Happy New Year!

This is the first newsletter of the year and I was really hoping to keep it short, but as always pharmacy is an eventful profession and there are so many matters to cover. The topics outlined in this newsletter are listed below. Please feel free to scroll down to the topic that is of interest to you.

I always look forward to receiving your feedback so please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any queries or comments about any of the topics covered in this newsletter and generally.

1. AIM member event (important to register and please note the start time)


2. Update on the LPC/PSNC review


3. GPhC consultation on increasing premises fees (what has been said so far)


4. GDPR – some tips


5. Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) and GP CPCS pilot update


6. Oriel and pre-reg update


7. NHS App and brick and mortar pharmacy


8. Pharmacy practice matters

In two weeks’ time, on 23rd January, we will be welcoming our members, partners and suppliers at Marriott hotel in Leicester for our first member event of 2020. We have a line-up of engaging speakers and panellists who will take our attendees through the most relevant topics in pharmacy and the industry, and the key foci for 2020. There will be opportunities to ask questions, share ideas and network with colleagues, suppliers and manufacturers from across the healthcare sector.

The agenda for the event will be circulated to members shortly. If you have not had the chance to register yet, please do so as soon as you can as places are being booked quickly and we need to ensure room capacity. The event starts at 10am in the morning.

In the last member newsletter, I highlighted that the PSNC has commissioned a national review of PSNC and LPC structure and support for community pharmacy contractors. We have nominated two AIM representatives per region to participate in regional discussions around this topic.

This is an important review and one that has the potential to shape the future of LPCs and PSNC; hence members are strongly encouraged to get in touch with us by phone or email to express any views you may have about this so we can ensure your voice is heard.

The GPhC have this week launched a consultation on increasing the pharmacy premises fees by £103 from £262 to £365. At a time when community pharmacy is going through a tough period in regard to funding, this is not a welcome news from the regulator. AIM will be making strong representations.

We have already discussed our initial views with the GPhC Chief Executive Duncan Rudkin, expressed concerns and asked for the reasons. His response is included below. AIM will be responding to the consultation and I would like to ask members to get in touch with us to let us know your views to ensure your voice is heard.

The GPhC will be providing further information about this consultation and other important matters related to regulation at the closed session at our member event on 23rd January. Members will have an opportunity to ask questions.

From: Duncan Rudkin
Sent: 06 January 2020 14:21
To: leyla.hannbeck@AIMp.co.uk
Subject: RE: In confidence: advance notice of fees consultation

Dear Leyla

Thanks for your initial reaction; please do keep me in touch with any further queries and concerns that emerge as you work with colleagues to consider your response. Having updated the cost allocation model to reflect current operations we identified this significant gap between the fee paid by each pharmacy and the costs of regulating each one, using the calculations we have set out. The actual cost numbers involved are an open book, being our 18-19 costs. We are also fully seized of the need to continue to challenge the cost base overall and continuously improve our efficiency, which is a daily focus. Having said that, we appreciate that nobody is going to want to pay an additional £103 and the proposal will attract critical feedback. In answer to the “Why now?” question, I think having identified the gap we are bound to seek to close it so that pharmacy regulation can continue to be sustainable financially, as well as funded on an equitable basis. Let me know as the consultation proceeds if it might be helpful for me or other colleagues to attend any particular meetings.

I’ll look forward to seeing you soon.
Best wishes,
Duncan

You may have seen in the pharmacy press that a pharmacy company was recently fined £275,000 by the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) for breach of GDPR. The level of fine reflected the absence of GDPR processes at the pharmacy and a failure to co-operate with the Information Commissioner. Anyone receiving a communication from the Information Commissioner should take it very seriously and consider taking professional advice.

Members may want to put in place a weekly summary report as per the below “GDPR Pie Chart” example which was very helpfully shared with me by one our members. This will allow members to have an overview of where, as a business, you may get potential data breaches and that they are all fully investigated, recorded and appropriate preventative action taken to try to avoid repeat incidents.

(The data is confidential and not for further distribution please)

Over 94% of all pharmacies in England are now registered to deliver this service. The registration has now significantly slowed down with the total pharmacies providing this service being at 10,604.

There have been over 85,000 referrals so far to community pharmacies across the country, of these approximately 44% have been for minor illnesses and 56% for urgent medicines supply.

There has been some feedback about pharmacies not being clear about what they can claim for. The PSNC have an FAQ document about this on their website.

https://psnc.org.uk/services-commissioning/advanced-services/community-pharmacistconsultation-service/cpcs-frequently-asked-questions/

Feedback captured by the NHS England team suggests that the service is progressing well. There have been some issues regarding supply of Controlled Drugs and some issues regarding the withdrawal process from the service delivery (I covered both these topics in my December newsletter), however in general the service has been progressing well. There will be communication about the service from NHS England in the coming days/weeks. Members are encouraged to get in touch and let me know should you have any questions or feedback about CPCS.

GP CPCS pilot: There are concerns about the current GP referrals that may lead to delay in rolling out this service. Together with other pharmacy bodies we are having conversations about this with NHS England and members will be updated in due course.

Currently there is £240 million in the pot that is set aside to be used for community pharmacy services and some pilots are in the pipeline to that effect. Many of our members are going through business planning at the moment and would like to understand what is going to happen and where they should put their resources in. There have been some questions about what is going to happen with this fund should the pilots be unsuccessful (for example the above GP CPCS pilot). PSNC CEO has highlighted that he is confident this fund will be used to commission services from community pharmacy and that this will be discussed further at the PSNC Committee meeting in February.

We will have a panel discussion at the closed session at our upcoming member event where our representatives on the PSNC Board, Has Modi and Jay Patel will be responding to member questions related to PSNC matters.

Khalid Khan from Imaan Pharmacy Group and Training Programme Director for Pre-registration at Health Education England has kindly provided the information below for inclusion in this newsletter:

The results for the Oriel recruitment cycle for 2020 intake are now out. There were 3189 places recruiting 2084 students across all sectors, an excess of over 1100 sites. There was an increase in hospital places being recruited to this year (up by 86 places in 2 years), more funded HEE crosssector placements and Wales increased their uptake by 59 places (61% increase). All trainees in Wales will be employed by HEIW (the Welsh equivalent to HEE), on a band 5 salary with multi-sector experience.

There is also talk of some sort of rating system being proposed for all training sites, we would be interested to hear members' views on this.

Kahlid will be attending the members event on the 23rd January and members have the opportunity to liaise with him about the above.

It has been brought to my attention by some members that when you scroll down to the third point regarding “choosing a pharmacy” on the link below (NHS App), the NHS App will be directing patients to a distance selling pharmacy for deliveries when most AIM members have “bricks and mortar” pharmacies that also offer free deliveries as well as much more.

https://digital.nhs.uk/services/nhs-app/future-developments

I have fed this back to the NHS Digital team and they are currently looking into this to resolve it. We will have a session on digital matters related to pharmacy and NHS Digital priorities delivered by Mohammed Hussain and Darren Powell at the member event and members can hear about the latest plans, further discuss the topic and ask questions.

Cannabidol (CBD)

I would like to bring to your attention that at a recent meeting I had with the GPhC, I was asked about my professional opinion about CBD. I mentioned that I feel as long as pharmacists source these from a reputable source/accredited lab, have enough information about the product including compliance with Home Office guidance on THC, and can take responsibility for the safety of the products it should be their professional decision whether to stock it or not. The GPhC highlighted that they agree with this approach and that this is in accordance with what the inspectors are advised.

Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) Just a reminder of the upcoming deadlines for next few weeks for PQS below. This is from the PSNC website: https://psnc.org.uk/services-commissioning/pharmacy-quality-scheme/

31st January 2020
Contractors can stop checking that all patients with diabetes, have had foot and eye checks (retinopathy) in the last 12 months (please note, eye checks are only for patients with diabetes aged 12 or over) in order to meet the quality criterion.

1st February 2020
This is the final day by which contractors must have started their NSAID audit. This will allow contractors to complete the NSAID audit within four weeks (the audit may be required to be completed over four weeks if the required number of patients do not present within a two week period). The contractor will need to start the audit when the pharmacy opens on 1st February 2020 and if they contractor is required to complete the audit over a four week period, make their declaration on the final day of the declaration window (28th February 2020) after the pharmacy has closed for the day.

Contractors are strongly encouraged to start their NSAID audit well before this date to reduce the risk of missing this deadline and allow themselves more flexibility on the date on when they make their declaration.

3rd February 2020
The window opens for contractors to claim for a PQS payment on MYS (this opens at 9am).

Finally, I wish you a prosperous 2020 and I look forward to seeing many of you in two weeks’ time.

Kind regards,

Leyla

Leyla Hannbeck FRPharmS, MBA, MSc, MA
Chief Executive
AIM
Tel: 0750 8932868
Email: Leyla.hannbeck@aimp.co.uk