Archives: Contractor Email

*** FOR THE ATTENTION OF CONTRACTORS PROVIDING FLU VACCINATION SERVICE FOR HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE WORKERS ONLY ***

Dear Colleague

COMMUNITY PHARMACY SEASONAL FLU VACCINATION SERVICE (CPFV) – PAYMENT MONITORING AND ACTIVITY DATES

Please find attached for your attention, correspondence from Joe Brogan, Assistant Director of Integrated Care, Head of Pharmacy and Medicines Management.

If there are any queries in relation to payment for the CPFV service, please contact Gail Carland at the Pharmaceutical Payments department at BSO Tel: 028 9536 3846, Email: Gail.Carland@hscni.net.

Yours sincerely

SENT FOR AND BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE | Chief Executive

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Dear Colleague,

Further Call for Return of Unused Oxygen Cylinders

HSCB colleagues have again asked us to urge all community pharmacies to return any oxygen cylinders that are not in use to BOC.  This would include any cylinders from patients’ homes that are no longer required.  We appreciate it is difficult for community pharmacy to know what cylinders may be in patients’ homes, but if you can remind patients to return any of their cylinders it would be greatly appreciated at this challenging time. 

As with any patient returns at this time, caution should be taken when accepting returns, and appropriate decontamination measures should be taken.  We have attached the poster (previously circulated in March) to this email, you may wish to display this in your pharmacy.

Any assistance you can provide would be welcomed to support ongoing work to deal with the COVID-19 situation.  

Yours sincerely

SENT FOR AND BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE | Chief Executive

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Dear Colleague

ACTIONS IN EVENT OF CLOSURES AND SUBMISSION OF SIT-REPS

Please find attached for your attention, correspondence from Joe Brogan, Assistant Director of Integrated Care, Head of Pharmacy and Medicines Management.

Yours sincerely

SENT FOR AND BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE | Chief Executive

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Dear Colleague

REMINDER – PROVISION OF OXYGEN THERAPY TO NEW PATIENTS IN CARE HOME SETTINGS

Please find attached for your attention, correspondence from Joe Brogan, Assistant Director of Integrated Care, Head of Pharmacy and Medicines Management.

Yours sincerely

SENT FOR AND BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE | Chief Executive

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Dear contractor

EU Exit

CPNI recently represented Northern Ireland contractors at the reconvened Community Pharmacy Brexit Forum, a UK-wide group which brings together more than 20 organisations across the pharmacy, wholesale and wider primary care sectors, to discuss Brexit/EU Exit matters. The Northern Ireland Department of Health was also represented.

The group was established in preparation for previous Brexit deadlines and is accelerating its work ahead of the end of the Transition Period on 31 December 2020.  The Forum’s aim is to bring together the sector and policy makers, and ultimately to try to ensure that the community pharmacy sector and patients are not adversely affected by Brexit/EU Exit.

The focus of the Forum was medicines supply, with members concerned about the potential impact of Brexit/EU Exit on patients, particularly with COVID-19 challenges likely to continue at a time of increased winter pressures.

CPNI (along with other Forum members) sought greater clarity around supplies of medicines from the EU and Great Britain to Northern Ireland after 31 December 2020. The need to maintain current prescribing periods on prescriptions ahead of, and beyond, the end of the Transition period was also highlighted as a necessary step to reduce the risk of supply disruption.  

The Forum heard from both the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England & NHS Improvement about the preparations being made to manage any potential risks to supply and to deal with medicines shortages.  There was a consensus among pharmacy stakeholders that increased communications would help address patient concerns and expectations, and it was agreed that a communications group will be convened.

CPNI has also engaged directly with national and local Department of Health officials in highlighting concerns in respect of medicines supplies and will continue to work with officials for urgent and Northern-Ireland specific resolution to these matters.

CPNI will continue to keep contractors and their teams updated as these matters progress.

Yours sincerely

SENT FOR AND BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE | Chief Executive

Dear Colleague,

The BSO Cyber Security team in conjunction with the HSC Trusts have reviewed the use of Zoom across the HSC. An enterprise licence has been purchased by the HSC for all Zoom users in the HSC; this enables the most appropriate security settings to be applied to all HSC users of Zoom.  Zoom is widely used across Northern Ireland and operates in stand-alone mode and therefore can be used by any Pharmacy.

It is envisaged zoom video conferencing will be invaluable for service provision through the pandemic, to support patients enrolled on the Stop Smoking service for example and for Pharmacy First. Over half of pharmacies in NI have now applied for a HSC Zoom account.

Should you wish to avail of Zoom, please complete and return the template (appendix 1) which can be found here, providing your HSCNI email address and return to your local HSCB office.

This information will be used to generate your Zoom account and you will receive an activation email from Zoom. Instructions on how to initially activate the Zoom product and how to initiate a meeting can be found here. You can implement these instructions once you receive the activation email from Zoom.

Please note – you must activate your Zoom account within 30 days of receiving your activation email. If this time period has lapsed you can reapply for a Zoom account from your local office.

Contact Details for Local Integrated Care Offices:   

For any queries on signing up for a Zoom account, please contact your local HSCB office in the first instance or the CPNI office.

Yours sincerely

SENT FOR AND BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE | Chief Executive