Archives: Contractor Email

Dear Contractor

Thank you to those who have confirmed their intention to be at this evening’s Contractor Meeting in the Crowne Plaza, Belfast, 117 Milltown Rd, Belfast BT8 7XP.

In recognising that many Contractors are not able to travel to Belfast for 8pm this evening click HERE should you wish to join the meeting remotely via Zoom (Meeting ID: 867 5510 3842, Passcode: 453504).

Once you join the meeting by Zoom could I ask you to enter your name and the Pharmacy Contract / Group name in the chatroom box.

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF 
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive
Dear Colleague
Please find correspondence HERE from Kathryn Turner, Pharmacy Lead, HSCB and Stephen Wilson, Director of Operations (Interim), PHA.

SUMMARY

  • The ‘Be Cancer Aware’ campaign is due to finish on 30 November 2021. Your pharmacy is required to complete an online evaluation survey.
  • HSCB noted that it is vital that all pharmacies contracted to provide “Living Well” submit their evaluation survey after each campaign as it allows HSCB to collate data to demonstrate the value and impact of the service to other sectors. Data also supports future commissioning and service development.
  • The HSCB monitor compliance with the service requirements, in particular evaluation submission. Where the HSCB identifies failure to comply, such as failure to submit evaluation data, the HSCB reserves the right to recover all, or part of, this funding via an adjustment to the pharmacy’s BSO payment account.
  • “Boost your immunity this winter” campaign aims to highlight the importance of protecting against influenza and COVID-19 and encourage the public to seek vaccination. It will commence on 1 December 2021 and run for two months.
  • Pharmacies should expect resources for the “Boost your immunity this winter” campaign to be delivered by 22 November 2021.
  • Funding of £500 per pharmacy for each campaign has been agreed with CPNI. This funding will be paid in monthly instalments of £250 and will appear as an adjustment to payment on your BSO schedule.

ACTION

  • Contractors and pharmacists involved in the provision of this service are asked to review the correspondence.
  • Complete the online evaluation survey HERE, between 1 December 2021- 7 January 2022, for the ‘Be Cancer Aware’ campaign.
  • Contractors are advised to minimise infection risk to promote the online resources available HERE.
  • Contractors are advised to please email: reception.pha@hscni.netand ensure your email subject heading is titled “LIVING WELL PHARMACY CAMPAIGN”, if you have not received your resource pack by 24 November 2021.
  • Contractors are asked to increase the reach of the campaign information by sharing these resources HERE, on your social media channels, such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
  • Please do not hesitate to contact the CPNI office should you require any further information

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive
Dear Colleague
Please find correspondence HERE from Prof Sir Michael McBride, Chief Medical Officer, Linda Kelly, Chief Nursing Officer and Mrs Cathy Harrison, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer.

SUMMARY

  • The JCVI advises a preference for an mRNA vaccine as the booster dose.
  • There are cases where mRNA vaccines cannot be offered. therefore, in those cases the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine may be considered for persons aged 40 years or over.
  • If a patient is unable to receive a mRNA vaccine as their booster dose, their GP or Trust clinician will should issue a letter advising that they can receive the AstraZeneca vaccine via a community pharmacy.
  • The patient should then be advised to make their own vaccination arrangements with a community pharmacy providing the AstraZeneca vaccine.

ACTION

  • Contractors and pharmacists involved in the provision of this service are asked to review the correspondence.
  • Please refer to previous DoH correspondence for further information on the COVID-19 Booster programme.
  • Please do not hesitate to contact the CPNI office should you require any further information.

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive

Dear Colleague
As you know, the EU Falsified Medicines Directive 2011/62/EU (FMD) and Delegated Regulation ((EU) 2016/161) (The Delegated Regulation) impose legal obligations on the EU medicines supply chain to prevent entry of falsified medicinal products into the supply chain.  The Delegated Regulation was implemented in all EU Member States on 9 February 2019.  Following the UK’s departure from the EU, the Delegated Regulation ceased to apply in Great Britain from 31 December 2020, but continues to apply in Northern Ireland.

HSCB has released further information HERE for pharmacists in Northern Ireland relating to the decommissioning of UKHSA-supplied vaccines.

SUMMARY

FMD-barcoded packs of routine immunisation programme vaccines that are centrally supplied by UKHSA continue to be supplied with active FMD serialisation, and should be decommissioned by end users in Northern Ireland.  Pharmacists in Northern Ireland who access centrally supplied vaccines are encouraged to review local guidance on implementation of the EU Falsified Medicines Directive, which can be found HERE.

To date, COVID-19 vaccines have been exempt from the requirements of FMD, however FMD compliant packs are starting to come through the supply chain now and will require decommissioning. Currently only Moderna COVID-19 vaccine batch 3005688 with expiry date 14/2/2022 can be decommissioned.

Further updates will be provided as more become available.

If you experience can problems when decommissioning products please email: Covid19PHEsupplies@phe.gov.uk

ACTION

Contractors are advised to:

  1. Note the information from HSCB;
  2. Alert dispensing teams to the need to decommission the identified batch of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine; and
  3. Be aware that future batches may be also be FMD serialised and will require decommissioning.

CPNI colleagues will continue to keep you up to date with any further notifications.

Kind regards – Mike

SENT ON BEHALF OF
PROF. MIKE MAWHINNEY
Head of Regulatory Affairs

Dear Colleague
Following the outstanding success of the community pharmacy COVID-19 vaccination programme with almost 180,000 COVID-19 vaccinations having been administered in the sector, we are pleased to reveal plans for a “Big Jab Weekend”.  The remarkable contribution of community pharmacy to the vaccination programme has been widely recognised and we are excited to be able to build on this through a “Big Jab Weekend”.
 
In conjunction with DoH, HSCB and PHA the “Big Jab Weekend” is being planned for Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 December 2021 and will coincide with Trust clinics also planned for those dates. There will be significant PR and communications around the weekend, which we hope will be a further opportunity for community pharmacy to play an enhanced role within the vaccination programme across Northern Ireland.

We intend to secure venues where a number of community pharmacies in an area can come together to provide vaccination clinics outside of the community pharmacy setting. If pharmacies are unable to participate in clinics at one of the venues, they will still be able to run clinics from their own pharmacies over that weekend.

CPNI are seeking expressions of interest from contractors regarding what they would be able to participate in over the “Big Jab Weekend”. We would appreciate if you could complete this short survey HERE, which takes approximately 5 mins to complete. We ask that you answer the following short questions by midday on Tuesday 16 November 2021.

Contractor level information contained within this questionnaire will be shared with HSCB, to enable detailed planning for the weekend to begin. 

Please do not hesitate to contact CPNI Office on 028 9069 0444 for further advice or support.

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive

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

BSO ALERTS 

CPNI ALERTS 

HSCB ALERTS 

Please bring this to the attention of your pharmacy team(s).
Pharmacy team(s) can keep updated via CPN Contractor Calendar or Contractor Emails.

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

Kind regards

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