In primary care settings there are two relevant pieces of advice that should be followed. 

• • The advice published by Public Health England on the use of Personal Protective Equipment in primary care
  • Further Government advice on working safely in non-hospital settings

More information

• • See also C for more Covid-19 related guidance and T for Test and Trace and P for PPE
  • Contact us at lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk

This briefing for contractors in Surrey & Sussex will help you prepare for the total phase-out of fax machines before April 2020.

• • Briefing note – axing the fax by 2020

For more information 

• • Use of fax machines in the NHS
  • Communications across healthcare using IT
  • Community pharmacy IT hub

Sometimes things can go wrong, or we (Community Pharmacy Surrey and Sussex) fail to meet someone’s expectations of us. If you are unhappy with the service(s) or support provided by us or your LPC, it is important to let us know so we can improve.

Giving us feedback, or making a complaint are the two ways to tell us what you think. Read more

More information

• • About us 
  • Contact us at lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk

• • The national flu immunisation programme 2019-2 :letter (22 March 2019 )
  • Update on vaccines for 2019/20 seasonal flu vaccination programme (23 January 2019)
  • Vaccine ordering for 2019-20 influenza season: letters (20 November 2018)

PSNC has a flu-hub where you can find everything you need for the flu season. These pages are updated when the season is underway. If you read these pages outside of the flu season you must check that any official documents are for the current year and season.  Go to PSNC’s flu-hub

For more information 

• • PSNC advice and FAQs on all aspects of providing this service, from training to getting paid and ordering vaccines to promoting your service.
  • Contact us at lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk

This year the LPC has decided not to offer any local LPC flu training because of the number of providers now in the market providing training (online and some face to face in our region). Contractors and pharmacists should also read the following statement issued by NHS England and Public Health England (PHE) regarding training for this year:

As at 1 September 2020, anyone who is due to undertake annual online refresher training, but has done so within the previous 18 months, does not have to do the training again for the 2020/21 season (although they may do so if they wish).  However, they must ensure that they are familiar with the various documents to support the season, including choice of vaccine and contents of the annual flu letter

Also note the PHE intend to update the HEE flu e-learning programme (available to all, free of charge at https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/flu-immunisation/) for the 2020/21 flu season. Those pharmacists who previously received immunisation training/had a role in immunisation in the past can undertake the assessment session before they undertake the whole knowledge session to see if there are gaps in their knowledge where they feel less confident. For those with some familiarity with immunisation, reading through the knowledge sessions should be relatively quick.

If it this is your first flu vaccinations season, you will need to find a training provider. The PSNC website lists a summary of the them – see http://psnc.org.uk/services-commissioning/advanced-services/flu-vaccination-service/flu-vaccination-training/  Scroll right down to training providers and expand the section, where you will find over 15 providers 

For more information 

• • PSNC advice and FAQs on all aspects of providing this service, from training to getting paid and ordering vaccines to promoting your service.
  • Contact us at lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk

Surrey has one formulary, whilst Sussex currently has four.  The purpose of the formulary is to ensure prescribing is evidence based and cost effective.

For more information 

• Find links to each formulary here along with contacts for medicines management teams 

This document from NHS England will help you to spot a forged or fraudulent prescription. See side 1 for what to look for and side 2 for what to do if you are presented with a forged or fraudulent prescription

For more information 

• • This article from the NHS Counter Fraud Authority sets out the risks of fraud, how to prevent fraud and report fraudulent use of prescription forms
  • If you need to report instances of stolen or lost prescription forms (but no fraudulent use is suspected), please contact the police, Controlled Drugs Accountable Officer (CDAO) and Local Counter Fraud Specialist (LCFS).
  • Contact us at lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk

Reports of fraud are increasing as fraudsters have been very quick to create fraud schemes during Covid-19 and adapt or resurrect well-known scams to target citizens and businesses 

We have been alterted to a number of fake letters on NHS and DHSC letterheads that have been sent to pharmacies:

Please be vigilant; take a moment to stop and think before parting with information that could keep your business or patients safe. Challenge: Could it be fake? It’s ok to reject, refuse or challenge any requests.

If you receive anything suspicious, or are contacted by someone in suspicious circumstances, please report the matter to the police or to Action Fraud 

Suspicions of fraud against the NHS can also be reported anonymously and confidentially online here or by phoning the 24-hour fraud and corruption reporting line on: 0800 028 4060.

For local NHS support please contact a member of the NHS England & Improvement South Counter Fraud Team

• • Barry.hards@nhs.net
  • steffanwilkinson@nhs.net
  • sandra.bell5@nhs.net
  • Lorraine.bennett@nhs.net

The Pharmacy Integration Fund (PhIF) was set up in October 2016 to drive the greater use of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in new, integrated local care models and is currently providing support to the following workstreams:

• • Education and development in collaboration with Health Education England (HEE)
  • The NHS Urgent Medicine Supply Advanced Service (NUMSAS) where urgent medication requests to NHS 111 are sent to a community pharmacy instead of an out-of-hours GP
  • The Digital Minor Illness Referral Service (DMIRS) which directs patients with certain minor health concerns from NHS111 to a pharmacy instead of a GP
  • Pharmacists in integrated urgent care
  • Medicines optimisation in care homes
  • System leadership development
  • Stay Well Pharmacy campaign which ran in February and March 2018
  • Support for the General Practice Forward View initiative to integrate clinical pharmacists in general practices.

For more information 

• • Look at what CPPE offers
  • Look at our training and development pages – NOTE: not all is free
  • Contact us: lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK Data Protection Act 2018 came into force on 25th May 2018. This represented an overhaul of data protection legislation and all organisations, including community pharmacy businesses, must take steps to ensure that they comply.

PSNC, with other stakeholders, has developed a range of guidance and resources to help pharmacy contractors to comply with the new legislation. Read GDPR guidance documents

For more information 

• • Contact us at lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk

Pharmacy owners and superintendent pharmacists are accountable for the outcomes of their inspection, so should ensure everyone in their teams is always suitably prepared to host a General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) inspection, including collecting evidence for inspection, continually renewing their evidence, and taking part in training.

The GPhC’s inspection report website is where you can find Pharmacy Inspection Reports. A searchable ‘knowledge hub’ has anonymised examples of excellent, good and poor practice.

More information

• • GPhC inspections: is your pharmacy ready? 
  • GPhC inspections: our LPCs distribute guide to help contractors get their teams ready
  • GPhC’s inspection report website

This entry is under construction 

For more information 

• • Contact us: lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk 

Recording and reporting patient safety incidents has been a requirement under the CPCF since 2005 and a framework is in place to facilitate this. 

• • NHS Improvement have developed a new Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) to replace the existing Serious Incident Framework. They expect to publish it in Autumn 2019, following commitments in the  NHS patient safety strategy and NHS Long Term Plan.
  • Read current PSNC guidance and download relevant forms

For more information 

• • Contact us at lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk