Archives: Contractor Email

This update contains important information for community pharmacy teams.

CPNI ALERTS

• NI Pharmacy Technician and Support Staff Survey 2023 – Extension to Survey Closing Date and Updated Link 5 June 2023

DOH(NI) ALERTS

• COVID-19 Spring Booster 2023 Community Pharmacy Vaccine Service (CPVS): Update Ten 9 June 2023
• COVID-19 Spring Booster 2023 Community Pharmacy Vaccine Service (CPVS): Update Nine 6 June 2023
• Important Reminder and Update: Northern Ireland Formulary Nutrition Launch Events – June 2023 5 June 2023
• Community Pharmacy Service: Living Well Campaigns: Service Updates 5 June 2023

BSO ALERTS

• Weekly Drug Alerts are available here.
  • Medicines Recall – Medigas Oxygen BP 6 June 2023
• Weekly Shortages Information is available here.
  • Insulin (Insuman Comb 25) Cartridges and Solostar Pens 6 June 2023
  • Clomifene (Clomid) 50mg Tablets 5 June 2023
• Serious Shortage Protocols are available here.

Online Asthma Information Session – 21st June 2023

NI Chest Heart and Stroke has asked CPNI to share, with pharmacy teams, details of an online Asthma Information Session that they are facilitating at 6.30pm on Wednesday 21st June 2023.  Further information can be found in the NICHS flyer here.

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

Or report medicine shortages, pricing and staffing issues via the CPNI’s Medicine Shortage Reporter and Situation Reporter.

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

Kind regards

Dear Colleague

Further to previous notifications (CU#230517B: Preliminary Notice CPNI AGM and CU#230523B: REMINDER – Preliminary Notice CPNI AGM) advising that the CPNI AGM will take place at 4pm on Thursday 8th June 2023 in CPNI Offices, 5 Annadale Avenue, Belfast, TEAMS joining details are provided below for those CPNI Contractors wishing to join the meeting remotely.

Members are asked to confirm their attendance, or otherwise, to info@communitypharmacyni.co.uk for administrative purposes before 1pm on Thursday 8th June 2023.

Please note that admission to this meeting will be restricted to pharmaceutical contractors and superintendents of bodies corporate (Limited Companies) only.

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 377 228 544 736
Passcode: w6ZjPd

Please do not hesitate to contact CPNI offices should you require any additional information.

Yours sincerely

Please Note the Correct and Updated Link to the Survey.

Dear Contractor

CPNI issued a contractor update (CPNI CU#230428A) on 28th April regarding the Department of Health NI Technician and Support Staff Survey.  The information is provided again below along with an updated survey link. The closing date for completion of the survey has been extended to 14th June 2023.

The Department of Health NI issued correspondence on 6th April 2023 inviting all individual pharmacy technicians and pharmacy support staff to complete an online survey.  The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer has advised that the survey is designed to provide a better understanding of the current numbers and skills mix in the pharmacy workforce, and to provide an opportunity for pharmacy colleagues to share their views.  The Department has also developed a printable flyer containing background information for pharmacy personnel and a QR link to the survey.

SUMMARY

Contractors will note:

• The survey is aimed at pharmacy technicians and pharmacy support staff in all sectors, including community pharmacy.
• The survey branches into different sets of questions depending on the area in which the respondent works, their role, and any qualifications they may hold.  Therefore staff members may be asked different questions depending on their individual circumstances.
• The closing date for completion is extended to 14th June 2023.
• DoH advises that the results of the survey will be used in the implementation of the Pharmacy Workforce Review 2020, which seeks to deliver a sustainable pharmacy workforce for the future.
• In addition, DoH indicates that the survey will also support work to establish pharmacy technicians as a regulated healthcare profession in Northern Ireland, as announced by the Minister for Health in June 2022.

ACTION

Contractors should:

• Note the details in the correspondence.
• Share the updated survey flyer and survey link with pharmacy technicians and support staff, noting the extended closing date of 14th June 2023.

Contractors should contact CPNI offices should they have any queries or should their staff experience any difficulties in accessing or completing the survey.

Kind regards

This update contains important information for community pharmacy teams.

CPNI ALERTS

• Final Concessionary Prices – May 2023 1 June 2023
• SPPG Update Re Pharmacy First Emergency Hormonal Contraception Service 30 May 2023
• Update : On-going Work by CPNI and SPPG in relation to the Removal of ‘Multiple Dispensing’ Instruction by GP/GPP’s 2 June 2023

DOH(NI) ALERTS

• NI Pharmacy Technician and Pharmacy Support Staff Survey 2023 – New Closing Date 14 June 2023 1 June 2023
• Metolazone Bioavailability Differences: Trust Supplying Xaqua 31 May 2023
• COVID-19 Spring Booster 2023 Community Pharmacy Vaccine Service (CPVS): Update Seven 31 May 2023
• HSS(MD)31/2023 – DIRECT-ACTING ORAL ANTICOAGULANTS (DOACS): PAEDIATRIC FORMULATIONS; REMINDER OF DOSE ADJUSTMENTS IN PATIENTS WITH RENAL IMPAIRMENT 30 May 2023
• Glucose Solutions: Recommendations to Minimise the Risks Associated with the Accidental Use of Glucose Solutions Instead of Saline Solutions in Arterial Lines 30 May 2023
• Febuxostat: Updated Advice for the Treatment of Patients with a History of Major Cardiovascular Disease 30 May 2023

BSO ALERTS

• Weekly Drug Alerts are available here.
• Weekly Shortages Information is available here.
  • Ethinylestradiol 20microgram / Drospirenone 3mg (Eloine) Tablets 1 June 2023
• Serious Shortage Protocols are 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 the CPNI’s Medicine Shortage Reporter and Situation Reporter.

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

Kind regards

Dear Colleague

The final update of concessionary prices were granted today for May 2023:

Drug	Pack Size	Concessionary Price
Amoxicillin 125mg/5ml oral suspension	100	£2.98
Amoxicillin 250mg/5ml oral suspension	100	£3.52
Atorvastatin 10mg tablets	28	£0.79
Atorvastatin 40mg tablets	28	£1.30
Atorvastatin 80mg tablets	28	£1.40
Brinzolamide 10mg/ml eye drops	5	£4.46
Brinzolamide 10mg/ml / Timolol 5mg/ml eye drops	5	£8.19
Chloramphenicol 0.5% eye drops	10	£9.68
Chlorphenamine 2mg/5ml oral solution sugar free	150	£3.04
Cinacalcet 30mg tablets	28	£10.09
Cinnarizine 15mg tablets	84	£5.53
Clarithromycin 250mg tablets	14	£4.20
Clonidine 25microgram tablets	112	£19.11
Clotrimazole 500mg pessary and Clotrimazole 2% cream	1	£10.35
Co-codamol 8mg/500mg effervescent tablets	32	£3.31
Co-codamol 8mg/500mg effervescent tablets	100	£10.34
Co-trimoxazole 80mg/400mg tablets	28	£2.36
Cyclizine 50mg/1ml solution for injection ampoules	5	£9.74
Doxazosin 4mg modified-release tablets	28	£5.75
Flucloxacillin 250mg capsules	28	£1.91
Itraconazole 100mg capsules	15	£9.76
Lansoprazole 30mg orodispersible tablets	28	£5.52
Letrozole 2.5mg tablets	14	£1.03
Methylphenidate 10mg tablets	30	£3.08
Miconazole 2% cream	30	£2.51
Nebivolol 5mg tablets	28	£1.67
Ondansetron 4mg tablets	10	£6.01
Paracetamol 250mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free	200	£8.46
Paracetamol 500mg effervescent tablets	100	£10.77
Permethrin 5% cream	30	£11.51
Quetiapine 25mg tablets	60	£1.47
Quinine sulfate 200mg tablets	28	£5.44
Sodium chloride 0.9% nebuliser liquid 2.5ml unit dose ampoules	20	£9.12
Spironolactone 100mg tablets	28	£5.40
Tolterodine 2mg tablets	56	£3.58
Travoprost 40micrograms/ml eye drops	2.5	£2.47
Trazodone 100mg capsules	56	£4.05
Trazodone 50mg capsules	84	£4.32
Trihexyphenidyl 2mg tablets	84	£4.45
Valsartan 160mg capsules	28	£10.88
Venlafaxine 150mg modified-release capsules	28	£4.98
Venlafaxine 150mg modified-release tablets	30	£4.85
Venlafaxine 75mg modified-release capsules	28	£4.50
Venlafaxine 75mg modified-release tablets	30	£2.95
Zonisamide 100mg capsules	56	£30.22

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 new Medicine Shortage Reporter.

Concessionary prices are also published on the CPNI website.

Kind regards

Dear Contractor

SPPG issued correspondence on 25 May 2023 providing an update on the Pharmacy First for Emergency Hormonal Contraception Service.

SUMMARY

Contractors will note:

Service activity:

• The Pharmacy First Service for EHC service has been available from community pharmacies across Northern Ireland since July 2022.
• There are currently 404 pharmacies contracted to provide the service.
• Details of these pharmacies are available on the interactive map which has been shared widely with PHA, Trust, GP, OOH colleagues and the general public.
• More than 12,000 consultations have been undertaken so far through the service.

Pharmacies who have not yet provided the service are asked to note:

• It is important that all contracted pharmacies are able to provide the service. If you do not wish to be a contracted provider please contact your local SPPG office and ask for your pharmacy to be removed. 
• Consider promoting the service on your social media platforms and contact your local GP practices to let them know you provide the service.

Service monitoring:

• As part of monitoring for this service contractors may be asked to submit records by secure email.
• Completed consultation forms and associated Fraser Competency forms, where applicable, should be returned within 14 days of the request.
• While SPPG have confirmed that records do not need to be anonymised if sent to SPPG offices via the pharmacy’s secure HSC email account, contractors may wish to consider anonymising patient identifiable information prior to sending and can discuss this with their SPPG pharmacy adviser.

Promotion:

• Twitter and Instagram resources are available on the BSO website to assist with social media promotion.
• Please also retweet SPPG media posts.

Reminders:

• Further printed supplies of the KYO patient leaflets can be ordered by contacting your local SPPG office.
• Please encourage women and young people to complete the on-line survey following their consultation using the QR code.

ACTION

Contractors should:

• Review the SPPG correspondence and share with relevant members of the pharmacy team.

Please do not hesitate to contact CPNI offices if you have any queries.

Kind regards