The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has advised pharmacy contractors to use emergency provisions to avoid and reduce temporary closures amid shortage of pharmacists and other staff.
The provision was introduced at the start of the pandemic to enables flexible provision of pharmaceutical services by pharmacies.
It has been extended several times, currently until January 31, 2022.
The negotiator noted that self-isolation requirements and a lack of available pharmacists led to a spike in short-notice closures/late opening/early closing incidents in the community pharmacy sector.
However, it reminded contractors that they have a clear duty to provide services in line with their contractual arrangements.
While responding to the consultation on hub and spoke dispensing, trade unions for pharmacists have emphasised that the patient safety and care must be the priority in hub and spoke dispensing.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has welcomed the opportunity provided by a change in legislation to enable community pharmacies to make use of hub and spoke
dispensing but reaffirmed that patient care must be at the heart of future changes.
With regards to patient safety, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) considers that only Model 1 is appropriate, with manageable risks related
to patient safety, and is a model that has the potential to allow the whole sector to benefit fairly.
In its response to the consultation on Hub and Spoke dispensing, PSNC highlighted that Model 2 in the consultation, a hub direct to patient supply of dispensed medicines, raises patient safety issues and it cannot be supported.
RPS President Professor Claire Anderson said: "In all models, patients need to continue to have access to a pharmacist at the time of supply of medicines so they
have the opportunity to discuss, ask questions or raise concerns, and receive appropriate information with counselling and advice.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has expressed its concerns over sustained pressures on medicines supply that are having a very
serious impact on community pharmacy teams and their patients.
It has asked contractors and their teams to continue using its regular reporting tools to help them demonstrate the scale of the problems to the Department of
Health and Social Care (DHSC) and to support escalations as needed.
The committee said: "The sustained increases in price concessions that we have seen so far in 2022 - with more than 100 concessions being granted in some months -
show no signs of abating, and we know that many pharmacies now find themselves in a critical situation trying to source medicines in timely manner and facing
significant financial risk due to greater uncertainty around expected reimbursement prices for a large number of medicines."
"We know that some concessions being imposed by the Department do not match contractors' experience on the ground, and we would ask all contractors to continue
reporting pricing issues to us on a regular basis to support our representations: Report product over Drug Tariff price."
More than 6,000 pharmacy contractors who declared their October 2021 FP34C submission figures by November 5, will have received earlier advance payments on November 11.
The contractors had submitted their claims through the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal.
All contractors who received payments under the system would have got a letter from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) regarding these payments,PSNC stated.
Approximate 3,000 contractors submitted claims after November 5, and will receive payments as per the normal payment timetable on December 1, it said.
The negotiator encouraged contractors to benefit from earlier advance payments by submitting their monthly declaration through the MYS portal by the 5th of the month.
Nearly 9,000 pharmacy contractors benefitted from earlier advance payment in January, Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) said in an update.
Contractors who declared their December FP34C submission figures (for the dispensed prescriptions) through the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal by January 6, would have received earlier advance payments on January 12.
Meanwhile, all contractors who made submissions after January 6 or used the FP34C paper document, will receive payments as per the normal payment schedule i.e. on
February 1, 2022.
PSNC encouraged contractors to submit their monthly declaration through the MYS portal by the 5th of the month to avail early payments.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has been reminding contractors to complete the 2022/23 Community Pharmacy Assurance Framework (CPAF)
screening questionnaire by midnight on Wednesday, 31 August 2022.
As a result of NHS regulations introduced at the end of 2020, completion of CPAF is now a requirement of the Terms of Service. "Therefore, contractors must complete
the screening questionnaire and, if required, the full CPAF questionnaire," said PSNC.
It has also recommended that any contractor who has yet to do so takes immediate action. "It should only take approximately 10-20 minutes to complete."
Information and instructions on how to complete the screening questionnaire has been shared either via an email from the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) or
from their own Head Office.
Contractors are advised to contact NHSBSA by emailing nhsbsa.cpaf@nhs.net if they have not received details of the questionnaire, or if they have any problems or
queries completing the questionnaire.
NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I), in association with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK),
has published its first inclusive pharmacy practice (IPP) bulletin, with an overarching ambition "to make community pharmacy a more inclusive environment for all
pharmacy professionals".
The IPP programme will take practical steps to improve the awareness and understanding at all levels of different cultural beliefs and attitudes, according to the
Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC).
As a member of the IPP Improving Practice and Engagement Group, PSNC has contributed to this issue of the Bulletin, which focuses on how pharmacy professionals can
help to reduce health inequalities via the detection and prevention of cardiovascular diseases.
The IPP programme, of which the Bulletin forms a part, aims to engage with local communities to help improve their health and reduce inequalities in care -
particularly among those from ethnically diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds.
Pharmacy contractors will no longer need to print and submit a paper copy of their completed FP34C declaration made through the Manage Your Service (MYS)
portal when submitting their paper prescription bundle to the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), said the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC).
Instead, from August 2022 (for July 2022 prescriptions), NHSBSA will post out a paper Account Identifier Document along with the red separators and pharmacy address
labels each month.
"The Account Identifier Document should be placed alongside the paper prescription bundle before it is dispatched for payment to the relevant pricing division of
NHSBSA," said PSNC.
With the help of Account Identifier Document, NHSBSA will be able to easily identify the pharmacy that has submitted the prescription bundle, which will help to
speed up prescription processing.
"If the Account Identifier Document is lost or misplaced, contractors will still be able to download and print another copy from MYS. The July 2022 Drug Tariff
will be updated to reflect this change."
All pharmacy businesses are reporting that they are struggling to find the registered professionals needed to open their pharmacies, clarified the Company
Chemists' Association (CCA) in response to an attack by the Pharmacists' Defence Association.
Last week, PDA allegedly accused some large pharmacy chains of 'orchestrating' full or part-time closures of some of their shops due to the staff shortage.
In its Open Letter published on Tuesday (July 19), PDA demanded urgent action "to protect patients by ensuring that essential community pharmacy services are
provided safely and consistently".
"All parts of the healthcare system are struggling to recruit staff and to assume that pharmacies would be immune to such pressures, seems fanciful," said CCA.
"CCA members are working extraordinarily hard to prevent temporary closures, but recruitment and retention of pharmacists is becoming increasingly tough. The recent
rise in Covid cases and the beginning of the summer holiday season in parts of the UK have only worsened the situation."
The Association also showed data from the PSNC Pharmacy Pressures Survey (April 2022) which found that 91 per cent of pharmacies are experiencing staff shortages,
clearly demonstrating that these shortages are affecting the entire sector.
Amendments to the NHS (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013 along with introduction of a new type of pharmaceutical service
come into effect from Tuesday (December 21) and from January 1, 2022.
PSNC will be consulted on the new type of enhanced service - the National Enhanced Service (NES), where NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) commissions
an enhanced service with a service specification that sets standard conditions nationally.
Other amendments to the regulations include:
Changes in the contractors' terms of service, allowing NHSE&I to introduce a pandemic response programme, by which contractors are required to have various premises
and other arrangements for responding to a pandemic.
An alternative route to supply pandemic treatments, via a listed prescription items voucher (LPIV). This is a further option for the community pharmacy for supply of treatments or medicines during or in anticipation of pandemic disease;
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has warned of multi-million financial hit for community pharmacies, while the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating
Committee (PSNC) has renewed its calls for urgent financial support amid a looming energy bill crisis.
NPA board member, Olivier Picard, this week shared a screenshot of his estimated electricity bill on WhatsApp groups. Upon expiration of his current arrangements,
in October, his electricity bill could rise from its current £1,821 for one pharmacy to an estimated £6,914 - a near fourfold increase.
Piccard said: "This is an eye-watering rise in costs for my own pharmacies and adds to the intense financial pressure we're already under. My standing charges will
multiply by 10 and the overall cost to each pharmacy amounts to about £5,000."
His comments come just ahead of an NPA-commissioned report into pharmacy inflation which will provide an analysis of inflationary costs pressing on the community
pharmacy sector, from utilities and workforce to medicines purchasing.
Community pharmacy teams are urged to share their views relating to the new NHS Booking and Referral Standard (BaRS).
"This will ensure that the tool supports the needs of pharmacy team members and their patients," said the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC).
BaRS is an interoperability standard for healthcare IT systems which should enable booking and referral information to be sent to or from care providers, such as
community pharmacies, quickly, safely and in a format useful to clinicians.
"The intentions are that the BaRS IT standard will eventually be available in all care settings. The way the standard could be used in pharmacies is currently being
considered, including the potential for use for referrals from NHS 111 to community pharmacy."
The BaRS team are conducting interviews (usually lasting 30-45 minutes) to hear more the current experiences and the future preferences regarding sending and
receiving referral messages.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee has announced that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has granted the following price
concessions for November 2021.
Contractors can find information on the price concessions and learn about the process involved on PSNC's website.
A price concession only applies for the month in which it is granted. No additional prescription endorsement are required as the new price is automatically applied by the NHSBSA to all items submitted for payment in the same month for which a price concession is granted.
PSNC is still working with the DHSC to agree further concessionary prices on other drugs reported to be unavailable at the stated November 2021 Drug Tariff price.
The health secretary, Steve Barclay was asked over the delay of 'Pharmacy First' model in England that was proposed by the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating
Committee (PSNC) last year, at the Health Committee evidence session held on Tuesday (31 January).
Taiwo Owatemi MP (Chair of the Pharmacy APPG) asked whether he was adhering to his statutory responsibility to ensure continued access to medicines and cited the
CCA's closures in areas of deprivation research.
Barclay replied that the government is 'investing more'. He said, "We put an extra 100 million on top of the 2.6 billion a year we commit to community pharmacy to
expand the range of clinical services. We've got over 2 million patients that have been referred to community pharmacy from NHS."
He further added: "One of the issues I'm very keen on is to explore what more we can do in pharmacy not least given the pressures on GP and the opportunity to look
at what it is currently people go to GPS for where potentially the risk to do more at the pharmacy and we're already doing that."
Amid media speculations that a large pharmacy multiple was putting all its stores at risk of closure, PSNC supremo Janet Morrison said the sector was in
crisis and in danger of a significant collapse.
Addressing delegates via a video link at Sigma Pharmaceutical's 13th Annual Community Pharmacy Conference held last week (March 4 -9) in Punta Cana, Dominican
Republic, she said while "a lot of consolidation or sales" would continue, a lot of the smaller, independently-owned community pharmacies - which had to work harder
and harder to make ends meet - were just "hanging on in there".
"But I don't know how much longer people can go on," she said, adding that the risk of actual closure was rendering the remaining pharmacies so fragile that "they
may not be able to pick up the slack of many thousands of patients" who would need repeat prescriptions.
"The disruption is frightful and awful. We have got 53 per cent of the population on repeat prescriptions, so that matters."
Her comment on the opening day of the conference was a sober reminder that the sector - which relies heavily on income from prescriptions - couldn't afford to
"carry on with the current format of a contract and the current amount of money" it was paid to deliver numerous tasks which have been heaped on it to share the
burden of a crippling NHS.
Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-reigning monarch, the nation's figurehead and a towering presence on the world stage for seven decades, died peacefully
at her home in Scotland on Thursday aged 96.
"The death of my beloved Mother, Her Majesty The Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family," the new king, her eldest son Charles,
said.
"I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world," the 73-year-old said in a
statement.
The news has stunned and deeply saddened community pharmacy in Britain.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) issued a statement to say it "has been very saddened to hear of the death of Her Majesty the Queen.
"At this time of national mourning, we join the rest of the country in sending our thoughts and condolences to the royal family."
Now is the best time for community pharmacy to integrate its model of NHS representation and support to ensure better outcomes for contractors, said James Wood, director of Contractor & LPC Support, Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC).
It is important for the sector to adapt to the new landscape and address challenges such as workforce, digital data, integration of pharmacy services, and medicines optimisation, he said during the first session of the sixth annual Pharmacy Business Conference held online on Tuesday, September 21.
Under the new system, every part of England will be covered by integrated care systems (ICSs) from April 2022. ICSs have been created to bring about big changes in how health and care services in England are planned, paid for and delivered. They are a key part of the direction of travel for the NHS as outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan.
Two dozen parliamentarians from across the political spectrum have called on the prime minister to act as a wave of pharmacy closures in recent years has
threatened to spiral out of control.
A letter to the prime minister signed by 24 MPs and peers has warned that worse could be yet to come after "spiralling business costs" and "year after year of real
terms funding cuts" have led to hundreds of pharmacy closures.
New data from the PSNC shows that over 639 local pharmacies have been lost in England since 2016.
"This is the equivalent to just short of one pharmacy closure per constituency", the cross-party group warned.
The letter comes as MPs came together at a parliamentary summit to call for pharmacies to be embraced as a "game-changer" for tackling healthcare backlogs and taking
pressure off other areas of the NHS. A 'Future of Pharmacy' event was attended by 53 parliamentarians on July 5 in the Palace of Westminster.
At the event parliamentarians heard directly from frontline pharmacists and representatives of pharmacy bodies where a map of constituency-specific pharmacy numbers
was also unveiled, with details of the number of pharmacy closures in MPs' local area.
Community pharmacy contractors eligible under the revised Pharmacy Access Scheme (PhAS) will receive their first of the new monthly payments with the January reconciliation payment due on April 1, 2022.
Details of the revised version of the PhAS that commenced from January 1, was published in August 2021, with contractors receiving letters from the NHS Business
Services Authority (NHSBSA) indicating their eligibility in the Autumn, PSNC said in an update.
Payments under the scheme are dependent on registration on NHSBSA's Manage Your Service (MYS) portal to provide the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service(CPCS).
Meanwhile, the review application window is now open for contractors, which would enable the NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) to correct inaccuracies related to a pharmacy's distance criteria/calculation.
The new Smoking Cessation Service (SCS) will commence on March 10, 2022, allowing community pharmacy contractors to register to provide the service on the NHS Business Services Authority's (NHSBSA) Manage Your Service (MYS) portal from March 1, 2022.
This is the second of the two new Advanced services to be introduced this financial year, after the Hypertension case-finding service, which were agreed outcomes from negotiations for Year 3 of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework.
Since the service is an Advanced service, contractors are free to decide if they wish to provide it, as most would be busy completing work for the Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2021/22 alongside winter-related workload, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee said.
Therefore, those who decide to start this service should consider the likelihood of receiving sufficient referrals to make provision of the service worthwhile, the PSNC said.
