Archives: Contractor Email

* FAO Living Well Pharmacies Only *
Dear Contractor
Community pharmacies providing the Living Well Service will have the opportunity to deliver a new brief intervention service during the Stay Well this Winter campaign period.  The TARGET Antibiotic Checklist Brief Intervention Service will run for four weeks during October and November 2025.

This service aims to use the TARGET Antibiotic Checklist as a tool to:

  • clinically assess the suitability of prescribed antibiotics and dosage for the patient’s infection;
  • facilitate the delivery of individualised, evidence-based counselling to patients/carers following dispensing.

The brief intervention service also aims to assist signposting into the flu vaccination service where appropriate.

Electronic copies of the service resources are below and hard copies will be distributed with the Stay Well this Winter delivery.  These include copies of the:

Please refer to the Service Specification for further information on service provision requirements, including training and record keeping as well as remuneration details.

The contract will be circulated in the coming days and should be completed before initiation of the service.

An information session will be organised for 23rd September 2025 but if you have any queries about the service in the meantime please contact Paula.McMaster2@hscni.net.

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive
FAO Community Pharmacies participating in the Community Pharmacy Vaccination Services
Dear Contractor,
The PHA have issued an operational letter to help with planning for the upcoming flu and COVID-19 vaccination programmes.

ACTION

Please read this letter and ensure it is shared with relevant members of your pharmacy team.

Kind regards,

SENT ON BEHALF OF
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive
This update contains important information for community pharmacy teams.

CPNI ALERTS

DOH(NI) ALERTS

BSO ALERTS

Palliative Care Week – Living for Today, Planning for Tomorrow – 7th-13th September 2025

The awareness week is an opportunity to highlight the important role community pharmacy teams play in palliative care provision and the Community Pharmacy Daffodil Standards. A range of engagement will be happening next week including MLA visits to local pharmacies, press coverage and online activity. CPNI will be posting this engagement on social media and contractors are invited to share these posts on their own platforms.

Daffodil Standards

Launched in March 2025 as a joint initiative between the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Marie Curie. The Daffodil Standards are supported by the Department of Health, Pharmacy Forum NI and Community Pharmacy NI and aim to build on the high level of care already provided to palliative care patients and their families by community pharmacy teams.

Feedback from those signed up to the initiative has been positive, with pharmacists commenting that they would encourage pharmacy teams to get involved, as by doing so they will get additional information and support to help build their confidence in providing palliative and end of life care.

To find out more about the Daffodil Standards click here.

Pharmacy team(s) can keep updated via CPNI’s Contractor Calendar and Contractor Emails.

Or report medicine shortages, pricing and staffing issues via CPNI’s Medicine Pricing/Supply Reporter and Situation Reporter.

Please bring this to the attention of your pharmacy team(s).

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF
Gerard Greene
Chief Executive
Dear Colleague
The final update of concessionary prices were granted today for August 2025:
DrugPack SizeConcessionary Price
Indapamide 2.5mg tablets28£6.99 (previously £6.11)
Lactulose 3.1-3.7g/5ml oral solution500£6.11 (previously £5.80)
Olanzapine 15mg tablets28£2.77
Olanzapine 5mg tablets28£3.33
Trihexyphenidyl 2mg tablets84£80.91

Concessionary prices will be paid against the usual code, no additional endorsements are needed.

Please continue to notify CPNI of any pricing issues you are experiencing via our Medicine Pricing/Supply Reporter.

Concessionary prices are also published on the CPNI website.

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive

Dear Contractor

Phishing attacks are a daily occurrence for many businesses, and the threat actors are continually changing their modus operandi.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland Cyber Crime Centre has highlighted recent attacks observed in the NI Legal sector and elsewhere.

In each case an incoming email is received from a compromised third party and Microsoft Sway is used to host a link directing to a credential harvesting webpage.

While threat actors can and will change how emails or landing pages appear, user awareness around entering passwords, the need for effective internal reporting systems, and the benefits of utilising tools such as Conditional Access can all help mitigate the risk posed by this type of attack.

Action

Contractors are asked to note:

  1. The alert from the Cyber Crime Centre, and to ensure that their teams are aware that this is a variation of phishing email scams.
  2. That businesses can obtain advice on safeguarding against phishing attacks at www.ncsc.gov.uk/phishing.
  3. That Cyber Crime can be reported to Action Fraud 24/7 at www.actionfraud.police.uk or 0300 123 2040.

Further information can be accessed via the links on the Cyber Protect webpage HERE.

Contractors are reminded that the storage and back up of patient sensitive data and any amendments to your systems should only be carried out in line with advice from your IT or email provider, PMR system provider and in line with Data Protection legislation.

Kind regards

Mike

SENT ON BEHALF OF
PROF MIKE MAWHINNEY
Head of Regulatory Affairs

This update contains important information for community pharmacy teams.

CPNI ALERTS

DOH(NI) ALERTS

BSO ALERTS

Falls Prevention Roadshow

CPNI has been made aware of an upcoming Falls Prevention event taking place on Wednesday 17th September 2025.  The event will take place in Ikea, Belfast between 11am and 2pm (drop-in).  The event is hosted by the Community Falls Prevention and Management Service and is open to patients, members of the public and healthcare staff.  Further information is available here.

Pharmacy team(s) can keep updated via CPNI’s Contractor Calendar and Contractor Emails.

Or report medicine shortages, pricing and staffing issues via CPNI’s Medicine Pricing/Supply Reporter and Situation Reporter.

Please bring this to the attention of your pharmacy team(s).

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF
Gerard Greene
Chief Executive