Welcome to Community Pharmacy Lincolnshire News

Pathfinder Programme - Survey to assess number of Independent Prescribers in Lincolnshire - deadline 3rd February

Potential to become an NHSE Independent Prescribing Pathfinder Site in Community Pharmacy
 

NHS England are looking to establish Pathfinder sites to identify and test the delivery of independent prescribing across all regions in England. In order to Express and Interest to become a Pathfinder site a community pharmacy needs to have an Independent Prescriber employed at the pharmacy.  At the moment we do not know which pharmacies meet this requirement. 

The ICS want to bid for some funding so Yinka Soetan, Chief Pharmacist Lincolnshire ICB, needs to find out how many Independent Prescribers work in Community Pharmacy and where they are based. 

Yinka has created a short survey to gather this information to enable her to progress the Expression of Interest with NHSE, so if you haven't already done so, please could you complete the survey accessible here by 3rd February.

Thank you 

Valproate National Mandatory Audit - Start now - absolute deadline for starting Monday 19th February 2023

PSNC and NHS England have agreed that the 2022/23 national clinical audit will focus on valproate, with the aim of reducing the potential harm caused by taking valproate during pregnancy. The audit must be completed by all community pharmacy contractors as this is part of their NHS contractual requirements. 

Contractors are required to conduct the audit over a six-week consecutive period, however, the workload associated with the audit is expected to be manageable for all contractors as the number of patients covered by the audit is small. 

Contractors were able to choose the six-week period over which to complete the audit (as long as this is completed by 31st March 2023). In order to complete the audit by the deadline contractors must start by Monday 19th February.

Read more about the audit requirements at the PSNC website here.

Parliamentary inquiry - prevention in health and social care: deadline for input 8th February 

You may have seen in Pharmacy Magazine that last week that the parliamentary health and social care select committee announced a major new inquiry into the prevention of ill health. The inquiry is being led by by select committee chair Steve Brine MP. The committee want to hear from researchers, organisations and individuals interested in or working in preventative healthcare. This is your opportunity to get involved and suggest what specific issues they should be exploring. 

The proposals will be used to help the Committee decide where to focus its attention in subsequent stages of its inquiry: further calls for evidence inviting more detailed submissions from interested stakeholders may then be issued on these topics. 

This is an opportunity to highlight the important role that community pharmacy plays in keeping people well, through assisting in the management of long term conditions for example and offering healthy living advice and support. The inquiry could look at areas like obesity, smoking and mental health.  

In its first stage, the inquiry is inviting pharmacists to suggest topics that will be considered, with submissions to be accepted until Wednesday February 8th. More information and a link to where you can send your suggestions can be found here.

We encourage as many individuals as possible involved in community pharmacy to input into the inquiry, as this will help evidence the need for appropriate funding to support the vital role community pharmacies play in the health and well-being of communities.