Community Pharmacy Devon Weekly Dose 💊

Thursday 26th March 2026

Welcome to your weekly injection of local and national pharmacy news. As always, if you have any feedback or comments, please contact us by email at admin@cpdevon.org.uk.

April Deadline Tracker

Please view the April Deadline tracker here.

Reminder From the ICB: Access to Urgent & Specialist Medicines Service – Easter Bank Holiday

As we head into a busy Easter weekend, please be reminded of the Access to Urgent & Specialist Medicines Service. This service ensures that patients can obtain urgent and specialist medicines that may not be routinely stocked in all community pharmacies.

The service supports access to:

Urgent and emergency medicines needed at short notice

Specialist items, including End of Life medicines

Advice and information for patients, carers and clinicians

All accredited pharmacies hold a minimum stock level of a locally agreed list of urgent and specialist medicines. Full details and the list of participating pharmacies are available here: Access to Urgent & Specialist Medicines Service

New Poll finds Pharmacy Staff facing Escalating Abuse from Patients

Community Pharmacy England has today published alarming poll results highlighting an "escalating tide of abuse" directed at pharmacy teams across the country. The findings reveal a disturbing trend where frontline healthcare workers are facing daily instances of verbal aggression, physical violence, and targeted racist attacks while attempting to provide essential NHS services. You can watch an ITV report on the story here.

Deadline: PQS Domains Declaration

Pharmacy owners are reminded that they have until the end of Tuesday, 31st March 2026, to compile all necessary evidence demonstrating they have met the PQS domains claimed during the February declaration window.

While the declaration period closed on 27th February, pharmacy owners have until the end of 31st March to finish gathering their evidence.

Payments for the 2025/26 scheme will be issued on 1st April 2026 to all owners who submitted a valid declaration.

Ticks and Lyme Disease

It’s Tick awareness week from the 24th-30th March – so it’s a good time to share some communications to keep people safe in the great outdoors – starting now and continuing all the way through the warmer months when ticks are more active in our wild environments. Public health data shows that Lyme disease case numbers in Devon, Somerset, and the South West as a whole, are still significantly higher than the England average – so ensuring both public and professionals can address the risk is important.

Please click here for resources to use.

Community Pharmacy Patient Safety Group Launches New Bank Holiday Resources

The Community Pharmacy Patient Safety Group (CPPSG) has released two resources aimed at supporting community pharmacy teams with Opioid Treatment Programmes:

· “Focus on Methadone”, video resource: designed for community pharmacy professionals, the video provides practical hints and tips to support the safe supply of methadone through an opioid treatment programme, reinforcing best practice standards across the sector.

· Bank Holiday checklist, to aid pharmacy teams delivering opioid treatment programmes before, during and after Bank Holidays.

The checklist and video are now available, along with CPPSG’s other patient safety resources via the CPPSG Resource Hub.

Community Pharmacy PGD Workshop – Building Pharmacy Technician Capability to Grow NHS Services

As pharmacy technicians take on expanded responsibilities under Patient Group Directions (PGDs), employers have a significant opportunity to strengthen service delivery and optimise workforce skill mix.

PGDs: Empowering pharmacy technicians to provide services is a new CPPE workshop designed to equip pharmacy technicians with the competence and confidence to safely supply or administer medicines under PGDs.

With a clinical focus on the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service and smoking cessation services, the workshop develops the practical skills needed to apply PGD frameworks, deliver high‑quality consultations and recognise when referral is appropriate.

Highly interactive and scenario‑based, the programme enables pharmacy technicians to practice real‑world consultations, explore potential challenges and share solutions with peers. It also supports the development of local networks, helping teams work collaboratively to address health inequalities.

Benefits for employers:

With pharmacy technicians now able to work under PGDs, this training helps you:

Increase capacity to deliver NHS services
Release pharmacist time – supporting prescribing and advanced clinical care
Support effective workforce skill mix – aligned with NHS long-term workforce ambitions
Support professional development and retention.

By the end of the programme, participants will feel confident to deliver services and complete PGD-specific training, bringing immediate value back to your pharmacy team.

Bookings are now open. If you have any queries, please contact: info@cppe.ac.uk

Positive News Stories

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!

COMMUNITY PHARMACY DEVON SECRETARIAT TEAM

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