COVID-19: 4th May round-up for primary care
Payments for the home delivery of medicines and appliances service during the COVID-19 outbreak
Community pharmacy contractors are now able to claim payment on the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal . Contractors must submit their claims for payment monthly via the MYS platform no later than the 5th of the following month.
Upcoming webinars
6th May, 7 -8pm(new time see below) Community Pharmacy webinar with Keith Ridge and Ed Waller
COVID-19: 5th May round-up for primary care
Please note that the fourth in a series of fortnightly community pharmacy webinars hosted by Keith Ridge and Ed Waller will now take place on Thursday 7 May from 7pm – 8pm instead of Wednesday 6 May. We hope you will be able to attend the revised date.
Priority medicines for palliative and end of life care during a pandemic
In order to manage additional demand for end of life medicines, and ensure safe, equitable and compassionate care for patients, we have worked with the Association of Palliative Medicines, Royal College of GPs, Hospice UK and the Association of Supportive and Palliative Care Pharmacy to publish Priority medicines for palliative and end of life care during a pandemic. This clinical guidance for essential end of life medicines, which sets out the first and second choices for these medicines, will enable the NHS to conserve supplies, switch to alternative drugs when required and minimise waste. This is also being used to guide the purchasing of medicines for the UK. It aims to support healthcare professionals working in palliative and end of life care, including GPs and pharmacists, across hospital, community, social care and hospice settings to work together in managing additional demand for end of life medicines due to COVID-19. This should be read alongside the recently published DHSC standard operating procedure on how to run a safe and effective medicines reuse scheme in a care home or hospice during the coronavirus outbreak.
Updating 8 May bank holiday hours in DoS and on NHS website
As announced in the bulletin last Friday, we have advised all community pharmacies in England to open 2-5pm on 8 May 2020; with exceptions or a variation to those hours, based on the likely demand and local needs, agreed in advance with the NHS England and NHS Improvement regional teams. These three hours will be remunerated at a rate of £250/hour. It is important that contractors update their DoS entry and that the pharmacy NHS website entry is correct for Friday 8 May. The step-by-step guide for updating your NHS website profile is available here. Contractors can use the Dos Profile Updater to make the necessary changes by the end of Wednesday 6 May 2020. Thank you to all community pharmacy colleagues for their continued support for bank holiday opening during the ongoing pandemic which is essential to ensure patients can have access to the medicines they need.
COVID-19: 7th May round-up for primary care
NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service
During the pandemic the NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) has continued to be delivered within community pharmacy. We recognise this has been a valuable service for patients providing access to remote consultation for acute minor illness and urgent medicines supply. It is vitally important, that even during these busy periods, incoming CPCS referrals are checked for regularly throughout the day and at least an hour before closing. Some referrals may be made to the pharmacy overnight and so it is also good practice to check for these at the start of the working day. We are aware some pharmacies have been sending referrals back to NHS111 at the end of the working day stating that they had been unable to make contact with patients. If no contact can be made then the referral can be closed on the CPCS IT system as set out in the NHS CPCS Toolkit and not sent back to NHS111.
NHS Service Finder supports hospital pharmacy departments to discharge patients during the COVID-19 crisis
Hospital pharmacists will be able to use NHS Service Finder to instantly access up-to-date information on community pharmacies, including NHS email addresses. Electronic notes can now be sent on discharge to the relevant community pharmacy using secure NHS email. The development comes in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, to support the safe and timely discharge of patients and enable effective communication between hospital and community pharmacists. NHS Service Finder gives access to accurate, real-time information to help signpost patients to available services to best meet their needs. It can be used by healthcare professionals to access the NHS 111 Directory of Services and NHS.UK service information on any device.
