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Welcome to Community Pharmacy Lincolnshire News

Welcome to our weekly newsletter.

In this week's email:

DMS Update: Peterborough City Hospital, Hinchingbrooke and Stamford hospitals (NWAFT) DMS launch 15th November. Launch event 9th November. Please make sure you are ready to deliver DMS service.
Important: GPCPCS: Patient not contactable process
Pharmacy Staff: Booking for C-19 booster

UPCOMING DEADLINES

PQS Training requirements - staged but early as possible completion advised

PQS for 2021/22 has now commenced. PSNC have produced a range of resources which can be accessed at the PQS Hub page at https://psnc.org.uk/services-commissioning/pharmacy-quality-scheme/. If you choose to sign up for all domains, an amount of learning is required. Whilst the deadline for training completion is the date of declaration in February 2022, some training will be needed to both complete gateway requirements and deliver services. To assist with completion of this learning we have summarised the requirements in a table which can be accessed here. The summary table includes indicative timings and links to CPPE training resources. We recommend considering the timing of the learning carefully; for example early completion of the CPPE inhaler technique training will allow more time for completion of inhaler technique checks and 'catch-up' NMS as part of the respiratory domain.

31st December 2021 - PQS Flu Vaccination communication with PCN Community Pharmacy Lead 2021

Per the Sept Drug Tariff – Contractors must have engaged with the Pharmacy Primary Care Network Lead (Pharmacy PCN Lead) to communicate that they would like to be involved in increasing the uptake of flu vaccination to patients aged 65 and over for the 2021/22 influenza season. All communications between the contractor and Pharmacy PCN Leads must be completed by 31 December 2021. You can find contact details for your PCN Community Pharmacy Lead on our website here, where they are listed on a PCN basis.

CPCS IT Systems Provider pays model Autumn 2021 (final deadline for transfer 31st March 2022)

NHSE&I funding for the two current CPCS IT systems (Sonar and PharmOutcomes) will cease at end of March 2022, with plans to move to a 'provider pays' model where community pharmacies would pay a small charge per completed consultation through the platform. Although this deadline is some time away, as planning and decision making is required, contractors are recommended to start considering which supplier they want to choose well in advance. From the autumn, contractors will be able to transition to their own contractual arrangements with one of the four assured IT providers (Cegedim, Sonar, PharmOutcomes and Positive Solutions). Find out more here.
If you have queries about this please contact Daniel at PSNC directly: Daniel.Ah-Thion@psnc.org.uk

DMS Update Peterborough City Hospital, Hinchingbrooke and Stamford hospitals (NWAFT) DMS launch

Cambridge and Peterborough LPC have advised us that NWAFT will be going live with DMS on 15th November. They are holding a launch event for pharmacy contractors on 9 November from 7.30pm – 8.30pm, to which they have invited pharmacy contractors in Lincolnshire who may receive DMS notifications for patients treated in NWAFT but who live in Lincolnshire. Below are access details for the launch event which contractors located near the border with Cambridge and Peterborough may wish to attend:

Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85375547972?pwd=bDJUL1ZQdFlQWHl1RVUzTzNyR09tQT09
Meeting ID: 853 7554 7972
Passcode: 658960

Remember, DMS is an essential service that has already launched in Lincolnshire, although referrals are not coming from the main secondary care provider ULHT as yet, so please make sure that your Pharmacists and Pharmacy staff have completed their declaration of competence and are ready to provide the service. Whilst referrals have been slow to start, as soon as ULHT start using DMS referrals (we are liaising with the CCG to try and facilitate overcoming IT hurdles faced by ULHT at this time), numbers will increase and pharmacies need to be ready. Full details around the delivery of the DMS service can be found on our website here.

GP CPCS Not contactable/no show patient process

The GPCSCS roll out is building slowly across the county, with slow but increasing interest in the service from general practice, likely resulting from specific targets to engage with community pharmacies and to use the CPCS service included in PCNs' incentive scheme announced for 2021-22 and 2022-23, as reported in the 30th September update.

Unlike with 111 CPCS referrals, where there is a box to indicate 'patient did not attend' on PharmOutcomes, there is no such facility for GPCPCS referrals, as they arrive via nhs.net email (as shown on the flow chart below). As you know the process agreed in Lincolnshire is that the patient will ring the pharmacy. However, this may not happen.The patient may walk-in to the pharmacy and say they have been referred from the GP, in which case you would just find the referral on nhs.net mail BUT there may be patients who do not ring or turn up, the process in that instance is suggested to be as follows:

1. You find the GPCPCS referral when checking your store nhs.net mailbox.
2. You attempt to contact the patient up to three times.
3. If you are unable to contact them after three separate attempts then you will need to email back the GP surgery advising them that the patient has not attended, so that they can then follow up. This 'closes the loop' within the system.

Pharmacy Staff: Booking for C-19 booster

In case you missed this important update from PSNC

NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) confirmed on 30th September that frontline health and social care workers (which includes eligible Pharmacy staff) can now book their COVID-19 booster vaccinations through the National Booking Service (NBS).

Eligible staff can only book an appointment for a booster dose if it has been at least 6 months (180 days) since their second dose of the vaccine.

Staff will need to present proof of their employment status to be eligible for vaccination at their chosen vaccination centre. NHSE&I have indicated that acceptable forms of identification include: a workplace photo ID; letter from their employer from the past three months; or a payslip from the past three months which shows their employer. This ID will need to be present when staff arrive for their appointment, and their eligible professional status will be recorded in the clinical record system being used.

Any eligible frontline staff aged 16 -17 should receive the two-dose primary course of the Pfizer vaccine as outlined in the Green Book.

Community Pharmacy Lincolnshire are continuing to update and refresh our website. Let us know if there are any specific things you'd like to see, You can email us at info@pharmacylincolnshire.org

Remember, you can also contact us using info@pharmacylincolnshire.org with any questions, queries or feedback you may have.

Lincolnshire Local Pharmaceutical Committee is the voice of NHS pharmacies in Lincolnshire. For further information about the work we do, contact chief.officer@pharmacylincolnshire.org or visit www.pharmacylincolnshire.org