Please find correspondence HERE from Kathryn Turner, Pharmacy Lead, Health and Social Care Board.
SUMMARY
From yesterday, carers and household contacts of immunosuppressed individuals have been added to the eligible cohorts for the Community Pharmacy COVID-19 Booster Service.
Community pharmacists can provide a Moderna booster vaccination to any individual aged18 years and over, who identifies themselves as a carer. Community pharmacists are not required to verify the eligibility of carers and the individual is not required to have been recorded on VMS as a carer in the primary vaccination programme.
Household contacts aged 18 years and over of immunosuppressed individuals can be offered a Moderna booster vaccination.
Immunosuppressed individuals will be identified by GPs/Trusts and a letter issued to them advising that those who live with them are eligible to receive a booster dose. The letter should be presented to the community pharmacist as proof of eligibility.
ACTION
Contractors and pharmacists involved in the provision of this service are asked to review the correspondence.
Please refer to DoH correspondence for further information on the COVID-19 Booster programme.
Please refer to the service specification for the COVID-19 community pharmacy vaccination service which has been updated to reflect the changes.
If you have any queries please contact Joanne Crawford (Joanne.Crawford2@hscni.net) or Deirdre McAree (Deirdre.McAree@hscni.net).
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 Joe Brogan, Assistant Director of Integrated Care, Head of Pharmacy and Medicines Management.
SUMMARY
Secure HSC email has been used as the main method of communications between the HSCB and community pharmacies since 1 October 2020.
HSCB are aware however that a number of pharmacies are experiencing inbox size issues with some receiving alerts that their account is near its maximum allowance and will soon be unable to continue receiving mail.
To reduce the burden on pharmacy inboxes prior to the increase in mailbox size allowance, the HSCB will begin to upload correspondence to the Primary Care Intranet / BSO website / NI Formulary website / HSCB website as appropriate, before issuing a secure email to pharmacy contractors referencing the correspondence and providing a hyperlink to the uploaded documentation.
Documents will no longer be attached to HSCB communications and will be accessible via clicking on a hyperlink added to a secure email.
The HSCB will commence linking to correspondence/documents, rather than attaching information to secure email, from 8 November 2021.
It is recommended that you review the contents of your HSC secure email account and delete or move all emails from your inbox / sent items / deleted items that do not need to be retained.
If you experience any issue accessing hyperlinks added to HSC email after 8 November 2021, please contact your local office Practice Support Manager who will be able to offer assistance in the first instance.
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 Kathryn Turner, Pharmacy Lead HSCB.
SUMMARY
The Health Minister, Mr. Robin Swann MLA, has expressed his request for the network of Moderna pharmacies to be consolidated to ensure the public are able to access a single list of pharmacies providing the Moderna vaccine for primary or booster doses.
As a result of this the HSCB after consultations with the DH and CPNI, is now seeking to consolidate the service for Moderna COVID-19 vaccinations.
Community pharmacies operating the CPVS with Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are now asked to provide both primary and booster vaccinations for patients.
Where a community pharmacy has signed a contract for primary vaccination only or booster vaccination only, then the pharmacy should now proceed to engage the full service by completing the other relevant contract:
To facilitate this for you the relevant contract has been enclosed with this letter. Please complete and return the signed contract to local offices.
If you have any queries in relation to any aspect of this HSCB correspondence or your Moderna Vaccination service provision, please contact: (E) Brendan.kerr@hscni.net or (T) 02895363914 / (M) 07554773972
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 Kathryn Turner, Pharmacy Lead HSCB.
SUMMARY
Funding has been secured to enable the Pharmacy First winter conditions service to operate again in community pharmacies from 8 November 2021 until 31 March 2022.
Key changes to the service this year include:
Patients with symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 infection must be advised to book a PCR test and isolate while awaiting the result. These patients may avail of the Pharmacy First service and receive advice and medicines to alleviate symptoms as appropriate.
The new activity form must be completed with a record of every consultation and emailed to local HSCB offices on a monthly basis.
Remuneration for service provision will be based on a capitation model and any products supplied via PV1 forms will be reimbursed by BSO in the usual manner. Initial funding of £200k per month has been made available to set up and deliver this service from November 2021. Service funding will be allocated to pharmacies, contracted to provide the service, on the following basis:
One third divided equally amongst contractors.
The remaining two thirds to be allocated on prescribing volume, based on 20/21 dispensing data.
The pharmacy contractor is responsible for ensuring that the service is delivered in line with the specification by suitably trained pharmacists. Service resources have been updated and are available HERE.
A Pharmacy First Service for Emergency Hormonal Contraception (EHC) is currently in development. The aims of the service will be to improve access to emergency contraception & sexual health advice is anticipated to be available early in the New Year.
As part of the transition to Pharmacy First the current Minor Ailments service will be incorporated within the Pharmacy First suite of services and be rebranded as Pharmacy First for Minor Conditions. There are no planned changes to the service this year, other than the name change.
New promotional material for all of the Pharmacy First services is currently in development and will be shared with pharmacies in the coming weeks.
SENT ON BEHALF OF DR. GARETH C. GILVARY Governance & Support Pharmacist
Dear Colleague
Following on from the update letter regarding Staff Recognition Payment on 14 October 2021, please see attached for your attention, correspondence, from Louise McMahon, Director of Integrated Care, regarding the Staff Recognition Payment (SRP).
Returns must be made at an individual Pharmacy practice level (and not at a group level).
You are asked to note your Pharmacy Contract number on the subject line of the e-mail when submitting your claim.
HSCB have asked that claims are to be submitted by close of play Wednesday 17 November 2021 to the appropriate email address below. Please note that pharmacies who have already returned claims templates as part of the pilot process are still required to make a new return on the template provided.
Zoom training sessions have been setup to go through the guidance and template, it is important that the staff that are completing the template attends the appropriate session. If you cannot attend your service area zoom please feel free to join another zoom, however, please note that the template and guidance discussed will be tailored to that particular service area.
The training zoom sessions mentioned in the letter will be held on Wednesday 3 November 2021, 7-8pm via Zoom HERE.
Should you have any queriesor concerns in relation to the completion and return of the requested information and documentation within this timescale please contact: StaffRecognitionPaymentQueries@hscni.net at the earliest opportunity.
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
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