Archives: Contractor Email

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

Dear Colleague

In today’s update:

  1. Weekly drug alerts, shortages information and serious shortage protocols.
  2. Updates of February concessionary prices.
  3. Lessons from community pharmacy inspections.
  4. Update on premises self-assessment.
  5. Cyber security: protecting your business.
  6. DoH launches ‘Be Distance Aware‘.
  7. Weekly publication of Yellow Card safety data for COVID-19 vaccines.
  8. HSCB: changeover to Freestyle Libre 2 sensors.
  9. DoH seeking to appoint the Chair the Pharmaceutical Committee of the Business Services Organisation and four PSNI council members.

BSO ALERTS 

  • Weekly Drug Alerts are available here.
  • Weekly Shortages Information is available here.
  • Serious Shortage Protocols are available here.

CPNI ALERTS 

DoH ALERTS 

HSCB ALERTS 

PSNI ALERTS 

Please bring this to the attention of your pharmacy team(s).
Pharmacy team(s) can keep updated via CPNI’s
Contractor Calendar
Contractor Emails
Or report medicine shortages or pricing issues via the CPNI’s
Medicine Shortage Reporter

Many thanks, stay safe – Gareth

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

Dear Colleague

The following concessionary prices have been granted for February 2021:

DrugPack SizeConcessionary Price
Duloxetine 20mg gastro-resistant capsules28£7.28
Eplerenone 50mg tablets28£31.32
Etoricoxib 60mg tablets28£3.25
Etoricoxib 90mg tablets28£4.10
Lamotrigine 200mg tablets56£7.13
Letrozole 2.5mg tablets14£2.45
Sulfasalazine 500mg gastro-resistant tablets112£11.85
Trimethoprim 100mg tablets28£4.88

This is the 3rd update of concessionary prices for February 2021.

Concessionary prices will be paid against the usual code, no additional endorsements are needed.

Concessionary prices may be granted up until the end of the month so CPNI will notify you of any further concessionary prices as and when they are agreed.

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, stay safe – Gareth

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

Dear Colleague

The following concessionary prices have been granted for February 2021:

DrugPack SizeConcessionary Price
Eplerenone 25mg tablets28£9.48
Loperamide 2mg capsules30£1.50
Olmesartan medoxomil 40mg tablets28£15.95
Prochlorperazine 5mg tablets28£1.64
Trimethoprim 200mg tablets6£2.38
Trimethoprim 200mg tablets14£5.55

This is the second update of concessionary prices for February 2021.

Concessionary prices will be paid against the usual code, no additional endorsements are needed.

Concessionary prices may be granted up until the end of the month so CPNI will notify you of any further concessionary prices as and when they are agreed.

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.

Kinds regards – stay safe – Gareth

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

Dear Colleague

Contractors were notified recently of the self-assessment programme being rolled out by the Medicines Regulatory Group (MRG).

NICPLD has contacted pharmacists promoting a webinar on the evening of 3 March 2021 which will aim to support pharmacists to integrate legal frameworks and best practice guidance and standards within their professional practice.

Content covered will include the outcomes measured in the inspection process, steps involved in the new method of inspection including the online assessment, common issues that arise during inspection, how to develop an action plan to address issues identified in inspection and strategies to be implemented to ensure successful outcomes from inspection.

This will be of interest to many contractors and their dispensing teams and will give an opportunity to put any queries regarding the inspection process directly to the inspectors.

ACTION

Contractors are advised to:

  1. Make their dispensary teams aware of the webinar and the associated enrolment details.

The CPNI team will continue to keep you updated on any developments.

Kind regards – Mike

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

Dear Contractor

CPNI wrote to you recently enclosing a letter from Canice Ward, Head of MRG, which detailed the method of inspection deployed from mid-February 2021.

A link to this document has now helpfully been published on the Department’s website.

This document has been evaluated and the process trialled by representatives from the CPNI Board.  It was agreed that the assessment criteria covers the statutory and professional parameters within which community pharmacy operates and that the proforma has been stripped back to the bare essentials.  It appears to be a pragmatic and acceptable process for reintroducing external governance to the sector.

When the self-assessment has been completed, returned and assessed, the inspectorate will follow up, where appropriate, with a much shortened inspection visit arranged with the contractor and which is designed to check selected key areas.  Inspectors will abide by COVID-related restrictions and will wear PPE during the visit.

Not all premises will be covered in the first tranche, but the process will be rolled out in line with the existing inspection schedule.

ACTION

Contractors are asked to: 

  • Access the self-assessment proforma and familiarise themselves with the information requested to ensure that they are in a position to complete it when requested to do so by MRG.

Kind regards – Mike

SENT ON BEHALF OF Prof Mike Mawhinney
Head of Regulatory Affairs

Dear Colleague

You will be aware from previous CPNI updates that cyber incidents such as account compromises, malware attacks and phishing, are experienced by businesses worldwide on a daily basis, with home working and the COVID crisis increasing the risk of attacks.

Organisations providing healthcare appear to be particularly liable to attack with one report indicating that, since the start of November 2020, there has been a 45% increase in attacks targeting healthcare organisations globally.  This is more than double the overall increase in cyber-attacks across all industry sectors worldwide seen during the same time. 

The rise in attacks involves a range of vectors, however ransomware shows the largest increase and is the biggest malware threat to healthcare organisations when compared to other industry sector.

Community pharmacies hold a large volume of sensitive personal and financial data and any breach of the security systems protecting this information could be very damaging to the economic stability of the business and the welfare of patients.  It may also leave contractors open to possible punitive action by the Information Commissioner’s Office under DPA and GDPR legislation, with resulting reputational damage to the individual and the profession.

CPNI has been working closely with the cyber security lead from the Police Service of Northern Ireland who has held discussions with a number of contractors here to understand the challenges that contractors face in managing their data. 

There is a range of potentially vulnerable devices within the community pharmacy setting including PMR systems (which may be supported to varying levels by the supplier), and extending to routers, laptops, mobile phones and printers.

The following guidance has been issued by the police detailing five key steps that can be taken to improve cyber security in Community Pharmacy.  The step-by-step packages in the guidance cover the areas detailed below and further information can be accessed by clicking on the topic headline in the guidance:

  • Backing up your data.
  • Protecting your organisation from malware.
  • Keeping your smartphones (and computer tablets) safe.
  • Using passwords to protect your data.
  • Avoiding phishing attacks.

ACTION

Contractors are advised to:

  1. Read the guidance in the link above and ensure that they are taking all necessary precautions to protect business data; and
  2. Use the links on the CPNI website to keep up to date with the current threats.

Contractors are reminded that the storage and back up of patient sensitive data and any amendments to your systems should be carried out in line with advice from your PMR system provider and in line with Data Protection legislation.

CPNI and police cyber security colleagues will continue to support you in these matters.

Kind regards – Mike

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