Thursday 26th September 2024                   

Due to popular demand, we at Community Pharmacy Devon have decided to review our communications and bring you a weekly digest that will provide a brief overview of weekly activity.

As always, if you have any feedback or comments, please contact us by email at admin@cpdevon.org.uk.

NHS England have announced the launch of the Community Pharmacy Technician Apprenticeship Programme. This programme will support Pre-registration Trainee Pharmacy Technicians (PTPTs) to be employed and complete their full 24-month apprenticeship training within a community pharmacy setting. Upon completion of training and registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) this will support community pharmacy to utilise the expertise and knowledge of registered pharmacy technicians as part of pharmacy services and wider reform

Funding Offer 

We are offering a training contribution of £15,053 per trainee, per year for two years (24 months) to support community pharmacies in developing a PTPT programme that meets the GPhC IET standards for pharmacy technicians and the NHS England Education Quality Framework. 

Next Steps 

Application for funding is through expression of interest (EoI) submitted via an online application form. The application window will open on Monday 23 September 2024 until Sunday 13 October 2024.  

We will be holding a webinar via MS Teams to provide more information on the programme including the application process and how to access apprenticeship funding. This will be repeated, please use the link below to attend on your preferred date. You need only attend one webinar date. 

• 11am, Friday 27 September 

• 2pm, Sunday 29 September 

• 1pm, Wednesday 02 October 

• 7pm, Tuesday 08 October  

The number of completed clinical pathways will increase to 30 in October. This means pharmacy owners have to provide a minimum of 30 consultations that pass the gateway point (as detailed in the clinical pathways) in October 2024 to be eligible for the £1,000 monthly payment. 

From speaking to a few pharmacies in the area we know that this feels like quite a daunting task! Now is a really good time to go back through the clinical pathways and ensure that you are identifying every opportunity to register patients.

When reviewing the clinical pathways you will see that some of these are eligible with a self-care element, with the option to follow up with the patient if their symptoms do not improve. Maximise every opportunity!

A module has been released to the MYS platform that enables contractors to notify their ICB of any temporary closure of their pharmacy instead of using the paper form or emailing the information to ICB pharmacy teams. Using the MYS module will automatically ensure that pharmacy contractor notifications are sent directly to the relevant ICB, and will also enable the contractor to see a record of any submissions that have been made via MYS. Currently, use of the module is voluntary. ICBs will receive reports of submissions multiple times a day so they are aware of any service suspensions in their area.

Anticoagulants are life-saving medicines that can prevent strokes for patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation as well as treating patients with venous thromboembolism, but when used incorrectly, they are associated with patient harm. In 2021-22 and 2023-24, two national audits were incentivised in the Pharmacy Quality Scheme to understand the impact community pharmacy teams have on improving anticoagulant safety.

Approximately 11,000 community pharmacies audited just under a quarter of a million patients and made almost 150,000 interventions for patients taking oral anticoagulants. The results found community pharmacy teams are well placed in educating and counselling patients on the safe use of anticoagulants and ensuring that all patients are correctly monitored. Full details are available here.

Please remember when community pharmacies cannot source a drug at or below the reimbursement price as set out in the Drug Tariff, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) can introduce a price concession at the request of Community Pharmacy England.

If you see an item above drug tariff price then please report, this will help Community Pharmacy England to negotiate the price concessions. Please do not make the assumption that someone else has reported it. Read more here.

If you have a positive news story to share with us please send it to admin@cpdevon.org.uk and it will be featured in an upcoming edition of the review. If featured, you will also win a surprise gift for you and your team up to the value of £25!

Click the name you need to email them directly: