PPE kits will be arriving in your pharmacies this week.
At this point, PPE only needs to be used if:
you are entering a room in an emergency where an
infected/possibly infected patient is isolated and
when decontaminating a room where such a patient has
been present (in this case the PPE is to protect the worker from the
cleaning products being used).
PPE that has been used should be disposed of as clinical waste.
Strictly enforced arrangements for further replenishment will be
in place and will be communicated to you shortly by the Department of Health
(NI).
The guidance on PPE use will be kept under review as the
pandemic progresses.
Kind Regards,
SENT
FOR AND BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE | Chief Executive
Dear colleague
CPNI is acutely aware of the huge surge in community pharmacy activity as a result of COVID-19, patient demand and changes to GP arrangements that were introduced last week and we know that community pharmacy teams are being stretched way beyond the normal levels of service provision.
Cathy Harrison attended the CPNI Board meeting on Thursday past
(12 March) and there has been extensive and on-going activity with DoH(NI) and
HSCB pharmacy leads since then to fast-track contingency measures for Community
Pharmacy teams. CPNI Directors also met yesterday (15 March) and will meet
again today to prioritise the urgent support that you and your staff need.
The following areas are being actively worked on and I would ask
you to check your emails regularly for further advice/information/support.
Dispensing pressures – increased volume, increased quantities of medicines prescribed, medicines supplies and shortages, managing prescription work-flow, medicine price increases and funding/cash-flow pressures.
Specific service issues – including MDS, supervision of methadone/buprenorphine substitute prescribing patients, SOPs.
Staff issues – increased workload on staff, COVID-19 risk factors facing pharmacy staff, staff safe-guarding mechanisms, imminent staff absenteeism due to isolation etc, back-fill options and the contingencies to maintain services and keep pharmacies open.
Patient issues – managing patient flows in pharmacies, social distancing measures, prioritising at-risk patients, delivery of medicines to patients.
Premises issues – demarcation zones and/or restricted access zones within pharmacies for social distancing, security of premises and staff.
Business Continuity measures.
These are only some of the areas under active development within
CPNI. We are aiming to issue more specific interim CPNI
guidance imminently and in a phased through-out the coming weeks and months. As the COVID-19 situation develops, other aspects will
come into play and we will address these with the relevant lead organisations
and keep you informed.
I can assure you that the Community Pharmacy financial
implications resulting from COVID-19 have been raised at the highest level
within the DoH(NI) and HSCB and progressive steps are being taken within the
Health Service to enable Community Pharmacy to operate in a financially stable
manner throughout this very difficult period. Further information will be
shared with Contractors when it becomes available in due course.
CPNI Office and Directors are available should you require any
further information or assistance at this time.
Kind Regards,
SENT
FOR AND BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE | Chief Executive
Dear
Colleague,
I
recognise the huge impact that COVID-19 and recent changes implemented this
week by GP’s across NI (in relation to 56/84+ day prescribing, surgeries being
closed to patients and changes to prescription ordering & collection
arrangements) are having on already over-stretched pharmacy teams.
There
has been on-going and frequent meetings & discussions with HSCB, DoH(NI),
BMA & RCGP colleagues in relation to these critical issues. You will have
received correspondence from HSCB on these matters and while I acknowledge they
do not address the immediacy of the mounting problems you and your teams are
facing I want to assure you that we are continuing to advocate for changes to
alleviate the severity of all the issues you face.
I
am in regular contact with Joe Brogan in relation to these issues and I have
attached copy correspondence that has been issued by HSCB to pharmacy teams
today.
I
spoke again with Joe Brogan this evening and he has asked that I share the
email below with you.
Please
do not hesitate to contact me should you require any additional information.
Yours
sincerely,
Gerard
From: Joe Brogan Sent: 13 March 2020 19:07
Dear Gerard
I would be grateful if you could consider sending the following out to pharmacy contractors;
Dear Colleague
We are now entering the next phase of our response to the
Corona Virus. I appreciate over the past few days there have been significant
challenges faced already and we will collectively work to address these.
I also know this is just the beginning of what will be a
challenging time for us all. Community pharmacy is recognised as a key part of
the health service response and I along with my colleagues in the Board and DoH
will be doing our utmost to support community pharmacy services for our
patients. We recognise the many challenges that are being faced and steps are
being taken to address these.
In order to provide a structure to manage our collective
response, we have agreed to convene a weekly Pharmacy COVID response group with
CPNI to take forward and provide assurance in relation to service, finance and
human resource issues. We will augment this with a daily conference call with
CPNI to identify and address issues as they emerge.
I acknowledge and appreciate the critical work of
maintaining safe dispensing of medicines that community pharmacy provides daily
and we must focus on maintaining the delivery of this key objective over the
coming weeks and months.
Best wishes
Joe
Joe Brogan, Head of Pharmacy and Medicines Management, HSCB
Gransha Park House, Clooney Road, Derry/Londonderry BT47 6FN
Tel: 028 95363375
Download
Dear Colleague,
COMMUNITY
PHARMACY CONTINGENCY PLAN TO ENSURE THE SAFE SUPPLY OF MEDICINES TO PATIENTS
The developing COVID-19 pandemic will place additional pressures
on all primary care HSC service providers, including GP practices and community
pharmacies.
CPNI will continue to engage with key stakeholders to focus
resources to ensure essential services are streamlined and can be sustained
during this rapidly changing situation.
CPNI Board is aware of the changes introduced by GP practices,
many of which are planning to close their receptions and potentially limiting
appointments for patients. Many of the proposed changes, which vary across
localities, will create undue pressure and potentially shift risk to community
pharmacies.
Community pharmacies’ prime concerns are:
Safeguarding services to patients;
Protecting the health and wellbeing of the community pharmacy team;
Maintaining the integrity of the medicine supply chain.
For this reason, CPNI Board is recommending that all contractors
and pharmacy teams adopt the following process in relation to the dispensing
service until new protocols are put in place:
CPNI Board
Recommended Interim Protocol for Prescription Supply, Collection and Delivery
during the COVID-19 Response Period
28 day dispensing of all prescriptions (regardless of prescription duration)
Collection of prescriptions from GP practices to be arranged according to community pharmacy capacity and workforce availability, this process must be streamlined and involve no additional workload for community pharmacy
Delivery of prescription medicines to patients may need to be limited depending on availability of community pharmacy workforce and capacity. If available, this should be offered on a risk stratified basis, with services prioritised to the most vulnerable people in our communities, including those self-isolating with no family support.
CPNI also has raised this matter with HSCB and joint
correspondence from Asst Directors of Integrated Care, HSCB Joe Brogan &
Margaret O’Brien is to be issued today to GP’s & Community Pharmacies.
Please do not hesitate to contact CPNI offices should you
require any additional information.
Yours sincerely
SENT
FOR AND BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE | Chief Executive
Dear Colleague
Serious Shortage Protocol: Important information
You will have
received recently a communication from the Department of Health NI (see
attached) in respect of a Serious Shortage Protocol (SSP) relating to
fluoxetine 10mg tablets which was issued by the Department of Health England.
DHNI has confirmed that, although the SSP issued states that it
applies to Northern Ireland, this is not the case. The SSP is
not operational here but may be activated at a future date. If a
decision is taken to activate the SSP at a future date, further communication
will issue from the DHNI.
Action
Contractors
should:
Make their dispensing teams aware that this serious shortage protocol is not applicable to Northern Ireland; and
Access the weblink below regularly to check the status
of SSPs in Northern Ireland. This website also contains useful
guidance on how to dispense under an SSP.
The CPNI will continue to
support and inform contractors in the event that SSPs are rolled out
here. Information can also be found on the CPNI website at this link:
Sent on behalf of Prof Mike Mawhinney | Head of Regulatory Affairs
Download
Dear Colleague,
CPNI Board Meeting 12th Mar’20 Update for Contractors – Community Pharmacy Industrial Action & COVID-19 Pandemic UPDATES
Today’s meeting of the CPNI Board was devoted to 2 agenda items, namely the Industrial Action that was endorsed at the Contractor meeting on 24th Feb’20 and the impact of the emerging COVID-19 situation on Community Pharmacy. This email provide you with a summary update on the discussions at the Board.
Industrial Action and discussions at Locality Meetings held this week.
Directors, having taken the feedback from the Contractor locality group meetings into account, decided that Industrial Action will be postponed for the time being due to the developing COVID-19 situation and the need to prioritise contingency planning for community pharmacy service provision.
COVID-19
Cathy Harrison, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer,
DoH(NI) attended today’s Board meeting to discuss the current and planned
provisions for Community Pharmacy in relation to COVID-19 contingency measures.
In addition to previous CPNI correspondence related
to COVID-19 and the letter you received yesterday from the Chief Pharmaceutical
Officer, https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/chief-pharmaceutical-officers-letter-pharmacists-covid-19-coronavirus-11-march-2020. there has
been on-going contact with the pharmacy leads
within the Department of Health (NI) and HSCB in recent weeks to ensure
COVID-19 contingency arrangements are specifically prioritised for community
pharmacy in Northern Ireland.
In order to support your community pharmacy teams
as they deal with a developing situation, CPNI has been advised that the
following aspects will be included in community pharmacy contingency planning
measures being taken forward by DoH(NI) and HSCB, in conjunction with CPNI.
Development of contingency planning arrangements in the event of community pharmacies having to temporarily close due to COVID-19;
The possible temporary re-deployment of pharmacy staff to/from other community pharmacies or healthcare settings and the indemnity provisions therein;
Funding arrangements that may be introduced for any pharmacies which have to close temporarily;
Cash flow solutions should contractors have to deal with rapidly rising medicines prices;
Possible community pharmacy support for patients who have to self-isolate due to possible infection or pre-existing conditions which put them at particular risk from infection;
Possible legislative amendments that could further facilitate and enable service provision;
Contingency planning around the supply chain to ensure medicine supplies to community pharmacies is maintained as best as possible;
Financial measures to maintain on-going cash-flow for community pharmacy businesses;
Prioritisation of specific commissioned community pharmacy services over non-essential commissioned services;
COVID-19 contingency planning will
now also supersede service development work-streams that are currently
undertaken by the HSCB, DoH(NI) and CPNI so that the focus is firmly on
planning for the developing COVID-19 situation.
CPNI will also be liaising with a
range of stakeholders including contractor representative bodies, supply chain
representatives, DHSC and NHS England as well as other stakeholders across the
UK as the wider UK contingency measures are developed.
This COVID-19 update provides you
with a very high level summary of some the areas under active development. From
this point onwards further work will now take place with DoH(NI) and HSCB to
work through the detail associated with each of these elements. CPNI will of
course provide you with additional updates on an on-going basis as further
information and detail becomes available.
Should you require any additional or
specific information in relation to COVID-19 or the Industrial Action in the
interim please do not hesitate to contact CPNI offices.
Please also keep us informed of this
developing situation.
Yours sincerely
SENT FOR AND BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE | Chief
Executive
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