Community Pharmacy England (CPE) - News updates

Pharmacy owners should be aware that the Pharmacy First Clinical Pathways band assignments and monthly caps for May 2025 are published on the NHSBSA website. Information for all future months will be published here. The list published by NHSBSA indicates the band assignment and monthly cap for each pharmacy by ODS code. If a pharmacy [...] The post Pharmacy First Clinical Pathways caps for May 2025 appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

MHRA Class 4 Medicines Defect Notification: Chloramphenicol 1% w/w Eye Ointment, Blumont Pharma Limited Drug alert number: EL(25)A/20 Date issued: 08 May 2025 Blumont Pharma Limited has informed the MHRA of an error with the European Article Number (EAN) barcode on the cartons of the batch of Chloramphenicol 1% w/w Eye Ointment (POM version only) in [...] The post MHRA Class 4 Medicines Defect Notification: Chloramphenicol 1% w/w Eye Ointment, Blumont Pharma Limited appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Update 08/05/25 – The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has provided an update on the Serious Shortage Protocol (SSP) for Cefalexin 250mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free (SSP078), which has been reactivated due to supply issues. SSP078 is now due to expire on Friday 8 August 2025. Community Pharmacy England’s in-house Drug Tariff and [...] The post Reactivation of SSP078 for Cefalexin 250mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued guidance regarding the risk of psychological side effects while taking Kaftrio▼ (Ivacaftor, tezacaftor, elexacaftor). Psychological side effects such as anxiety, low mood, sleep disturbance, poor concentration, and forgetfulness have been infrequently reported in people with cystic fibrosis treated with Kaftrio. Healthcare professionals should advise patients [...] The post MHRA Drug Safety Update: Kaftrio▼ (Ivacaftor, tezacaftor, elexacaftor) risk of psychological side effects appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

As part of our Funding & Reimbursement Shorts series, Community Pharmacy England’s in-house Drug Tariff and funding experts have created a new video on prescription switching. For the end-of-month submission, pharmacy teams are required to sort paper prescriptions into paid and exempt groups. Prescription switching occurs when an FP10 paper prescription is submitted in the wrong charge [...] The post Funding & Reimbursement Shorts: Prescription switching appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has issued a medicine supply notification for Lidocaine (Xylocaine®) 10mg/dose spray sugar free. MSN/2025/028 Tier 2 – medium impact Date of issue: 7th May 2025 Lidocaine (Xylocaine®) 10mg/dose spray sugar free is out of stock from mid-May until late June 2025. Lidocaine 5% / Phenylephrine 0.5% nasal spray [...] The post Medicine Supply Notification: Lidocaine (Xylocaine® ) 10mg/dose spray sugar free appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has issued a medicine supply notification for Buprenorphine (Reletrans®) 5micrograms/hour and 15micrograms/hour transdermal patches. MSN/2025/030 Tier 2 – medium impact Date of issue: 7th May 2025 Buprenorphine (Reletrans®) 5micrograms/hour and 15micrograms/hour transdermal patches are out of stock until early July 2025. Alternative brands of buprenorphine matrix patches (Bunov®, [...] The post Medicine Supply Notification: Buprenorphine (Reletrans® ) 5micrograms/hour and 15micrograms/hour transdermal patches appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Update 02/05/25 – The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has provided an update on the Serious Shortage Protocol (SSP) for Cefalexin 125mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free (SSP077) which was due to expire 02 May 2025 but has been further extended to Friday 1 August 2025. Community Pharmacy England’s in-house Drug Tariff and funding [...] The post SSP077 for Cefalexin 125mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free further extended appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

Update 02/05/25 – The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has provided an update on the Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) for Estradot® 50micrograms/24hours patches (SSP079), Estradot® 75micrograms/24hours patches (SSP080), Estradot® 100micrograms/24hours patches (SSP081) and Estradot® 25micrograms/24hours patches (SSP082).  All four SSPs were due to expire on 2 May 2025. The end date for all [...] The post SSPs for Estradot® patches (SSP079, SSP080, SSP081and SSP082) extended appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.

With Early May Bank Holiday (5 May 2025) occurring in the first five days of the FP34C submission window, pharmacy owners will have an extra day, until the end of 6 May 2025, to submit their April FP34Cs using the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal and to dispatch their prescription bundle to the relevant pricing [...] The post Extended FP34C submission deadline for prescriptions dispensed in April 2025 appeared first on Community Pharmacy England.