Archives: Contractor Email

This update contains important information for community pharmacy teams, including details of the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

BSO ALERTS 

CPNI ALERTS 

DOH(NI) ALERTS 

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

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

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

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF 
DR. GARETH C. GILVARY
Governance & Support Pharmacist

Dear Contractor,

You will have received the following letter from Mr Joe Brogan earlier today.

You will be aware that CPNI met with the Permanent Secretary on 24 November 2022 as a result of representations made in relation to current service and funding difficulties and following the announcement of the Emergency Review of Community Pharmacy Services on 18 November 2022.
Discussions and meetings have taken place this week, with further meetings scheduled with SPPG/DoH officials on 6 December 2022 and the Permanent Secretary DoH(NI) on 14 December 2022.

A number of aspects have been included in the letter from Mr Brogan and while Mr Brogan is entitled to write to community pharmacies at any stage you will appreciate that we see things differently and have made this clear in our engagement with Mr Brogan and Department colleagues to date, and we will continue to do so in our ongoing discussions.

We note that the letter states:

  • SPPG ‘encourages and supports community pharmacies to consider reducing the provision of service that has not been directed by the Department as part of our agreed contract framework’.
  • The ‘rota could be adjusted in some geographies and that SPPG will be in contact in due course area by area to confirm opening arrangements’, and that in relation to  Belfast On-Call that ‘an alternative approach has been proposed to CPNI’. These changes are subject to various legislative process being followed, with timeline.
  • ‘One of the aims of the Commissioning Plan was to fully specify and commission medicines adherence services and work has been on-going to establish this’.

CPNI remains committed to resolving current matters so that you and your teams can provide safe and effective community pharmacy services that meet patient and health service need. We are also committed to ensuring that contractors receive fair and reasonable funding from the Department for the community pharmacy services they provide.

Another aspect raised in the letter is the requirement for individual registrants to assure themselves that a decision not to provide service could lead to a potential breach in the professional Code. As you know, pharmacists are required to make professional judgements about patients in the course of service provision and we know that pharmacists will be mindful of this.

Safe service provision is always paramount. We are reassured to see that Mr Brogan encourages contractors not to provide non-commissioned services and therefore reducing the provision of services that have not been directed by the Department may help you and your pharmacists adhere to your professional obligations.

CPNI will continue to keep you updated on these important matters.

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

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF 
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive
Dear Colleague
The final update of concessionary prices were granted today for November 2022:
DrugPack SizeConcessionary Price
Nitrofurantoin 100mg tablets28£14.61
Nitrofurantoin 50mg tablets28£13.27
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

SENT ON BEHALF OF
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive
Dear Contractor,
Changes to the Responsibilities of Responsible and Superintendent Pharmacists

Attached in the link above, please find correspondence received from the Pharmaceutical Society NI (PSNI) on 30 November 2022 in respect of changes to the responsibilities of Responsible and Superintendent Pharmacists, some of which comes into effect today, 1 December 2022.

ACTION

Contractors are advised to:

  • Read the attached correspondence, note the changes coming in with immediate effect and take any appropriate action.
  • Should contractors have queries on these changes which they would like to be addressed in the FAQ document referred to in the Registrar’s letter, please email these to Mike and Ennis so that they can be collated and forwarded to PSNI.

Any immediate queries on these changes should be raised directly with the Registrar, PSNI via the contact information given in the attachment.

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

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF 
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive

Dear Contractor,

Following on from Contractor Update, CPNI has had further engagement with SPPG officials specifically in relation to the adherence service. CPNI remain committed to finding a resolution, but that has not been found yet. CPNI have confirmed that contractor action will proceed on 1st December 2022 as previously outlined. The actions that will be taken forward by contractors are:

  1. Adherence
    1. Reaffirmation that contractors will not take on new adherence/compliance (Cohort 2) patients until such times that a commissioned service is agreed and implemented for all patients in Cohort 2.
    2. From 1 December 2022 contractors will only be able to provide adherence/compliance services to patients who are being discharged from hospital following completion and receipt of an ARF, irrespective of whether the patient previously had received compliance support from their community pharmacy and irrespective of the duration of hospital stay.
  2. Rota services will be withdrawn from 25 December 2022.
  3. Belfast on-call service will be withdrawn from 23 December 2022.
  4. Community pharmacy will no longer undertake blood pressure monitoring on behalf of any other healthcare provider as this is not a commissioned service.
  5. Community pharmacy will be unable to provide information to Trust staff relating to patient admission or discharge in the absence of a formal process. Community pharmacy teams usually receive an unplanned phone call on which they are expected to provide considerable confidential information at admission, or to facilitate the supply of prescription medicines to the patient at discharge, often before the prescription is issued to the pharmacy. This presents information governance, patient safety and professional risks.
  6. Contractors may wish to write to the Department of Health or SPPG expressing their concerns – some additional information is provided relating to this in Appendix 1.
  7. Contractors may wish to submit an application to reduce their contracted hours to help manage workforce challenges.

CPNI has also advised SPPG that the Pharmacy First for Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) Service cannot be rolled out at this time and that the addition of Winter Pressures to Pharmacy First over the coming months cannot proceed. Those pharmacies involved in the UTI pilot may continue.

In relation to Rota and Belfast on-call services pharmacies should notify SPPG that they are withdrawing from these services from the dates stated above in order to maintain the safety of patients and the health and well-being of pharmacy teams.

We have been advised that Trusts will not be in a position to issue an ARF for patients being discharged from hospital who have previously received adherence support from their community pharmacy. We have asked Trusts not to request non-commissioned adherence support from community pharmacy, for any patient, if an ARF cannot be provided.

CPNI wishes to find a resolution to the current challenges facing community pharmacy. The actions focus on non-commissioned services which community pharmacy cannot be expected to undertake on behalf of the Health Service for no funding. The position on Rota and Belfast On-call has been taken as community pharmacies are struggling to provide services for their contracted opening hours and to try providing out-of-hours cover would put further pressure on an already stretched workforce and potentially put patient safety and the health of pharmacy teams at risk.

Further action may be considered in due course.

CPNI recognises the difficult position that pharmacy staff can be put in by both patients and other healthcare providers. This action is not to target other parts of the Health Service or patients, but to express to the Department of Health that community pharmacy can no longer provide unfunded and non-commissioned services while trying to maintain the safe provision of commissioned services to patients. Community pharmacy teams should remain professional and respectful to those affected by any of the actions, but explain why it has had to be taken. CPNI has written to the Regulator and each of the Trusts to advise of the action being taken.

CPNI has provided some points which may help pharmacy staff when responding to queries from the public or other healthcare professionals. These points can be found in Appendix 2.

A further meeting has been scheduled with the Permanent Secretary for the week commencing 12 December 2022 after which service provision will be reviewed.

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

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF 
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive
Dear Colleague
The fifth update of concessionary prices were granted today for November 2022:
DrugPack SizeConcessionary Price
Aripiprazole 5mg tablets28£25.88
Atenolol 25mg tablets28£1.20
Atenolol 50mg tablets28£1.37
Calcipotriol 0.005% / Betamethasone
dipropionate 0.05% ointment		30£12.50
Cinacalcet 30mg tablets28£12.11
Clonidine 25microgram tablets112£20.41
Digoxin 125microgram tablets28£4.75
Digoxin 250microgram tablets28£2.18
Docusate 50mg/5ml oral solution sugar free300£19.10
Duloxetine 30mg gastro-resistant capsules28£3.69
Hydroxocobalamin 1mg/1ml solution for
injection ampoules		5£12.16
Ibandronic acid 150mg tablets1£1.90
Levetiracetam 100mg/ml oral solution sugar free300£9.69
Nebivolol 2.5mg tablets28£18.84
Telmisartan 20mg tablets28£4.38
Tetracycline 250mg tablets28£11.76
Venlafaxine 37.5mg tablets56£4.36
Zolmitriptan 2.5mg tablets6£11.11
Zolmitriptan 2.5mg tablets12£22.22
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

SENT ON BEHALF OF
GERARD GREENE

Chief Executive