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Operational Support & Best Practices

Deadline Tracker

Click below for this useful deadline tracker published monthly. It is designed to keep you on top of upcoming deadlines. April Deadline Tracker

Direction of Prescriptions

Q. What is direction of prescriptions? A. On a general view direction of prescriptions can be seen as the sending of prescriptions to a pharmacy other than the one which the patient wanted them to go to. Sometimes it will be sent by the medical practice to a pharmacy; sometimes it will be a pharmacy collecting from a medical practice; and nowadays with the electronic prescription service, it could be the setting of the nomination without the patient’s informed consent. But on a wider interpretation it could also include action taken by pharmacies to encourage patients to use a particular pharmacy by misleading them or applying undue pressure. Overall – it is denying patients their free choice of pharmacy. Other CPE Q&A and material is available via their direct link as shown below CPLSC would expect all our Community Pharmacy contractors and teams to abide by the relevant professional and ethical principles and the below poster can be used by every site to encourage and advice patients and customers that they have freedom of choice at all times Click here for the Poster to display on ‘Freedom of Choice’ indicating the patient has the right to collect from any Community Pharmacy they so wish Also click here for the guidance on prescription direction which has been agreed jointly between BMA, Pharmacy Voice & PSNC For any matters that remain unresolved after local professional liaison please email office@cplsc.org.uk for additional support and we will aim to help support a resolve and clarification. Please find below the following document and link in cases which sadly need further escalation

Click here for the form – “Your Prescription, Your Choice” that patients can complete to report pressure to use a particular pharmacy Click here for the poster – “The four guiding principles of patient nomination” Further details, resources & FAQs can be found on CPE website

 
 
Dispensing Endorsements and Top Tips

For information on dispensing endorsements and top tips, please click here  

 Disposal of Clinical Waste

NHS England and NHS Improvement – North West (Lancashire and South Cumbria) sent via a cascade letter to contractors information that as of 1st of Dec 2021 a new company will be dealing with queries and questions regarding pharmacy waste. This company (Anenta) will handle all clinical waste queries from all Community Pharmacies sites. Please note, before you contact Anenta, you will need to register on an online system called “Vector” that will allow you to interact with them to make service requests, advise of deficiencies in the service, or to simply seek advice. You can register your Community Pharmacy on the Vector System by clicking here – Register for your NHSE Service (anenta.com) Following the successful introduction of new waste management practices in the form of Anenta Ltd combined with extensive standardisation of waste contracts, we must now move forward to increase levels of compliance with relevant legislative requirements. Pre-Acceptance Audits (PAA) must be completed under Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The Pre-Acceptance Audit is a document that the Vendor requires to enable them to collect your waste and ensures compliance. When advised to do so by Anenta, please complete the Pre-Acceptance Audit that Anenta issue to you via your Anenta account (www.vector.anenta.com). This is the single most important action that you need to complete to ensure compliance and to ensure your waste continues to be collected. For further details, please click here

EPS Token Ordering and Escalation

This factsheet for Community Pharmacy teams explains how to order EPS and escalate issues if this is required. To view the sheet, please click here. To find out more, please visit the CPE website: CPE Briefing 002/23: EPS token ordering and escalation – PSNC Website

Pharmacy Stationery Orders

Primary Care Support England (PCSE) – for NHS stationary including EPS tokens: pcse.england.nhs.uk

Primary Care Support England (PCSE) have launched a new online portal (April 2016) which all community pharmacies in England will be required to use if they want to order NHS stationery.

The portal will initially provide pharmacy contractors with a quick and easy way for ordering and tracking supplies including pre-printed forms, Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) tokens and other NHS stationery. The portal will replace the contacts and channels contractors currently use to order PCSE supplies.

Over time, it is anticipated that the portal will become the main route for accessing additional primary care support services, including EPS payments (anticipated October to December 2016) and straightforward pharmacy market entry online applications (anticipated April to June 2017).

You will need to register your pharmacy to use the Portal at www.pcse.england.nhs.uk/register and will need your Unique Identifier which has been posted to your pharmacy. If you do not have your Unique Identifier, please email: PCSE.enquiries@nhs.net

If you have any queries about the registration process, please read the FAQs at www.pcse.england.nhs.uk/help

Issues with Primary Care Support England (PCSE)

Since April 2016, the PSNC has received a large number of reports from LPCs and individual pharmacy contractors about difficulties that are being experienced with PCSE. PSNC has been escalating the most serious cases to senior officials at Capita, NHS England and the Department of Health.

PSNC have had a number of issues brought to their attention including with difficulty logging onto the online portal, excessive time delays in telephones being answered by PCSE, queries about minimum / maximum order quantities and especially the availability of EPS tokens.

What can I do?

In the first instance, contact PCSE using their “contact us” form or via email to PCSE.enquiries@nhs.net on a daily basis if you have any difficulties in registering for the online portal, EPS token shortages etc. Continue emailing until a response is received – keeping copies and / or a record of your emails / communications. If no response has been received within 3 working days (as stated on the PCSE website) then please copy all the emails to info@psnc.org.uk explaining the steps you have taken, and the current position e.g. “I have a supply of EPS tokens to last me for the next two days” so that the PSNC is able to escalate matters.

More information

For more information see the PCSE page on PSNC website – click here or go to PCSE website: www.pcse.england.nhs.uk

Will I be charged for my order?

This question has arisen because the online ordering portal includes prices for many of the items. As stated in the relevant FAQ available on the PCSE website, www.pcse.england.nhs.uk/help  contractors will not be charged for standard orders made using the portal. PCSE is committed to ensuring NHS England supplies are ordered responsibly and for this reason, prices for items are included to help contractors make an informed decision about what they need. (Note, there may be a charge for urgent supplies.)

Registering on Chest

An opportunity to be part of the Flexible Framework Agreement for the Provision of Community Pharmacy Public Health Services commencing 1st April  2024 to supply the following

 

Lot 1: Provision of Emergency Hormonal Contraception (EHC)

Lot 2: Provision of Stop Smoking Support

Lot 3: Provision of Flu Vaccinations for School Staff

 

This has now been advertised online through The Chest portal, once logged into the portal you can search on the Project information code which is DN703207, this will take you to the tender.  Please ensure you register an interest so that you can access all the tender documents.

 

Please click here for further details.

Please click here to view the step by step guide on how to register.

 

Please feel free to contact procurement.mailbox.WAF@cumbria.gov.uk if you have any issues.

Unplanned Suspension of Services and Closures

Community pharmacy owners can now report unplanned temporary service suspensions via the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal. This digital route offers a simpler method of notifying Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) about suspensions due to illness or other unforeseen circumstances, which is required under the Terms of Service. At this stage, the hard-copy notification route also remains available. Click here for further details. Please also ensure to notify LSCICB using the e-mail address lscicb.pharmacy@nhs.net