Written by admin on Friday 13th March 2020
Latest news, information and guidance from NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) for primary care teams (13th March)
Yesterday the COVID-19 outbreak officially became a pandemic and we likely moved one step closer to the UK response moving to the Delay phase. The decision on moving to the next phase will be taken by Government and further guidance on the approach to managing the outbreak will then be issued by Government and the NHS.
Yesterday the “case definition” for England was updated and community pharmacy teams should ensure they understand the new definition of a case; it is likely that further updates to the case definition will occur in due course.
An updated community pharmacy SOP will be published shortly by NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) to reflect the new case definition.
Updated posters were published by Public Health England (PHE) today. Community pharmacies are advised to display the following TWO PHE posters so they are visible to people seeking to enter the premises:
They can be downloaded from the PHE campaign resources hub.
The following previously issued posters should be removed from display and be replaced by the above posters:
NHS England has produced the first of a series of regular updates to community pharmacy regarding the emerging COVID-19 situation.
Further details of the letter can be found on the NHS website
As previously highlighted, free of charge packs of PPE will be distributed direct to pharmacies from the PHE stockpile later this week or earlier next week; the packs will contain 50 masks, 200 aprons and 100 pairs of gloves. The PPE is only for use in the pharmacy as advised in the NHSE&I SOP – 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).
As a consequence of this, the need for community pharmacies to have to use PPE, at this time, is low; the guidance on PPE use will be kept under review as the pandemic progresses.
Wherever possible, a patient presenting in the pharmacy with possible COVID-19 infection should be immediately told to return home and then access NHS 111 online or call NHS 111 (calling being a secondary option to online access) in order that the pharmacy does not have the increased risk of dealing with an isolated patient in the consultation room and the subsequent need for decontamination.
Some LPCs have flagged local moves by general practices to extend the period of treatment. Following discussions with PSNC about this, NHSE&I and DHSC have issued guidance to practices that this should not happen.
The below guidance is contained in Dr Nikki Kanani’s letter to general practices:
| Prescriptions: Practices should not change their repeat prescription durations or support patients trying to stockpile: these actions may put a strain on the supply chain and exacerbate any potential shortages. Practices should consider putting all suitable patients on electronic repeat dispensing as soon as possible. The whole repeatable prescription can be valid for a year but each repeat should be for no longer than the patient has now. For example, if the patient has prescriptions for a month’s supply now then the repeat dispensing should be set up as 13 x 28 days’ supply. |
If contractors see that this guidance is not being followed, please immediately raise this with your LPC for further escalation. Pharmacies have also been asked not to support any patients trying to stockpile.
This week PSNC will be undertaking more detailed discussions with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) to plan for the potential later phases of the COVID-19 outbreak. They will be pressing for further support and protection for pharmacies who are already being impacted by the outbreak in the UK.
They will be looking to agree CPCF arrangements that cover circumstances such as:
They will provide further updates on these matters as soon as they can.
Following discussions with PSNC, NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) have taken the decision to waive the requirement to complete the National Antimicrobial Stewardship Clinical Audit for 2019/2020 with immediate effect.
At this time NHSE&I instead want to ensure that pharmacies are focused on the actions set out in national communications regarding COVID-19.
The audit was due to be repeated in 2020/21, but it will now be undertaken for a first time in that year; further details on that will be provided later in 2020.
Recent guidance from NHS England asks General Practice to consider putting all suitable patients on electronic repeat dispensing ('eRD') for when their next repeat prescriptions are due, as part of the preparedness for Coronavirus.
There are several resources available to help your team if they need extra training and support with eRD:
You can also find out more about making eRD work, by watching the below video:
