There is less than a week left to go until the team at Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire (with the help of some of our friends) take on the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge on Saturday 12^th August to raise funds for Yorkshire Cancer Research in memory of our dear friend and colleague, Nigel Hughes, who passed away unexpectedly on January 5^th this year.  

Nigel was well-loved, admired and respected by all who knew him and his death is a massive loss to us all. 

Any donations will be gratefully received.  

https://yorkshirerose.everydayhero.com/uk/InMemoryofNigelHughes#/?_k=owkjfv 

Information for Pharmacies Across West Yorkshire

National Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey

Community pharmacy contractors* across England will shortly receive an email from NHS England asking them to participate in the first ever national community pharmacy workforce survey. 

The online questionnaire about the pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, medicines counter and dispensary workforce in each pharmacy is being conducted for Health Education England (HEE).  The survey is designed to inform the commissioning of future education and development programmes for community pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and the wider team. 

Contractors will receive by email a unique, secure log-in to access to survey and will have until 31^st September 2017 to complete the survey.  If you would like more information or if you have any queries, please visit https://hee.nhs.uk/pharmacy_workforce_survey or email england.cpws@nhs.net. 

*Asda, Boots, Lloyds, Morrisons, Rowlands, Superdrug, Tesco, and Well have already completed the survey centrally, so pharmacies within those companies will not receive a request to complete the survey.

Places are free but must be booked in advance.  To book a place and choose from the sessions on offer either visit Yorkshire Cancer Research’s web page www.ycr.org.uk/lwc2017.  

Please be aware that most of the sessions have limited capacity and places will be booked on a first-come basis.  

Bradford Supervision

We have become aware that Addaction wrote to all Bradford pharmacy contractors in March providing the Supervised Consumption service to outline a new process for how controlled drug prescriptions will be distributed, asking pharmacies to collect scripts directly from Addaction.  Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire were not aware of this change and had not been consulted about this change. 

Following a meeting between Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire and Addaction, the proposed changes have been suspended and prescriptions will be distributed in the usual way.  We are now working with Addaction to discuss how the prescription distribution can be changed to be in-line with the CQC recommendations whilst remaining fair and transparent for all contractors. 

Thank you to the contractors who brought this letter to our attention. 

Calderdale Sexual Health Newsletters

Pharmacies in Calderdale will be receiving a bulletin relating to ‘Healthy Relationships and Consent’ and a flyer relating to being ready for summer festivals.  These can also be accessed at our website:  

• Quarterly Bulletin: http://www.cpwy.org/doc/1498.pdf
• Festival Flyer: http://www.cpwy.org/doc/1499.pdf

Kirklees PNA

Kirklees Local Authority have started their PNA process so that they will publish a new PNA in 2018.  Kirklees Council have written out to each Kirklees pharmacy to ask them to complete a pharmacy questionnaire.  We would encourage pharmacies to complete and return the questionnaire.  Pharmacies who are part of a multiple should discuss the return with their Head Office. 

Connect with Pharmacy

Connect with Pharmacy, the electronic transfer of discharge advice notes from the hospital to the pharmacy, went live across Leeds on 16^th January 2017.  Community pharmacy can play a key role in reducing unnecessary admissions to hospital due to preventable problems with medicines. 

Since going live there have been 1485 referrals from LTHT.  Community pharmacies have accepted and actioned 92% of these.  This is a fantastic achievement for everyone involved and we have produced a higher acceptance rate than many other areas in the country that deliver a similar service. 

Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire are providing ongoing support to both the hospital and community pharmacy teams, with monthly project board meetings, newsletters and regular phone calls. 

Adult services at the Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) are piloting phase 2 of the service, where any patient can be referred to their community pharmacy if a clinical need is identified. Nurses on both the Cardiology and Parkinson’s wards are also keen to be involved and make referrals to community pharmacy. 

Please remember to:

• ‘Accept’ each referral on PharmOutcomes
• ‘Complete’ the referral once you have made an intervention
• Make best use of the National Advanced Services: The New Medicines Service (NMS) and targeted Medicines Use Reviews (MURs) support the transfer of care for patients discharged from hospital.  Community pharmacists are well placed to provide targeted support to patients in the post discharge period and ensure that patients understand:
• the medicines they have been prescribed
• why they should be taking their medicines
• how to take their medicines correctly. 

If you have any queries or questions, then please contact melissa@cpwy.org. 

The Leeds Directory

Leeds Directory is a council funded source of information on a wide range of services and organisations which can accessed online. http://leedsdirectory.org/ 

There are over 1800 organisations and services to assist and support people to live independently. The directory includes information on wellbeing services (stop smoking, weight) and support groups for patients (carers, cancer) information and could be used by pharmacy teams to support signposting of patients. 

Leeds CCGs Prescribing Consultation

Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire has become aware that the Leeds CCGs wrote to all Leeds pharmacies at the end of March in relation to their consultation on proposed changes to the way certain items are prescribed in Leeds.

Due to the recent general election, this consultation was paused and the closing date has now been extended to 9th July 2017.  If you have not already done so, we would urge all pharmacy teams to respond to this consultation: https://www.snapsurveys.com/wh/s.asp?k=148889698614 

PSNC – Community Pharmacy News

The Community Pharmacy News monthly magazine will no longer be posted out to pharmacies.  

To access the latest Community Pharmacy News, click here. 

Training and Development

Leadership Learning Communities for Pharmacy Professionals

Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire, CPPE and Health Education England are pleased to invite you to join the 2017 Leadership Learning Community for pharmacy professionals which is being delivered within West Yorkshire. 

The programme is designed to give you the skills to develop personally and lead within your pharmacy.  It is open to pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who have been qualified for at least 2-3 years.  It is an opportunity to make a real difference to your own leadership and to community pharmacy across West Yorkshire. 

For more information or if you are interested in signing up for this programme, please visit our website http://www.cpwy.org/training-development/events.shtml.  Applications must be returned by 31^st July 2017.  We will contact you after this date to confirm whether you have a place on this programme. 

CPPE Events

Details of events being held by CPPE in the West Yorkshire area are on our website, click here.

News Digest 31^st April 2017

Payment Claims

With immediate effect, all pre-registrations training grant claims need to be sent to the NHS England Local Area Team for authorisation (contact details can be found below).  Once authorised, the Local Area Team will instruct Primary Care Support England to pay claims via standardised monthly schedules. 

Email:  england.wyat-phes@nhs.net

Telephone:  0113 825 2700

Capita PCSE Services Update

NHS England has set up an email account to handle claims from community pharmacy contractors who have incurred losses due to poor service from PCSE. 

This follows a range of issues that have arisen since Capita’s takeover of the PCSE service contract in 2015, including where statutory deadlines and time limits for market entry, set out in the NHS (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013, have not been met, or where payments such as pre-registration payments have been made late. 

Further information for contractors wishing to raise issues can be found on the PSNC website: 

http://psnc.org.uk/our-news/capita-pcse-services-update-pharmacy-compensation-claims/

New registration process for access to Summary Care Record

A new process has been established for contractors to go live with Summary Care Records (SCR).  A key difference is that staff are no longer required to attend face-to-face training. 

PSNC has updated its SCR implementation checklist to reflect the change and further information, including new online training for SCR Governance Persons (formerly Privacy Officers), is available on NHS Digital's website.

New Emergency Contraceptive Guidelines Launched

The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare have recently launched new guidance, (see here), on emergency contraception following a survey which found that only 15% of women, aged 18-45, who had been offered or accessed emergency contraception said that they had been offered the copper intrauterine device (Cu-IUD).  This new guidance aims to bridge the gap in awareness and knowledge and provides clear evidence-based information for healthcare professionals and all those involved in advising and caring for women who access emergency contraception. 

In line with NICE guidance, the recommendations mark a new emphasis on advising women that the Cu-IUD, is the most effective method of emergency contraception.  All healthcare professionals who provide emergency contraception should offer women the Cu-IUD, and if they cannot provide it, refer them on to services that can. 

Other key changes include:

• Ulipristal acetate (EllaOne®) now classed as first-line oral emergency contraceptive
• Guidance relating to emergency contraception and earliest date of ovulation
• Updated figures from the Office of National Statistics. 

If you are involved in advising or caring for women who may need emergency contraception, please make sure you read this updated guidance to ensure any advice you give is the most up-to-date.  CPPE have also updated their e-learning package to fit it with these changes so this may be a good opportunity for you to update your learning.

Remember to Advise Women that Oral Emergency Contraception (EC) Methods Do Not Provide Ongoing Contraception

Local Sexual Health services have reported an increased number of patients recently who have had a positive pregnancy test after taking ulipristal and patients have advised that they were unaware that they needed to use additional barrier contraception after taking. 

Providers of oral EC should advise women that oral EC methods do not provide contraceptive cover for subsequent UPSI and that they will need to use contraception or abstain from sex to avoid further risk of pregnancy. 

Additionally, for women taking hormonal contraception, the effectiveness of ulipristal can be reduced if a woman takes progestogen in the 5 days after taking ulipristal.  Women should therefore be advised to wait 5 days after ulipristal before starting their hormonal contraception and should be advised to use condoms or abstain from sex until their contraceptive method is effective.  Refer to pages 29-31 of the The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare Guidance . 

MUR / NMS Data

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) now administers the collection of completed MUR and NMS electronic reporting templates from pharmacy contractors on behalf of NHS England.  Pharmacy contractors will no longer receive any reminder and will therefor need to remember to submit their completed quarterly MUR and NMS electronic reporting templates to the NHSBSA via the Information Services Portal. 

We have recently received notification from NHSBSA that there are a significant number of pharmacies which have not yet submitted / had problems submitting quarterly information for NMS and MUR interventions.  There have been a number of pharmacy contractors where no quarterly information has been received at all and some contractors which have attempted to submit via the spreadsheet but the information has not been accepted due to changes made to the format of the spreadsheet by the pharmacy. 

For more information, please see NHSBSA website: http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/PrescriptionServices/5539.aspx

7-Day Prescribing Guide

Pharmacies are reminded of the 7-Day Prescribing Guide.  We have become aware that several GP practices are reviewing their policy on providing 7-day prescriptions and this guide can assist you in your discussions with GPs.

For more information on the 7 Day Prescribing Guide, click here.

Repeat Dispensing

There is a move both nationally and within West Yorkshire to increase the use of electronic repeat dispensing.  Some CCGs are encouraging practices to meet with local pharmacies to discuss the implementation of repeat dispensing and this would be a good opportunity for partnership working and to discuss the logistics of the service. 

Links to useful information / resources are included below.

NHS Digital resources 

• eRD webinars: a recorded eRD webinar;
• eRD learning module for pharmacy teams and GP practice staff; and
• eRD toolkit – this toolkit is suitable for pharmacy teams as well as GP practice staff.  The toolkit includes a dispenser quick guide, full dispenser guide, presentation and patient text.

PSNC resources 

• PSNC Briefing 004/17: eRepeat Dispensing – A factsheet for pharmacy teams (January 2017) – one side of this briefing contains key phrases to help advise patients on the benefits of eRD, whilst the other side provides a list of questions to ask patients collecting a repeat dispensing/eRD prescription.
• PSNC Briefing 004/15: Increasing use of the NHS Repeat Dispensing service (February 2015) – this briefing will assist community pharmacy teams both in meeting the requirement in the CPCF for pharmacy teams to give advice to appropriate patients about the benefits of the repeat dispensing/eRD service and ensuring their repeat dispensing/eRD procedures are up to date.

Resources to support patients

The South West Yorkshire Area Prescribing Committee website contains a range of videos and leaflets designed to help patients use their inhalers. 

These resources can be used to support inhaler checks with patients.  The leaflets include a link to the inhaler video page on the APC’s website, so patients can watch them at home. 

CPPE Events

Details of events being held by CPPE in the West Yorkshire area are on our website, click here.

Events over the next month include:

• Dementia – Focal Point – 25^th May 2017 in Leeds
• Primary care pharmacy study day – 9^th May 2017 in Leeds
• Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults* – 25^th May 2017 in Brighouse

*CPPE have asked that we highlight this Safeguarding training to contractors.  Completing this workshop will give you a better understanding of safeguarding and will leave you better placed to complete the assessment afterwards to meet this Quality Payment criterion. 

PSNC – Community Pharmacy News

The Community Pharmacy News monthly magazine will no longer be posted out to pharmacies.  

To access the latest Community Pharmacy News, click here.