Archives: Contractor Email

Dear Contractor,

The Department of Health issued correspondence today in relation to a national patient safety alert regarding the ongoing shortage of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists.

 SUMMARY 

• CPNI shared previous correspondence in relation to the shortage of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists in contractor update CPNI CU#230629A.
• The correspondence issued today by DoH provides further information on the ongoing shortages, indicating that supplies of all glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) remain very limited and intermittent.
• Supplies are not expected to stabilise to meet full market demand until at least mid 2024. 
• The off-label use of these agents for the management of obesity is strongly discouraged.
• The DoH correspondence advises that existing stock must be conserved for use in patients with diabetes.
• The DoH correspondence includes actions to be taken by all healthcare professionals involved in prescribing or dispensing GLP-1 receptor agonist medicines until supply issues have resolved.

 ACTION 

• Ensure the information in the DoH correspondence, including the actions to be followed by healthcare professionals, is brought to the attention of your pharmacy teams.
• Advise patients that supplies will be very limited and intermittent until at least mid-2024.
• Patients should contact their GP to discuss their options.

Kind regards

Dear Contractor,

SPPG issued correspondence on 18th July 2023 regarding a programme of work during 2023/24 to deliver efficiencies on the prescribing budget in primary care. 

SUMMARY

• The SPPG correspondence advises that a focus of activity for this year in primary care will be “Deprescribing”.  
• A Deprescribing supplement has been developed which summarises the key areas of focus in 23/24 and is available here.
• SPPG will be supporting this programme of work with a patient-facing publicity campaign to provide direct messaging to patients and the public to seek their support and help them understand why they are likely to see some changes in their medicines.

ACTION

• Contractors should note the correspondence
  and share with relevant members of the pharmacy team.
• Contractors should note the areas of focus in the deprescribing supplement.

Please contact the CPNI office should you require any further assistance.

Kind regards

Dear Contractor,

SPPG issued correspondence today providing an update in relation to the payment arrangements for Instalment Dispensing.

SUMMARY

• SPPG Correspondence issued in June 2023 outlines changes to the Drug Tariff and Instalment Dispensing.
• SPPG correspondence issued today outlines ongoing work to monitor this transition and to implement payment arrangements.
• CPNI continues to work with SPPG so that financial stability, associated with the current funding allocation for adherence support and instalment dispensing, is provided to contractors during this transitionary period.

ACTION

• Contractors should note the information on instalment dispensing payment arrangements in the SPPG correspondence.

REMINDER

• SPPG have advised that a number of contractors have not yet returned the following 
  • The declaration form available here which was due to be completed and returned to local offices by 30th June 2023.
  • The quarterly return form available here.  The return for the April – June period was to be completed and returned to local offices by Friday 7th July 2023.
• If not yet completed, the declaration and quarterly return forms should be completed and returned to local offices ASAP even if it is a zero return.

Please contact CPNI offices if you require any further information.

Kind regards

Dear Colleague

The second update of concessionary prices were granted today for July 2023:

Drug	Pack Size	Concessionary Price
Atorvastatin 40mg tablets	28	£2.25
Chloramphenicol 1% eye ointment	4	£5.18
Clarithromycin 250mg tablets	14	£4.20
Clarithromycin 500mg tablets	14	£9.29
Clotrimazole 1% cream	20	£1.93
Clotrimazole 1% cream	50	£3.99
Co-amilofruse 2.5mg/20mg tablets	28	£3.99
Metoprolol 50mg tablets	28	£2.60
Oxycodone 5mg/5ml oral solution sugar free	250	£9.71
Pantoprazole 20mg gastro-resistant tablets	28	£6.20
Pramipexole 180microgram tablets	30	£9.08
Ropinirole 250microgram tablets	12	£6.70
Spironolactone 100mg tablets	28	£5.10
Zolmitriptan 2.5mg tablets	6	£18.85
Zolmitriptan 2.5mg tablets	12	£37.70

Concessionary prices will be paid against the usual code, no additional endorsements are needed.

Please continue to notify CPNI of any pricing issues you are experiencing via our new Medicine Shortage Reporter .

Concessionary prices are also published on the CPNI website.

Kind regards

Dear Colleague

The first update of concessionary prices were granted yesterday for July 2023:

Drug	Pack Size	Concessionary Price
Amisulpride 100mg tablets	60	£18.15
Atorvastatin 10mg tablets	28	£1.65
Bisacodyl 5mg gastro-resistant tablets	60	£4.50
Brimonidine 0.2% eye drops	5	£3.44
Brinzolamide 10mg/ml eye drops	5	£4.68
Cyclizine 50mg/1ml solution for injection ampoules	5	£8.58
Isotretinoin 20mg capsules	30	£11.50
Ivabradine 2.5mg tablets	56	£46.20
Levetiracetam 100mg/ml oral solution sugar free	300	£10.41
Omeprazole 10mg gastro-resistant capsules	28	£1.70
Perindopril erbumine 2mg tablets	30	£1.27
Perindopril erbumine 4mg tablets	30	£1.75
Perindopril erbumine 8mg tablets	30	£1.92
Phenoxymethylpenicillin 125mg/5ml oral solution	100	£9.30
Phenoxymethylpenicillin 250mg/5ml oral solution	100	£9.69
Pizotifen 1.5mg tablets	28	£1.90
Prochlorperazine 3mg buccal tablets	50	£8.43
Prochlorperazine 5mg tablets	28	£1.98
Risperidone 500microgram tablets	20	£3.44
Spironolactone 25mg tablets	28	£1.97
Spironolactone 50mg tablets	28	£3.99
Tamsulosin 400microgram modified-release capsules	30	£1.65
Valaciclovir 500mg tablets	10	£20.59
Zolmitriptan 2.5mg orodispersible tablets sugar free	6	£20.69
Zopiclone 3.75mg tablets	28	£1.89
Zopiclone 7.5mg tablets	28	£1.75

Concessionary prices will be paid against the usual code, no additional endorsements are needed.

Please continue to notify CPNI of any pricing issues you are experiencing via our new Medicine Shortage Reporter.

Concessionary prices are also published on the CPNI website.

Kind regards

This update contains important information for community pharmacy teams.

CPNI ALERTS

• Community Pharmacy Vaccine Service (CPVS) Update 11 – End of Spring Programme 5 July 2023
• Adherence Returns 2022/23 4 July 2023
• Detectives ask NI businesses to be on their guard against phishing scammers 3 July 2023

DOH(NI) ALERTS

• SPPG Deprescribing Supplement 6 July 2023
• Generic Sitagliptin 6 July 2023
• GLP-1 Receptor Agonists Used in the Management of Type 2 Diabetes 4 July 2023
• Community Pharmacy Vaccine Service (CPVS): Update Eleven – End of COVID-19 Vaccine Spring Booster Programme 2023 4 July 2023
• MHRA Drug Safety Update and National Patient Safety Alert – Calcium Chloride, Calcium Gluconate: Potential Risk of Underdosing with Calcium Gluconate in Severe Hyperkalaemia 3 July 2023

BSO ALERTS

• Weekly Drug Alerts are available here.
  • Medicines Recall – Medac GmbH (t/a Medac Pharma LLP) – Dacarbazine Powder for Solution for Injection Vials 4 July 2023
  • Medicines Recall – Sildenafil 100mg Film-coated Tablets 3 July 2023
• Weekly Shortages Information is available here.
  • Testosterone (Tostran® ) 2% Gel 4 July 2023
• Serious Shortage Protocols are available here.

GLP-1 RA Shortages

Contractors may find the following resources provided by Diabetes UK to be helpful when responding to patient queries on the current shortage of GLP-1 RA products.

• FAQs – GLP-1 RA shortages
• Diabetes UK response to serious supply issues of drugs for people with type 2 diabetes

Pharmacy team(s) can keep updated via CPNI’s Contractor Calendar and Contractor Emails.

Or report medicine shortages, pricing and staffing issues via the CPNI’s Medicine Shortage Reporter and Situation Reporter.

Please bring this to the attention of your pharmacy team(s).

Kind regards