Dear Contractor
Correspondence has been issued by SPPG 23rd February 2024 regarding LFD distribution.

SUMMARY

  • On 29th February 2024 Care Homes and Primary Care users will no longer be able to order LFDs.
  • From 1st March 2024 Care Homes, primary care, and associated services who require LFDs for patients and/or staff who are eligible as outlined by PHA/DoH will now access these via the Pharmacy Collect NI service.

ACTION

  • Contractors should read and review the correspondence received from SPPG regarding the LFD Distribution Service.
  • Contractors can supply one box of test kits per transaction as stated in the service specification, however given that Care Homes may have many residents to test at one time a max of 10 LFD kits may be supplied to a Care Home in one transaction.
  • Please share this information with all relevant team members.

If you have any queries in relation to the changes outlined in this email please contact your local Primary Care Office.

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive
This update contains important information for community pharmacy teams.

CPNI ALERTS

DOH(NI) ALERTS

BSO ALERTS

MHRA UPDATE

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

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF
Gerard Greene
Chief Executive
Dear Colleague
The third update of concessionary prices were granted today for February 2024:
DrugPack
Size
Concessionary Price
Amiodarone 200mg tablets28£1.83
Amisulpride 100mg tablets60£18.21
Anastrozole 1mg tablets28£1.54
Cefalexin 500mg tablets21£2.39
Chlorphenamine 2mg/5ml oral solution sugar free150£3.24
Clotrimazole 1% cream20£1.77
Colecalciferol 1,000unit capsules30£8.74
Co-codamol 30mg/500mg capsules100£6.27
Hydrocortisone 10mg tablets30£2.05
Ispaghula husk 3.5g effervescent granules sachets gluten free sugar free30£6.99
Ketoconazole 2% shampoo120£19.40
Nortriptyline 10mg tablets100£2.19
Rosuvastatin 20mg tablets28£1.80
Salbutamol 2.5mg/2.5ml nebuliser liquid unit dose vials20£15.21
Sodium fluoride 1.1% dental paste sugar free51£5.40
Zonisamide 50mg capsules56£14.58

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 Medicine Shortage Reporter.

Concessionary prices are also published on the CPNI website.

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive

Dear Colleague,

Yesterday’s meeting with the Health Minister and senior DoH(NI) officials will result in some additional funding being made available to community pharmacy contractors during the remainder of 2023/24. This will amount to c£10.1m. This is comprised of £6.1m associated with the annual uplift to the dispensing fee budget for 2023/24 and a further £4m support payment associated with medicines supply.

Approximately 5/6th of this funding (for the period Apr’23 – Jan’24) is being fast-tracked for inclusion in the BSO payment on 29th February 2024; this is a direct consequence of the representations made by contractors and CPNI to the Health Minister, elected representatives and officials following the contractor meeting on 6th February 2024.

£10.1m, while significant and helpful, does however fall significantly short of what is required to stabilise the community pharmacy service in 2023/24 and beyond.

A contractor meeting will be held next Wednesday evening to provide contractors with further information on the meeting with the Health Minister, on-going community pharmacy funding concerns and next steps.

Details for next week’s contractor meeting, which will be held in Belfast, will be provided in due course.

Please do not hesitate to contact CPNI offices should you require further information in the meantime.

Yours sincerely,

SENT ON BEHALF OF
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive
Dear Contractor
The survey for the Living Well campaign ‘Take 5 Steps to Wellbeing’ is due to close at 6pm on 1st March 2024.

SUMMARY

  • The survey for the campaign ‘Take 5 Steps to Wellbeing’ can be accessed here
  • Living Well information and resources on the current campaign ‘Know Your Units’ can be accessed here.

ACTION

  • Contractors who provide the Living Well Service and have yet to complete the online survey for the campaign ‘Take 5 Steps to Wellbeing’ can access the survey here.
  • Please ensure the survey is completed by 6pm on 1st March 2024
  • In the event that a survey is not completed, SPPG may seek to recover all, or part of, the associated funding via an adjustment to the pharmacy’s BSO payment account.

Please be aware from 1st December 2023 to 31st March 2024 a quality assurance pilot on the Living Well service is being undertaken by SPPG. Further information can be accessed from the letter issued by SPPG on 6th November 2023.

For any further information please contact CPNI offices.

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive
Dear Contractor
The following communication was issued 16th February 2024 by SPPG to those pharmacies involved in the Community Pharmacy Care Home Support Service (CPCHSS).  

SUMMARY

  • A requirement for the Community Care Home Support Service is to complete two care home visits each financial year.
  • The second care home visit is due to be completed by the end of March 2024.
  • SPPG have recently introduced a process for partial recuperation of payments made to community pharmacists who are contracted to provide the service but have not completed the required visits in line with service specification.
  • SPPG will be in contact in early April to seek confirmation and dates of the visits completed for 23/24.

ACTION

  • Contractors should read the correspondence issued by SPPG 16th February 2024.
  • Any pharmacy yet to complete the second required care home visit should organise a date before the end of March 2024.
  • Please share this information with all relevant members of the team.

If you have any queries in relation to this service please contact Breege Brogan Breege.Brogan@hscni.net or Gillian Plant Gillian.Plant@hscni.net.

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive