneside LPC would encourage you to get the package done as soon as possible so you are ready for local implementation.

Click here to access the CPPE package and don't forget to log any relevant CPD.

We understand that 'contractors' will be able to claim a £200 fee for help towards implantation in their pharmacies via the drug tariff.  The March 2016 Drug Tariff, published yesterday, notified pharmacy contractors that to support the implementation of the Summary Care Record (SCR) to community pharmacies, they will be paid an allowance of £200 from the 1 March 2016, subject to certain conditions being met.

The £200 allowance will be triggered when the pharmacy contractor has submitted the SCR in Community Pharmacy Usage Agreement to the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) and accessed the SCR. The allowance will only be paid once, irrespective of any subsequent premises merger, sale or relocation. The allowance will be time-limited and cease on the 31 March 2017.

In order to receive the allowance pharmacy contractors are required to:

• have an N3 connection;
• be compliant with the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) Warranted Environment Specification (WES);
• have a standard operating procedure for SCR viewing;
• be compliant with the Information Governance Toolkit;
• ensure staff accessing the SCR have specific smartcard roles enabling access to the SCR;
• nominate one individual per site to attend an HSCIC or HSCIC approved face to face implementation briefing;
• ensure all staff accessing the SCR complete the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) online SCR training; and
• appoint a Privacy Officer, responsible for auditing and reviewing the SCR access.

The relevant regulations which pharmacy contractors must adhere to are set out in Schedules 4 and 7 of the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2016.

Commenting on the funding, PSNC has said the following
"PSNC is pleased that the rollout of community pharmacy access to the NHS Summary Care Record (SCR) is moving ahead. It will be an important enabler for the more clinically focussed community pharmacy service that the profession wants to see develop. Additionally, in time it should help us to make the case for full read and write access to shared care records which will further enhance patient care and collaboration with other healthcare professionals, particularly those working in general practices.
​
The costs that pharmacy contractors will incur if they choose to rollout SCR access will vary depending on the individual pharmacy; the £200 payment to pharmacy contractors included in the March 2016 Drug Tariff represents a contribution to those costs. When the Secretary of State for Health provided funding to NHS England to enable SCR access in community pharmacies, he made this conditional on pharmacy contractors sharing the cost of rollout with the NHS."

---