Thursday 13th May 2021

Dear Colleague

You are reminded that a number of surveys are open at present.  We appreciate that pharmacy contractors are extremely busy at present, however taking time to provide this essential feedback will demonstrate some of the valuable contributions being made by community pharmacy.  Please submit responses before the closing date if not already completed:

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF 
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive

Wednesday 12th May 2021

Dear Colleague

Please be aware that correspondence issued to pharmacy contractors yesterday evening from the HSCB Pharmacy and Medicines Management Unit in relation to the ordering, delivery and use of lateral flow antigen tests by patient-facing staff.  Contractors who have not yet registered to receive tests are reminded to do so using the form which can be accessed here.

The letter can be viewed in full here.

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF 
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive

Tuesday 11th May 2021

Dear Colleague

Please be aware that correspondence issued to pharmacy contractors yesterday from Mr Joe Brogan, HSCB Assistant Director of Integrated Care and Head of Pharmacy and Medicines Management.  Mr Brogan’s letter will be of interest to contractors as it provides further detail on the opening funding position and the commissioning plan 21/22.  Matters addressed in the correspondence are:

1. Pharmacy Advance Payments
2. Core Pharmacy Services (including Global Sum, Non-global Sum and Retained Purchase Profit)
3. Additional Services
4. COVID-19 Vaccination
5. Services Maintained from April until June 2021 (including Business Continuity, Staff and Premises Costs and enhanced service payments)
6. The Commissioning Plan

Contractors are asked to note the content of the letter and the commissioning plan to which it refers.

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF 
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive

Tuesday 11 May 2021

Dear Colleagues,

Please find below correspondence which issued at 16:50 yesterday (10th May 2021) from HSCB Pharmacy & Medicines Management team.

HSCB CORRESPONDENCE: URGENT – CPVS – Updated PHA patient resource on COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine and extremely rare blood clots

In light of the recent updated JCVI guidance on use of the Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine, PHA have updated their patient information resources. The updated factsheet entitled  COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine and extremely rare blood clots  can be found  at COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine and extremely rare blood clots | HSC Public Health Agency (hscni.net)

This updated factsheet should now replace the  PHE patient resource that was recommended as an interim measure for community pharmacies providing clinics over the last number of days. Printed copies of the fact sheet will be issued to community pharmacists as soon as possible.

Information for healthcare professionals in light of the JCVI guidance will also be shortly available via the PHA website. Further information will be provided in due course.

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF
Gerard Greene
Chief Executive

CPNI ALERTS 
Contractors will have received correspondence from CPNI this week in relation to:

CPNI CU#210507A: COVID-CPVS Updated JCVI Guidance on AstraZeneca Vaccine 07 May 2021
CPNI CU#210507B: COVID-CPVS Weekly Roundup 07 May 2021

Contractors are reminded that a number of surveys are open at present:

The Repeat Prescribing Survey For Community Pharmacies is now open and is to be completed by 14th May
The Living Well vaccination campaign Survey is now open and the closing date has been extended to 16th May
Thank you to the 250+ contractors who have already completed the Home Delivery Survey.  Those who have yet to complete it are asked to give their responses by 21st May

BSO ALERTS
 
General BSO Information and Circulars are available here.

Medicines Optimisation Regional Efficiency (MORE) Programme Letter 7th May 2021
HSC Policy Statement on Implementation of MORE  7th May 2021
Living Well 2021-22 Schedule Letter  7th May 2021
MPS 2779 – Melatonin 2mg, 3mg and 5mg capsules (Colonis Pharma Ltd)  
6th May 2021

Weekly Drug Alerts are available here.
MPS 2778 – Medicines Defect Information – Syonell 250mg gr tabs  4th May 2021

Weekly Shortage Information is available here.
Estradot 75mcg/24 hour patches  (MPS 2777) 29th April 2021
Elleste Solo MX40 and Elleste Solo MX80 Patches (MPS 2776) 29th April 2021

Serious Shortage Protocols are available here.
SSP – Fluoxetine 40mg Capsules expiry date of 17 May 2021

DOH(NI) ALERTS 

Recent correspondence is available here.

Use of the AstraZeneca Vaccine : Advice on Updated JCVI Statement 7th May 2021
MHRA and JCVI Announcement – AZ Vaccine Updated Contraindications 29 April 2021

HSCB ALERTS 

Recent correspondence is available here.

REMINDER – Lateral Flow Tests for Primary Care Staff – Registration  28th April 2021

The April edition of the NI Formulary Medicines Management Newsletter is available here.

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

Pharmacy team(s) can keep updated via CPNI’s
Contractor Calendar
Contractor Emails
Or report medicine shortages or pricing issues via the CPNI’s
Medicine Shortage Reporter

Many thanks

Ennis

SENT ON BEHALF OF 
Ennis Shields
Governance & Support Pharmacist
Dear Colleague
Please find below correspondence  issued today from the HSCB on the Community Pharmacy Vaccination Service:

The latest Community Pharmacy COVID-19 vaccination figures can be viewed at the COVIDcare dashboard NI Covid-19 Vaccinations Dashboard | COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Northern Ireland (hscni.net). To date community pharmacies have vaccinated over 38,000 patients – thank you to everyone involved!

KEY POINTS

 Use of Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine– Advice on updated JCVI guidance – Please refer to Department of Health Correspondence (7t May 2021) https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/health/doh-hss-md-35-2021.pdf

Eligible patients – reminder that only patients from eligible cohorts should be vaccinated. Reserve lists must only include patients eligible for vaccination through this service.

Vaccine stock – supply still remains limited. Your pharmacy will receive an email notification advising of when you can place an order for stock. Please do not place an order until you receive a notification email as your order will not be processed.

Waste Report – reminder that the waste report and DNA figures must
 be completed for “Week 6 – 3th May to 9th May
” using the online form, even if it is a nil report.
This is a mandatory requirement and those who have not submitted a report will be contacted.
The report can be accessed at Waste Report.
Entries should only be submitted from midday Friday 7th May and must
 be submitted by Monday 10th May at 4pm
.
THIS MUST BE COMPLETED BY ALL CONTRACTORS. IF YOU ARE YET TO PLACE AN ORDER OR USE ANY STOCK PLEASE SUBMIT A NIL REPORT.
If you are able to get a 9th dose from a vial but do not use it, this is not classed as waste and should not be included in your report.

Breast-feeding mothers – There is no known risk associated with any current COVID-19 vaccines whilst breastfeeding. The JCVI advises that breastfeeding women may be offered any suitable COVID-19 vaccine. Please refer to COVID-19 vaccination – A guide for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding | HSC Public Health Agency (hscni.net) for support information when discussing vaccination with patients.

Monitoring fridge temperatures – HSCB has been informed of another cold-chain breach in a community pharmacy that has resulted in the wastage of a significant number of Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccines. Please take this opportunity to review your cold chain procedures to ensure there are adequate measures in place to prevent a similar incident occurring.  Ensure that vaccine fridge temperature is observed and that vaccines are stored between the recommended temperatures of 2-8°C. The Trust Medicines Information Team recommend twice daily monitoring as a minimum requirement, as most errors occur when the fridge temperature is not checked at the start and end of the working day.

Manufacturer’s Patient Information Leaflet – there have been amendments to the manufacturer’s PIL. Until printed versions become available, pharmacies should avail of the online version at Regulation 174 Information for UK recipients for COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca

VMSIf a patient doesn’t match on VMS do not proceed to vaccinate. This applies even if you know the patient and they have an H&C number. Their details must match on VMS to proceed. You will not be paid if you proceed to vaccinate. The patient will not have a vaccination record to share with their GP.
If a patient’s VMS status indicates that they have already been vaccinated at another centre, but the patient informs you that they have not been vaccinated – do not vaccinate the patient.
If you are having problems accessing VMS, please contact your local HSCB office. 

COVID-19 vaccination programme social media resources can be found at – http://pha.site/cparesources You can either download directly from the page or share from the PHA social media feed.

New material:
Graphic – Vaccine questions and answers – links to updated Q&A
Graphic – What to expect – links to updated leaflet
Video – Did you get your COVID-19 vaccine? – vimeo.com/540693980
BAME Video – Bulgarian – Todor Petrov, Consultant in Dermatology speaks in Bulgarian about the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine  
BAME video – Arabic – Aziz Laamrani, support worker STEP NI, speaks about the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine 
BAME video – Tetum – Arsenia Guterres, Support worker, speaks about the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine

Queries: From day to day, information on the service has been changing very rapidly. Therefore it is really important that you read all the update letters as soon as possible. They have all been date marked to make it easier to identify the recent  updates. Before contacting your local HSCB office, please refer to:http://www.hscbusiness.hscni.net/services/3250.htm for all the latest information

Service FAQs at Service FAQs  ** These are not for public viewing and are password protected** Password: CPVS001!

Support on VMS – please refer to the FAQs available at VMS FAQs

Please do not contact individual HSCB staff directly.  Please contact your local HSCB office who will triage your query and send to the appropriate contact.

Kind regards

Gerard Greene

SENT ON BEHALF OF 
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive