Welcome to Community Pharmacy Lincolnshire News
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In this week's newsletter:
- Funding available to Support Technician Upskilling (£420 per technician). Expression of Interest - Deadline Extended: Please complete EOI form by midnight Monday 29th May
- New Educational supervisor training for the pharmacy workforce
- Medicines Optimisation Newsletter April 2024
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UPCOMING DEADLINES/KEY DATES
CPE have published a new web page highlighting important dates relating to national services and terms of service requirements. This is a live page and CPE will continue to update it as and when announcements are made - you can access the page here.
Monday 29th May: Deadline to Express an interest in £420 per Pharmacy Technician upskilling support funding.
See item in this newsletter
30th June 2024 - Deadline to verify/update your DOS Profile
Pharmacy owners must update their NHS Profile Manager by 31st March 2024 to ensure your pharmacy's NHS website and Directory of Service (DoS) profile information is current in order to ensure compliance with NHS Terms of service. We encourage you to register for the NHS Profile Manager if you haven’t already, using your personal NHS mail address. If you have already registered, we encourage you to promptly update/verify your profile. Learn more on the CPE website here.
IMPORTANT GENERAL REMINDERS AND USEFUL PAGES
Make sure you are signed up for Community Pharmacy England Newsletters.
Sign up to receive these at the link here: https://cpe.org.uk/our-work/updates-events/email-sign-up/
Important CPE Webpages
CPE Pharmacy First Service webpage.
CPE Hypertension webpage
CPE Pharmacy Contraception Service webpage
Main CPE Advanced Services webpage
Community Pharmacy Lincolnshire Pharmacy First Webpage
Includes useful operational guidance and key links and can be accessed here
Community Pharmacy England Key Service Webinar Recordings
Includes Pharmacy Contraception Service: getting going with the service, Pharmacy First: Getting ready for launch and Hypertension Case-Finding Service see CPE webpage here
From 1st December 2022 - Changes to nhs.net email access requirements. Inactivity period prior to permanent, irrecoverable account deletion reduced from 180 days to 60 days.
For more on this and other important reminders see item on our web page here.
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Funding available to Support Technician Upskilling: Expression of Interest - Deadline Extended. Please complete EOI form by midnight Monday 29th May
Limited places - complete your EOI now
Funding for Pharmacy Technician Upskilling for Lincolnshire contractors: Expression of Interest
As the world of community pharmacy evolves, having a capable and skilled workforce is now more crucial than ever. Using the skill mix of the whole pharmacy team will help community pharmacies to adapt to increasing demand for clinical interventions and patient-facing consultations.
Community Pharmacy Lincolnshire has secured a modest amount of funding to support the development of the pharmacy technician workforce in community pharmacies in Lincolnshire.
This funding will be used to support some of the costs of releasing pharmacy technicians to complete an approved development programme. This can be used to arrange appropriate cover while they undertake some elements of the training, for example through the use of locum pharmacy technicians or additional hours for other staff, up to a maximum of 21 hours at £20 per hour (£420). There are limited places available.
Background:
The vision for community pharmacy published on 19th September 2023 predicts that by 2030, community pharmacy will provide an even greater patient-centred approach to care and services, with pharmacists making maximum use of their clinical skills. Pharmacy technicians will lead medicines management processes, both in technical roles focused on the safe and efficient supply of medicines, and in patient-facing roles to support patients’ use of medicines. It is also proposed that there are changes in the law to allow pharmacy technicians to deliver some services to patients via Patient Group Directives (PGDs), expanding on the supporting roles they have in service delivery such as hypertension case-finding and vaccination.
To support this, it is acknowledged that many pharmacy technicians in community pharmacy will wish to grow their skills and knowledge so that community pharmacy can fully utilise the skill mix within pharmacy teams.
What is the funding for?
The fund will enable pharmacy contractors to release their frontline staff to take part in the “Community pharmacy technician: advancing your role” programme. There is no cost for the course itself, as this is funded through NHS Workforce, Training and Education (formerly known as Health Education England). More details can be found on CPPE’s website here:
https://www.cppe.ac.uk/career/pt-ayr/pt-advancing#topMenu
The CPPE “Community pharmacy technician: advancing your role” programme aims to develop the knowledge, clinical skills and behaviours of pharmacy technicians working in community pharmacy to increase patient access to clinical services by widening the skills mix in community pharmacy.
The programme consists of approximately 4 months of self-directed learning at 4-6 hours per week, one compulsory face-to-face, full-day clinical assessment skills workshop, one two-hour mandatory reflective practice evening online workshop, a self-directed log of clinical skills, and workplace-based sign-off of clinical assessment skills. Learning needs are self-assessed, supported by an education supervisor.
Whilst we recognize the vast majority of learning will still need to be completed in the employee’s own time, providing funding to replace employees that need to attend training during the working day will facilitate participation and completion.
The programme requires that students:
- are a community pharmacy technician.
- have access to a pharmacist or other health care professional in practice who is able to observe and sign off your clinical assessment skills in practice.
- will provide the postcode of their place of work.
- agree to attend one of the mandatory Clinical assessment skills face-to-face workshops and one online peer reflection workshop to guarantee their place and gain access to the e-course.
Please note that places on the CPPE programme are limited, and Community Pharmacy Lincolnshire cannot guarantee acceptance.
How will the funding be allocated and accessed?
Places will be initially offered on a first come, first served basis to contractors applying for funding who meet the criteria outlined below:
- Employ a registered pharmacy technician who agrees to sign up for and complete the CPPE Community pharmacy technician: advancing your role programme
- Provide the name, contact details and registration number of the technician.
- Provide the name, contact details and registration number of the pharmacist or other health professional in practice who agrees to observe and sign-off the student’s clinical skills in practice
- Both the contractor and the pharmacy technician will need to sign the Memorandum of Understanding shown here, to confirm they understand their responsibilities when accessing the funding.
Funding will be provided as follows, with submission of the required evidence:
- An initial payment of £100, paid upon receipt of a signed of the MOU and confirmation of signing up for the relevant CPPE workshops.
- A second payment of £160, paid on receipt of proof of attendance at a face-to-face Clinical Assessment workshop and an online peer reflection workshop.
- A final payment of £160, paid upon proof of completion of the course within nine months of registration.
To note, the dates for the most local clinical assessment skills (CAS) workshops are shown below and a full list can be accessed here under programme dates: https://www.cppe.ac.uk/career/pt-ayr/pt-advancing#topMenu
Students need to agree to attend both the CAS and peer reflection workshops to enrol on the Community pharmacy technician: advancing your role programme. Students will choose the dates that work best for them. More dates will be released in due course for further cohorts of this programme.
Please note that these are part of CPPE’s national programme, and Community Pharmacy Lincolnshire cannot influence or amend these dates.
The Clinical Assessment Skills workshops are held nationally, and run from 10.00am to 4.30pm. Those we consider most local accessible for contractors in Lincolnshire are:
Tuesday 11th June – Manchester
Tuesday 18th June – Nottingham
Monday 24th June – Birmingham
Thursday 27th June – London
Tuesday 2nd July – Milton Keynes
Wednesday 10th July – Leeds
The Peer Reflection workshops are held online and run from 7.00pm to 9.00pm. Current planned dates for these are:
Wednesday 1st May 2024
Wednesday 22nd May 2024
Tuesday 25th June 2024
Tuesday 9th July 2024
Optional online monthly peer support sessions will run from 12.30pm-1.30pm on selected dates for the duration of the programme. The planned dates for these sessions are:
Wednesday 8th May
Tuesday 21st May
Wednesday 19th June
Thursday 27th June
Thursday 4th July
Thursday 18th July
If you wish to register your interest in receiving this funding support please complete the Microsoft form here: by midnight on Monday 29th April, including details of the employed pharmacy technician who will be completing the programme. If you are a group with more than one site, each technician for whom you are applying for support will need an individual EOI application to be completed.
Please note that completion of your expression of interest does not imply, nor guarantee that funding will be provided to you.
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New Educational supervisor training for the pharmacy workforce
NHS England are pleased to announce additional, fully funded educational supervision training for those supervising foundation trainee pharmacists.
This training will ensure those involved in educational supervision, including Designated Supervisors (DSs), and Designated Prescribing Practitioners (DPPs), are confident to provide support and developmental aid to foundation trainee pharmacists across all sectors.
This training offer provides 250 places exclusively for prospective DPPs, in addition to 250 places for other educational supervisors, including DSs, (previously known as pre-reg tutors).
Sign up now for Educational Supervisor training for the pharmacy workforce which will be delivered by ProPharmace.
Who is eligible:
- Educational supervision programme - Pharmacy technicians and pharmacists who supervise trainees
- DPP programme - independent prescribers who supervise foundation trainee pharmacists. Regulatory changes in 2019 mean that experienced independent prescribers of any profession can apply for DPP training to support pharmacists to become independent prescribers.
About the training: The training will be delivered flexibly to accommodate work schedules and will allow learners to develop their skills and knowledge around delivering educational supervision whilst keeping patient safety and person-centred care at the forefront. Online modules are split into bite-size lessons that last 20-30 minutes.
Modules in the Educational supervision programme cover the following topics:
- Introduction to educational supervision
- Facilitating Learning
- Giving effective feedback
- Assessing & Monitoring
- Supporting trainees
Modules in the DPP programme cover the following topics:
- Introduction to DPP supervision in pharmacy
- Facilitating Learning
- Giving effective feedback
- Assessing & Monitoring
Assessments will include a choice of reflective account, multisource feedback, and peer observation of supervision skills.
Further information
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Medicines Optimisation Newsletter April 2024
This month's issue includes:
- Hot Topic: Sun Awareness Week
- Medication Safety Matters: MHRA Update
- Medicines Updates: Sleepstation CBTi
- Training Opportunities: Deprescribing Workshop; ECG Essentials
You can access the newsletter here.
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