Archives: Contractor Email

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

Dear Colleague

In today’s summary:

  • Contractor Submission Reminders: Living Well, Home Delivery Service and Pharmacy First.
  • DoH launch of NI Hepatitis C Elimination Plan, Guidance on the COVID-19 Vaccine for Housebound Patients, Prescribing of Vitamin D as a preventive measure against COVID-19.
  • ECHO Session – 7:30pm 26 Jan 2021.
  • Weekly Drug Alert Summary.

CPNI ALERTS 

  • REMINDER: Living Well: as per previous correspondence pharmacies are required to complete a short online evaluation survey for the previous Living Well campaign ‘Looking after your health and welling being during COVID-19’ which ended 30 Nov 2020. Thanks to those who have already submitted your pharmacy response. There has been some excellent feedback from contractors via the survey, including reports of social isolation in the general public and how the LW booklet and community pharmacy teams provided comfort and reassurance at a time when the public were too afraid to contact other healthcare professionals. Approx. 100 pharmacies have yet to complete the survey here. Closing date 31 Jan 2021.
  • REMINDER: Home Delivery Service: as per previous correspondence pharmacies are required to complete a monthly return detailing the numbers of deliveries made from commencement of the commissioned service in Sept 2020. Thanks to those who have already submitted a return via secure email at the end of each month (Sept-Dec) to your local HSCB office email addresses, for those who have yet to complete please click here.
  • REMINDER: Pharmacy First: as per previous correspondence Pharmacy First for Winter Aliments commenced on 2 Nov 2020 and will continue to run until March 2021. All service documentation (including a service contract for return) and a CPNI training webinar is available here. CPNI is delighted that now in excess of 400 pharmacies are offering this service to their local communities. Contractors and pharmacy teams are reminded to use the new ‘monthly record forms’ for Pharmacy First data submission to the HSCB local office via secure email. This information should not be sent to BSO and last year’s triplicate Pharmacy First consultation forms should be disposed of.

DoH ALERTS 

HSCB ALERTS 

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

Pharmacy team(s) can also keep updated with drug information, alerts and shortages information via the BSO website. Please continue to notify CPNI of any pricing issues or supply problems you are experiencing via our Medicine Shortage Reporter.

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

Renewed thanks – stay safe – Gareth

SENT ON BEHALF OF DR. GARETH C. GILVARY

Governance & Support Pharmacist

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

Dear Colleague

In Today’s Summary: Concessionary Prices 1st Update January, Launch of Pharmacy Codeword Scheme for Domestic Abuse Victims and new variants of SARS-COV 2 virus; action for the Health Service.

CPNI ALERTS:

DoH ALERTS:

HSCB ALERTS

Pharmacy team(s) can keep updated via CPNI’s

Contractor Calendar or Contractor Emails

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

Thanks, stay safe.

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

Dear Colleague

As you will be aware, the COVID vaccination of community pharmacy teams in now progressing well and CPNI correspondence outlines how pharmacy staff can avail of the vaccination.

We would advise all staff availing of the vaccine to read the following leaflet:  ‘COVID-19 vaccination – protection for health and social care workers’ available here which describes the COVID-19 vaccination for health and social care workers, including HSC Trust employees, care home staff and domiciliary and primary care staff. The leaflet explains why it’s important to get your vaccine and includes information on potential side effects and what to do next.

Contractors and their team(s) should note the following:

Will the vaccine protect those I care for?

The evidence on whether COVID-19 vaccination reduces the chance of you passing on the virus is less clear. Most vaccines reduce the overall risk of infection, but some vaccinated people may get a mild infection or an infection with no symptoms and therefore be able to pass the virus on. It is highly likely that any infection in a vaccinated person will be less severe and that they will be infectious for a shorter period of time. We therefore expect that vaccinated health and social care staff will be less likely to pass infection to their friends and family and to the vulnerable people that they care for.

After I have had the vaccine, will I still need to follow all the infection prevention and control advice?

While two doses of the vaccine will reduce your chance of becoming seriously ill, no vaccine is completely effective and it will take a few weeks for your body to build up protection.

So, you will still need to follow the guidance in your workplace, including wearing the correct personal protection equipment and taking part in any screening programmes.

To continue to protect yourself, your patients/residents, your family, friends and colleagues, you should follow the general advice at work, at home and when you are out and about:

• practise social distancing

• wear a face covering

• wash your hands carefully and frequently

• follow the current guidance

Yours sincerely

SENT ON BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE | Chief Executive

COVID CONTRACTORS UPDATE

#178 Monday 18 January 2021

CLICK HERE to see COVID HUB on CPNI Website

Dear Colleague

As you will be aware, the COVID vaccination of community pharmacy teams in now progressing well and CPNI correspondence outlines how pharmacy staff can avail of the vaccination.

We would advise all staff availing of the vaccine to read the following leaflet:  ‘COVID-19 vaccination – protection for health and social care workers’ available here which describes the COVID-19 vaccination for health and social care workers, including HSC Trust employees, care home staff and domiciliary and primary care staff. The leaflet explains why it’s important to get your vaccine and includes information on potential side effects and what to do next.

Contractors and their team(s) should note the following:

Will the vaccine protect those I care for?

The evidence on whether COVID-19 vaccination reduces the chance of you passing on the virus is less clear. Most vaccines reduce the overall risk of infection, but some vaccinated people may get a mild infection or an infection with no symptoms and therefore be able to pass the virus on. It is highly likely that any infection in a vaccinated person will be less severe and that they will be infectious for a shorter period of time. We therefore expect that vaccinated health and social care staff will be less likely to pass infection to their friends and family and to the vulnerable people that they care for.

After I have had the vaccine, will I still need to follow all the infection prevention and control advice?

While two doses of the vaccine will reduce your chance of becoming seriously ill, no vaccine is completely effective and it will take a few weeks for your body to build up protection.
So, you will still need to follow the guidance in your workplace, including wearing the correct personal protection equipment and taking part in any screening programmes.
To continue to protect yourself, your patients/residents, your family, friends and colleagues, you should follow the general advice at work, at home and when you are out and about:

• practise social distancing

• wear a face covering

• wash your hands carefully and frequently

• follow the current guidance

Yours sincerely

SENT ON BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE|Chief Executive

Dear Colleague

The following concessionary prices have been granted for January 2021:

DrugPack SizeConcessionary Price
Ciprofloxacin 500mg tablets10£3.85
Duloxetine 20mg gastro-resistant capsules28£8.68
Duloxetine 30mg gastro-resistant capsules28£2.39
Duloxetine 60mg gastro-resistant capsules28£3.99
Enalapril 10mg tablets28£6.10
Enalapril 20mg tablets28£10.10
Esomeprazole 20mg gastro-resistant capsules28£3.99
Lamotrigine 100mg tablets56£6.72
Lamotrigine 200mg tablets56£8.13
Lamotrigine 25mg tablets56£2.30
Moxonidine 200microgram tablets28£8.70
Moxonidine 300microgram tablets28£8.69
Moxonidine 400microgram tablets28£7.50
Ropinirole 1mg tablets84£26.99
Sulfasalazine 500mg gastro-resistant tablets112£12.21
Sulfasalazine 500mg tablets112£8.57
Tamoxifen 20mg tablets30£10.21
Zonisamide 100mg capsules56£59.00

This is the first update of concessionary prices for January 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 Medicines Shortage Reporter

Concessionary Prices are also published on the CPNI website.

Kind Regards,

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