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Welcome to Community Pharmacy Lincolnshire News

Welcome to our weekly newsletter.

In this week's email:

REMINDER: CPAF screening process closes midnight this Sunday
Drug Alert: Possible High Strength or Contaminated Heroin Reported
Medicines Optimisation Newsletter - July 2023

UPCOMING DEADLINES/KEY DATES

Monday 3 July 2023 to midnight on Sunday 30 July 2023: CPAF Questionnaire Completion period

The CPAF questionnaire must be completed through the NHSBSA MYS portal between Monday 3 July 2023 and midnight on Sunday 30 July 2023. We strongly advise contractors complete this short questionnaire as soon as possible on or after 3rd July. Community Pharmacy England has published a short Briefing on the screening process. Read the briefing

8th August 2023 - deadline to respond to consultation on GPhC fees 7.5% increase proposal

For more information to respond to the consultation, please see the GPhC website here.

From 1st September 2023 Hypertension claims must be via an IT system

Find out more

IMPORTANT GENERAL REMINDERS

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.

REMINDER: CPAF screening process closes at midnight this Sunday

Around 87% of contractors have so far completed the short questionnaire. Contractors are advised to prepare by reading the briefing on the screening process published by Community Pharmacy England. Read the briefing

The 2023/24 Community Pharmacy Assurance Framework (CPAF) screening questionnaire is now available for completion until midnight on Sunday 30th July 2023

Last time the questionnaire completion was required, if contractors did not complete the short questionnaire a longer questionnaire was then sent which took much more time to complete. We therefore highly recommend that you complete the questionnaire as soon as you are able to.

As a result of NHS regulations introduced at the end of 2020, completion of CPAF is now a requirement of the Terms of Service. Therefore, contractors must complete the screening questionnaire and, if required, the full CPAF questionnaire. Once the screening questionnaires have been completed, NHS England will then select a small number of pharmacies for a monitoring visit and/or to complete the full CPAF questionnaire.

Drug Alert: Possible High Strength or Contaminated Heroine Reported.

Lincolnshire Police and We Are With You have been advised of unusually high potency or contaminated heroin in the

Lincoln city area

There have been at least 6 overdoses & 2 deaths in recent weeks after using heroin

In the past 8 weeks there has been an elevated number of overdoses (with some deaths) in people who use drugs, primarily heroin, in many parts of the country (reports are geographically widespread, with most regions affected but only a few cities or towns in each region).

Testing in some of these cases has found nitazenes, a group of potent synthetic opioids. Nitazenes have been identified previously in this country, but their use has been more common in the USA. Their potency and toxicity are uncertain but perhaps similar to, or more than fentanyl, which is about 100x morphine.

This National Patient Safety Alert provides further background and clinical information and actions for providers and is available on the CAS website at the link below:
https://www.cas.mhra.gov.uk/ViewandAcknowledgment/ViewAlert.aspx?AlertID=103236

Drug users are being advised to:

Please get and carry Naloxone. Pick up a kit from We Are With You.
Make sure your friends / family know if you have Naloxone. Let them know where to find it & how to use it.
Try not to use drugs alone, so someone is there to get help if things go wrong.
If someone you are with goes over, don’t leave them. Call 999 and stay with them until the ambulance arrives
Visit We Are With You at 26-30 Newland, Lincoln or call on 0800 304 7021

Medicines Optimisation Newsletter - July 2023

The July 2023 newsletter can be accessed here: July 2023 Lincolnshire Medicines Optimisation Newsletter (office.com)

This month's content is as follows:

Hot Topic: Serotonin Syndrome
System Delivery Programme Update - Free Patient Support Webinar
Prescribing Forums
PACEF Updates
Permanent Discontinuation - Flixonase Nasule
General Practice Community Pharmacist Consultation Service Update
PrescQIPP Information Bulletins: Tadalafil and Combined Analgesics

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

If anyone would like to subscribe to this newsletter, forward this email to them and they can click here to complete the sign up form.

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