Welcome to Community Pharmacy Lincolnshire News
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Welcome to our weekly newsletter.
In this week's email:
- Unplanned Closures: Remember to follow process - see update re business continuity requirements on website
- Pathfinder: Lincolnshire ICB: Independent Prescribing in Community Pharmacy Pathfinder Programme
- Independent Prescribing in Community Pharmacy Pathfinders webinar: Thursday 14 September, 6.30-7.30pm register now.
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UPCOMING DEADLINES/KEY DATES
- From 1st September pharmacy owners need to use an NHS approved clinical IT system to make their clinical records and payment claims for the Hypertension case-finding service
Find out more information in the correspondence that should have been sent to your store email here.
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.
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Unplanned Closures: Remember to follow process
If you are unable to provide pharmaceutical services, for any reason, you must ensure that your Unplanned Closure procedure is followed, and that the regional NHSE&I team is notified of any time the pharmacy is closed (this is a requirement of your contract). This may include situations such as fire, flood, electrical failure, building safety issues or sickness of the responsible pharmacist or pharmacy team.
Wherever possible, the notification must be made:
Remember Annex 14 should be used to inform the regional pharmacy team of closures, it can be downloaded here: pharmacy-manual-annex-14-unplanned-temporary-suspension-of-services (1). Use of Annex 14 helps ensure all of the approved particulars are included as detailed below,
Approved Particulars
A notification of a temporary suspension or likely temporary suspension in the provision of pharmaceutical services at a pharmacy premises must, as a minimum, include the following:
For a temporary or likely temporary suspension
- The name of the contractor.
- The ODS code (also known as the F code) of the contractor.
- The address and contact phone number of the pharmacy premises.
- The date(s) and time(s), so far as practicable, of:
- the likely temporary suspension(s) of pharmaceutical services
or
- the temporary suspension(s) of pharmaceutical services and the anticipated duration(s), ideally before the start of the suspension(s).
- The reason(s) for the temporary suspension(s) or likely temporary suspension(s).
- The key actions taken to limit the impact on those anticipating or accustomed to using the pharmacy premises, so far as practicable (and for likely temporary suspensions the key actions that are appropriate or proportionate to the likelihood of the suspension).
- The actions taken to ensure that the provision of pharmaceutical services can resume promptly.
- The name of the person completing the notification.
- The contact telephone number and email address for the contractor.
- The date of the notification.
Regulations and Business Continuity Plan Requirements
Following changes to the NHS (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013 that were imposed in early 2023, from 31st July 2023, it became a Terms of Service requirement for each NHS community pharmacy owner to have a business continuity plan for a temporary suspension of service (closure) due to illness or other reason beyond their control, and to action this when necessary. Further details, including links to Community Pharmacy England guidance are available at the bottom of the page linked below on our website. All information about reporting unplanned closures is also shown on this page.
Unplanned Pharmacy Closures – Community Pharmacy Lincolnshire
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Pathfinder: Lincolnshire ICB: Independent Prescribing in Community Pharmacy Pathfinder Programme
You may have received the email below from The Community Pharmacy Clinical Lead at the ICB, Teresa Ogungbesan.
If you or one of your staff is a qualified Independent Prescriber, after you have read the information below, you may wish to express an interest by completing and submitting the electronic EOI form (link below) by close of play Monday 18 September 2023
Email from the ICB:
LINCOLNSHIRE ICB: INDEPENDENT PRESCRIBING IN COMMUNITY PHARMACY PATHFINDER PROGRAMME
We are pleased to confirm the launch of the Independent Prescribing in Community Pharmacy Pathfinder Programme and seek expressions of interest from pharmacy contractors.
The strategic aim of the Pathfinder programme is to develop a commissioning framework that will support the commissioning of independent prescribing as part of clinical services in community pharmacy. From September 2026 all newly qualified pharmacists will be independent prescribers on the first day of registration, and this presents an opportunity for NHS England to commission clinical services from community pharmacists.
MODELS
NHS England will evaluate new prescribing models in community pharmacy that fall into three broad categories:
1. Existing community pharmacy commissioned services, e.g., NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service, Common Conditions Service or NHS Contraception Service.
2. Long term conditions, e.g., prescribing for cardiovascular disease (hypertension, lipid optimisation, anticoagulation in atrial fibrillation) and respiratory disease (inhaler optimisation, rescue therapy).
3. Novel services, e.g., deprescribing, prescription management, reviewing antidepressants, and menopause services.
LINCOLNSHIRE ICB
Lincolnshire ICB has approval from NHS England to test the following models in 4 Pathfinder sites:
- Minor illnesses associated with acute Ear, Nose and Throat conditions - The LICB intend to utilise the skills of community pharmacist IPs working in collaboration with local general practices to address urgent patient need for help, advice and possible intervention relating to acute ENT conditions. The range of acute conditions within our scope will include:
• bacterial sinusitis
• otitis externa
• otitis externa with suspected secondary infection
• otitis media
• chronic sinusitis
• sore throat
- Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) prevention- The NHS Long Term Plan aims to identify more people with undetected risk factors of CVD such as high blood pressure, raised cholesterol, and atrial fibrillation (AF).
The scope of CVD prevention includes:
•Measurement of total, high‑density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, non‑HDL cholesterol, and triglyceride concentrations
•Weight measurement including calculating Body Mass Index (BMI).
•Assessment of patient’s smoking status and offer of smoking cessation support where patient seems motivated to quit.
•Measurement of blood pressure (BP), preferrable manually, with the aim of identifying patients with hypertension and detecting irregular or fast heart rate. Manual BP reading aims to detect possible atrial fibrillation and reduce stroke risk.
•Offering people at high risk of CVD who are overweight or obese appropriate advice and support to help them work towards achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.
•Using the QRISK2 risk assessment tool to assess CVD risk for the primary prevention of CVD in people up to and including age 84 years.
•Discussing the benefits of lifestyle modification and optimisation of the management of all other modifiable CVD risk factors if possible.
•Statin treatment should be offered for the primary prevention of CVD to people with an estimated 10-year CVD risk of 10% or more if lifestyle interventions have not proved effective.
- Acute Conditions
• Prescribing decision following consultation for minor illness or complaint.
• Prescribing POM, P or OTC medicines (within local guidelines for prescribing OTC/low value medicines)
Pharmacy contractors can express interest in as many of the models as they wish.
Due to timescales, to participate in the Pathfinder programme you must have one or more qualified Independent Prescriber Pharmacists, as evidenced by annotation in the GPhC register, available to deliver the programme.
If you meet this requirement and wish to express interest, please complete the online form at https://forms.office.com/e/M6jH2Tgt3M The online submission must be done in one sitting and cannot be saved or edited once submitted. A copy of the online submission in MS Word format is attached to help you develop your EOI.
USEFUL INFORMATION
- Sessions
Independent Prescribing will be made available for a number of sessions.Each session is 4 hours in length and there is a maximum of 6 sessions per week or 24 sessions per month per pathfinder.Pathfinder sites may start with a low number of sessions and then increase as the service establishes.
- Models
You may express interest in participating in one or more of the models which are being tested in this ICB.
- Appointments or Walk In
We anticipate most models will require the Independent Prescriber Pharmacist to be present in addition to the Responsible Pharmacist and (depending on the model) there will an opportunity to plan patients within the IP CP session, therefore utilising the 4 hours.
However, some models, such as those for Minor Illness, are difficult to plan and it may be that the IP CP and the RP are the same person.It could be agreed locally in these cases that one session extends over a day.
- Funding
Each session will be funded at £198
There will be a set up fee of £1,500 per Pathfinder site
Pathfinder sites with multiple models that involve additional set up costs will receive a ‘top up’ set up fee.
- IT
Each Pathfinder site will be provided with an EPS system to generate prescriptions.In addition, IP CPs will have access to patient records through GP Connect.Pathfinder sites will be expected to use their own systems to store consultation records.It is acknowledged this is ‘clunky’ for the IP CPs and record keeping is likely to involve additional time. Once Pathfinder sites are selected, the CPCLs and other Programme Support will work closely with the Pathfinder sites.
- SLA/service spec
The draft SLA/service spec will be available soon.If you intend to express interest in this programme, please email eleanor.carnegie@nhs.net who will send you a copy as soon as it is available.
- Expressing interest for more than one pharmacy
You can include express interest for more than one pharmacy on a single electronic form PROVIDING THEY ARE IN THE SAME ICS. Different ICS are approved for different Pathfinder models so if you wish to express interest for pharmacies in more than one ICS then a separate form must be completed for each ICS.
- Please note this EOI process is for the 11 ICS in the Midlands Region only. If you are a pharmacy contractor in another region please contact your Community Pharmacy Clinical Lead or LPC for information.
NEXT STEPS AND HELP AVAILABLE
- Complete and submit the electronic EOI form by close of play Monday 18 September 2023
- Questions can be emailed to Teresa Ogungbesan, your Community Pharmacy Clinical Lead at teresa.ogungbesan@nhs.net If Teresa is unavailable due to annual leave please email Jacqueline.buxton@nhs.net
- A national webinar chaired by David Webb, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, is planned for 14th September as per the next item in this newsletter.
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Independent Prescribing in Community Pharmacy Pathfinders webinar: Thursday 14 September, 6.30-7.30pm register now.
Independent Prescribing in Community Pharmacy Pathfinders webinar
Thursday 14 September, 6.30-7.30pm
From September 2026, all newly qualified pharmacists will be independent prescribers. NHS England is working closely with Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) to test the different ways that independent prescribing in community pharmacy will benefit patients.
Aimed at community pharmacy and ICB colleagues, this webinar is an opportunity to find out more about the development and implementation of the Independent Prescribing in Community Pharmacy Pathfinder programme. You can register here.
Speakers include:
- David Webb, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England
- Ali Sparke, Director for Dentistry, Community Pharmacy and Optometry, NHS England
- Anne Joshua, Head of Pharmacy Integration, NHS England
Register now at the link above.
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