Archives: Contractor Email

Dear Contractor

• Further to Contractor Update on the 7 July 2022, CPNI is continuing to liaise with the Department of Health, SPPG, Pharmacy Wholesalers and PMR providers in relation to the current acute supply shortages affecting NI licensed medicines as well as the consequential PIP-code and DM&D code issues that have also arisen
• It is important that any product supply shortages and price increases, especially where the medicine cost price exceeds the tariff price are notified to CPNI via the CPNI Medicine Shortage Reporter.
• CPNI has requested urgent mitigations and will continue to work with Departmental and SPPG colleagues to address these ongoing supply issues.
• Please do not hesitate to contact the CPNI office should you require any further information.

Kind regards

Dear Colleague
As you will be aware, there has been extensive national pharmacy media coverage of significant difficulties experienced by Foundation Training Year (FTY) pharmacists in a number of centres in England in respect of the Common Registration Examination (CRA).

CPNI has also been made aware of difficulties and concerns in respect of the conduct of the CRA held in Northern Ireland on 29 June 2022. CPNI has raised the matter with the Pharmaceutical Society of NI (PSNI) seeking assurances that the PSNI will undertake a full assessment of the administrative and/or organisational difficulties that were experienced to ensure no repeat occurs and to issue an appropriate response and offer any remedial actions which may be necessary.

PSNI has asked us to highlight that the correct procedure for raising concerns in respect of the CRA is via this link regexam@pharmacyregulation.org.

ACTION

• Contractors are asked to bring this contractor update to the attention of any FYPs who sat the CRA this year and direct them to the website cited above to register any concerns they have where appropriate.

Please do not hesitate to contact the CPNI office should you require any further information.

Kind regards

Dear Colleague

Please find correspondence HERE from Kathryn Turner, Pharmacy Lead, Strategic Planning and Performance Group.

SUMMARY

• The service will ensure that women and young people aged 13 years and over have timely access to sexual health advice and free EHC (including the provision of bridging contraception) when clinically indicated.
• The aims of the service include:
  • Increasing the knowledge, especially amongst younger women, of the availability of EHC and bridging hormonal contraception from community pharmacies. 
  • Ensuring treatment is in line with best practice and NI Formulary.
  • Increasing the knowledge of risks such as Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs).
• All pharmacists planning to deliver this service must undertake training necessary to meet the competency required to provide the service, this may include revision of training already undertaken earlier this year. Training details are available HERE.
• The pharmacy contractor is responsible for ensuring that the service is delivered in line with the service specification and guidance by suitably trained pharmacists. The following resources are available to support service delivery:
  • Service Specification and Guidance
  • PGDs for Ulipristal, Levonorgestrel and Desogestrel
  • Consultation form
  • Claim form
  • Fraser competency form
  • Contract
  • NPA template SOP for EHC and bridging contraception
  • Know Your Options (KYO) patient information leaflet
• A3 and A4 printed copies of the service poster will be distributed to pharmacies along with a supply of the KYO patient leaflets.
• An on-line survey for service users will be set-up to assist with the evaluation process. SPPG will provide pharmacists with a QR code to share with service users to complete the on-line survey approximately 3 months following service launch and periodically thereafter.

ACTION

• Contractors and pharmacists involved in the provision of this service are asked to review the correspondence.
• All pharmacists planning to deliver this service must undertake training necessary to meet the competency required to provide the service, this may include revision of training already undertaken earlier this year. Training details are available HERE.
• All community pharmacy contractors meeting the service specification are eligible to offer the service provided they hold a contract with the SPPG. A signed copy should be returned to your local integrated care office by email by Friday 22 July 2022.
  • After this date the list of providers will be shared with GP practices, GP OOH services and Trusts to enable referrals to participating pharmacies.
• SPPG have requested that Contractors do not return a contract at this stage if your pharmacy is not in a position to offer the service. A contract should only be returned when your pharmacy is ready to provide the service; the list of providers will be refreshed in early September 2022 and re-issued.
• Pharmacies may wish to promote the service on social media using the Twitter and Instagram resources.
• If you have any queries please contact a Pharmacy Advisor at your local SPPG office.
• Please do not hesitate to contact the CPNI office should you require any further information.

Kind regards

Dear Colleague

The first update of concessionary prices were granted today for July 2022:

Drug	Pack Size	Concessionary Price
Aciclovir 400mg tablets	56	£3.18
Amoxicillin 250mg/5ml oral suspension	100	£2.20
Amoxicillin 250mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free	100	£2.53
Benzydamine 0.15% oromucosal spray sugar free	30	£4.30
Brimonidine 0.2% eye drops	5	£4.75
Dorzolamide 20mg/ml eye drops	5	£4.20
Famotidine 20mg tablets	28	£19.74
Famotidine 40mg tablets	28	£32.04
Gabapentin 100mg capsules	100	£3.45
Lacidipine 4mg tablets	28	£3.88
Lercanidipine 20mg tablets	28	£8.68
Mometasone 0.1% ointment	100	£9.79
Montelukast 4mg granules sachets sugar free	28	£6.51
Nizatidine 150mg capsules	30	£22.25
Norethisterone 5mg tablets	30	£5.99
Oxycodone 5mg/5ml oral solution sugar free	250	£8.25
Paracetamol 250mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free	200	£3.38
Promethazine hydrochloride 25mg tablets	56	£32.19
Sodium bicarbonate 500mg capsules	56	£3.65
Solifenacin 10mg tablets	30	£3.74
Solifenacin 5mg tablets	30	£3.14
Sulfasalazine 500mg gastro-resistant tablets	112	£56.99
Sulfasalazine 500mg tablets	112	£56.99
Trimethoprim 50mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free	100	£9.16

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 Colleague

Please find correspondence HERE from Kathryn Turner, Pharmacy Lead, Strategic Planning and Performance Group.

SUMMARY

• The Interim Community Pharmacy Medicines Adherence Service for Trust discharge patients will be the first phase in the commissioning of a Medicines Adherence Service from community pharmacy.
• Only those patients who have been assessed by the Trusts as requiring adherence support on discharge from hospital may be referred to community pharmacy for on-going provision.
• The interim adherence service is commissioned as a core service under the community pharmacy contract framework. As such, all community pharmacy contractors are required to provide this service from 18 July 2022 and a contract is not required to be returned to SPPG.
• The full details of the service are contained in the service specification and a summary flowchart.
• A formal assessment of the patient’s adherence needs will be carried out by a Trust Health and Social Care professional. All assessments will be  reviewed by a Trust pharmacist before a referral will be made by Trust pharmacy to the patient’s community pharmacist. There will be an initial telephone call to the community pharmacist and the referral will then be sent via secure HSC email.
• Community pharmacists will dispense medication in line with the recommendations from the adherence referral form (ARF) when they receive the post-discharge prescription issued by the patient’s GP practice.
• Ideally, this should be completed within 72 hours of receipt of the post-discharge prescription.
• Community pharmacists should only accept referrals received via Trust pharmacy using this process. Direct requests or referrals from other Trust health and social care professionals are not currently part of this interim service.
• Community pharmacists must keep a register of patients for whom they have received referrals and provided the service.
• An annual fee of £600 per patient has been agreed with CPNI for patients referred into this service. Payment will be made on a monthly basis (£50 per patient) on submission of the claim form to your local SPPG office.
• The summary flowchart provides an overview of the service for Trusts, GP practices and community pharmacies. Separate detailed correspondence has been issued to both Trusts and GP practices to advise them of the service and detail the actions required to ensure successful implementation of this service.
• The ECHO training session which was delivered on 28 June 2022 was recorded and will shortly be available on the ECHO Moodle site. This recording should be viewed by all pharmacists prior to service delivery.
  • Pharmacists must be registered with ECHO to view the recording. The link to registration is HERE. There is also a short video available here to assist with registration.
  • Any problems please contact Elaine Kane at e.kane@hospiceuk.org Tel: 028 95582393.
• Work is continuing to specify a transitional commissioned adherence service later in 2022. This will enable community pharmacists to assess and provide adherence support to patients in the community (Cohort 2) and maintain a register of these patients within the pharmacy.

ACTION

• Contractors and pharmacists involved in the provision of this service are asked to review the correspondence and service specification.
• All community pharmacy contractors should put in place a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the provision of the service.
• If you have any queries please contact a Pharmacy Advisor at your local SPPG office.
• Please do not hesitate to contact the CPNI office should you require any further information.

Kind regards

Dear Contractor

Please see attached correspondence from Kathryn Turner, Pharmacy Lead Strategic Planning and Performance Group, and Stephen Wilson, Director of Operations (Interim) PHA.

SUMMARY

• As a result of the work and commitment from Community Pharmacy, SPPG and PHA are pleased to inform you that this service will be continuing into 2022/23.
• Community Pharmacy will continue to receive a campaign initiation letter detailing key campaign dates and important information, and evaluation surveys will be issued after each campaign to capture each pharmacy’s activity and experiences.
• Printed resources will be provided as usual, however for some campaigns, other further resources are available online to support your pharmacy.  All printable and extra resources are available HERE.
• Funding of £500 per pharmacy for each campaign will continue to be made.  This funding will be paid in monthly instalments of £250 and will appear as an adjustment to payment on your BSO schedule.
• The competition, for pharmacy teams, that formed part of the Living Well Service prior to the pandemic, is hoped to be reinstated during this schedule year. If this occurs, pharmacies will be notified of any competition details, starting campaign and initiation dates.
• The Living Well Campaign Schedule for the 2022/23 year is as follows:
  • July – August 2022: Breastfeeding
  • September – October 2022: Cancer
  • October – November 2022: Winter Vaccines
  • December 2022 – January 2023: Home Accident Prevention
  • February – March 2023: Frailty / Physical Activity

ACTION

• Contractors and Community Pharmacy teams involved in providing Living Well campaigns are asked to read the attached correspondence.
• Community Pharmacies contracted to provide “Living Well” submit their evaluation survey after each campaign as it allows SPPG to collate data to demonstrate the value and impact that the service has to the public and other sectors.
• If you have not received or have any resources queries, please email reception.pha@hscni.net and ensure your email subject heading is titled “LIVING WELL PHARMACY CAMPAIGN”.
• If you have any queries, please contact a Pharmacy Advisor at your local SPPG office.
• Please do not hesitate to contact the CPNI office should you require any further information.

Kind regards