Coronavirus 

Pharmacies should receive updates via the Central Alerting System (CAS) and from NHSE&I.  The last information, Coronavirus - Briefing for Primary Care, was sent on 19^th February 2020. 

PSNC have further information available here.  Guidance for health professionals is available here.  Resources are available on the PHE resource website here.

National Pharmacy Audit to Start March 2020: Antimicrobial Stewardship – People Seeking Advice on Upper Respiratory Tract Infections 

The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) includes a requirement to participate in a single annual audit set by NHSE&I.  For 2019/20 and 2020/21, this audit will focus on patients aged 18 years and over attending community pharmacy for advice and/or support in managing symptoms of Upper Respiratory Tract Infections (URTI).  The 2019/20 audit period will be during March 2020. Data must be collected for five working days, with a minimum sample size of ten patients. In cases where there is difficulty in obtaining the minimum sample size, the audit should be extended to ten working days, after which contractors will be able to submit the data with the number of patients they have been able to include in the audit even if less than ten. 

Undertaking the audit is a contractual requirement; if a pharmacy contractor does not undertake the audit, it is a breach of their contractual responsibilities.  This does not form part of the Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS).  The PSNC guidance for this audit can be found here, and the NICE guidance on antimicrobial stewardship can be found here.

Public and Bank Holidays 

PSNC’s annual opening hours factsheet provides contractors with a quick reference guide on which public and bank holidays pharmacies can close without giving notice. 

Pharmacy opening hours factsheet (2020) 

In 2020, Boxing Day is a Saturday, so the designated bank holiday is Monday 28th December 2020. This means that any pharmacy that normally opens on a Saturday would still have to open as usual on Boxing Day, unless they have been granted permission to close by their local NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) team.  See PSNC opening hours pages for further details here.

An Evaluation of Education and Training Programmes within the Pharmacy Integration Fund 

Researchers at the Centre for Pharmacy Workforce Studies (CPWS) at the University of Manchester and ICF have been commissioned by NHSE&I to evaluate the impact of the Pharmacy Integration Fund (PhIF) learning pathways. 

The aim of this study is to explore the degree to which the various PhIF training pathways have impacted upon the roles, professional practice, and career aspirations of the pharmacy workforce.  The researchers are calling particularly on pharmacists and pharmacy technicians working in community pharmacy and their employers/managers. 

Please find information sheets below. Please take some time to read these and contact the research team at the University of Manchester if you have any further questions about the study. If you would like to take part in an interview, please contact Jayne Astbury on 0161 2757493 or jayne.astbury@manchester.ac.uk to arrange a convenient time for an interview. 

Participant Information Sheet - Employers and Managers

Participant Information Sheet - Employers and Managers Not Involved in PhIF

Participant Information Sheet - Learners Who Didn't Complete a PhIF Pathway

RPS West Yorkshire Symposium - Sunday 15th March 2020 

RPSWY is hosting a symposium on Sunday 15th March 2020 at the Holiday Inn Brighouse to address antimicrobial stewardship and resistance. The aims of the workshop are: 

• To strengthen your knowledge about antimicrobial stewardship and antimicrobial resistance.
• To take inspiration from others who have developed initiatives to support antimicrobial stewardship.
• To understand the future direction of cross sector pharmacy in relation to antimicrobial stewardship. 

For further details and to book your place click here.  Attendance is free-of-charge for RPS Members and £20 for non-members.

Key News and Guidance: The Latest Updates from PSNC 

PSNC has put together a summary of the key news and guidance which has been shared last week with contractors and can be found below.  Some of the information included is: 

• Contractor Announcement CPCF Negotiations Progress Update and Arrangements for 2020/21
• What the New GP Contract Means for Community Pharmacy - This briefing by PSNC provides a summary of the changes to the General Medical Services (GMS) contract in 2020/21 that are of most relevance to community pharmacy.
• PSNC Considers Details for CPCF in 2020/21 at February Meeting
• Register for Consolidations and Mergers Webinar
• Early May 2020 Bank Holidays Change Affects Pharmacy Opening Requirements
• February Edition of CPN Magazine
• Clinical Governance Deadline Fast Approaching
• Pharmacies Advised to Display COVID-19 Posters

Key News and Guidance: The Latest Updates from PSNC - 21st February 2020

PSNC has set up an email address so that people can contact them directly with queries on the five-year Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF).  The email address is: cpcf@psnc.org.uk.  Similarly, any contractor who wishes to raise an issue with PSNC Chief Executive Simon Dukes can do so by emailing chiefexec@psnc.org.uk.

Services Information 

Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire has a Services Checklist to help contractors with the different services offered, where to claim and when to claim by.  The Services Checklist can be found on our website here.  This was recently updated in January 2020.

Public Health Information 

Further information around Public Health can be found on our website via the links below: 

• Promotion of Healthy Lifestyles
• Signposting
• Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP)
• Making Every Contact Count (MECC)    

Training and Development

CPWY Development Academy 

Click on the links below to find out more information and how to book your place on our upcoming events! 

• Anticoagulant Therapy Event
• The Leeds Atrial Fibrillation (AF) Patient Pathway in Leeds – Integrating Community Pharmacy into the Pathway

CPWY e-Learning 

Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire is working with Virtual Outcomes to deliver a series of online training events throughout the year. 

An introduction video for Virtual Outcomes can be found here. More information about the different Virtual Outcomes modules that are available can be found on our website here. 

NEW e-Learning Module: NHS England Contractual Pharmacy Clinical Audit 2019/20 

Starting from 1st March 2020, community pharmacies will be required to complete their mandatory NHS England Clinical Audit.  This year each pharmacy is required to speak to 10 patients for Upper Respiratory Tract Infections (URTIs).  The audit will take place over FIVE days during March with the results uploaded by the 28th April 2020.  The course objectives are: 

• Understand what the national clinical audit is and why you need to participate.
• Understand what forms are available.
• Understand what you need to do to meet the requirements for the audit.
• Understand when you need to complete the audit. 

NHS England Clinical Audit 2019/20 - eLearning Flyer

More information and how to access this online training module can be found here.

External Events 

More information about external events can be found on our website here. 

CPPE Events 

A list of upcoming CPPE Events is available on our website.  More information can be found here: http://www.cpwy.org/training-development/events.shtml#cppe.

Other Information

CPWY Connect 

CPWY Connect has been set up on the social media site Telegram with the aim of connecting pharmacy teams across West Yorkshire and we’d love you to join by clicking here.