Archives: Contractor Email

Dear Colleagues,
 
Please find attached for your attention, correspondence from Northern Ireland’s Chief Medical Officer and Chief Pharmaceutical Officer.  

The JCVI have today issued updated guidance on the use of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 Vaccine.

The updated JCVI advice states:

JCVI advises that, in addition to those aged under 30, unvaccinated adults aged 30 – 39 years who are not in a clinical priority group at higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease, should be preferentially offered an alternative to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, where possible and only where no substantial delay or barrier in access to vaccination would arise.

Importantly, this updated advice does not mean that JCVI advises against using the AstraZeneca vaccine in the 30 to 39 year cohort, only that an alternative is preferable when this would result in no substantial delay or barrier in access to vaccination would arise.

Actions for Community Pharmacy:

1. First doses for unvaccinated adults who are aged 30 to 39 years and are not in a clinical priority group at higher risk of COVID-19 disease:

Community pharmacies may offer the AstraZeneca vaccine to individuals in this cohort who have made a fully informed choice to receive the vaccine. Individuals should be informed that it is preferred that an alternative vaccine is used in this cohort and that they can access an alternative vaccine from the HSC Trust vaccination centres, subject to appointment availability.
Individuals may still choose to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine having received clear information on the benefits and risks of vaccination and consenting accordingly, for instance where someone has an appointment booked for vaccination in the coming days and may prefer not to reschedule to receive an alternative vaccine through the HSC Trust vaccination centres.
Individuals should receive clear information on the extremely rare thrombosis/thrombocytopenia adverse events, how to monitor for symptoms that might be related to the adverse event, and what action should be taken by individuals and health professionals in the event of such symptoms arising.

2. First doses for unvaccinated adults who are aged 30 to 39 years and are in a clinical priority group at higher risk of COVID-19 disease:

The advice from JCVI remains that the benefits of prompt vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine continue to outweigh the risk of adverse effects in unvaccinated adults who have underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease. No further action is required for this cohort.

3. Second doses:

All those who have received a first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine should continue to be offered a second dose of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, irrespective of age. The second dose will be important for longer lasting protection against COVID-19.

4. First doses for unvaccinated adults who are aged 40 years or over:

Community pharmacies should continue to offer the AstraZeneca vaccine to unvaccinated individuals aged 40 years and over, unless otherwise contraindicated.

Advice for Vaccine Clinics in the coming days:

CPNI appreciate that this information may have an impact on vaccine clinics underway and those which are planned.  If contractors have concerns in relation to non-attendance and potential waste implications please feel free to contact the office and speak to a member of the team.

In ensuring that patients are fully informed of these changes, contractors can provide them with a copy of the Public Health England patient leaflet which has been updated.  An updated version for Northern Ireland is expected to follow shortly.
Kinds regards

Ennis

 
SENT ON BEHALF OF
Ennis Shields
Governance & Support Pharmacist

Dear Colleague

Please find below correspondence from HSCB Pharmacy & Medicines Management team.

The latest Community Pharmacy COVID-19 vaccination figures can be viewed at the COVIDcare dashboard. To date community pharmacies have vaccinated over 32,000 patients – thank you to everyone involved!

KEY POINTS

  • Eligible patients – reminder that only patients from eligible cohorts should be vaccinated. 
    • Update 18: 30 to 34 years : From Friday 30 April 2021, Community pharmacy are allowed to vaccinate those who are aged over 30 years (born on or before 30 April 1991).
    • There has also been a change as of Friday 30 April 2021 to the age of HSCWs eligible for vaccination: health and social care workers (aged 30 or over at 30 April 2021).
    • Update 17: 35 to 39 years : From Monday 26 April 2021, Community Pharmacy are allowed to vaccinate those who are aged over 35 years old (born on or before 30 April 1986). 
    • PLEASE NOTE: Update 14 (8 April 2021) provided notification of the JCVI statement regarding 18-29 year olds and the Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine. Due to recent cohort drops, all eligible cohorts for community pharmacy vaccination have now been released. Therefore reserve lists must not include those in any age cohorts outside of those in the eligible list in Appendix 1. 
  • Please note Business Support will NOT be available on Monday 3 May 2021.
  • Vaccine stock – Whilst we had anticipated that supplies would improve at the end of April, unfortunately 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 5 – 26 April to 2 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 HERE.
    • Entries should only be submitted from midday Friday 30 April and must be submitted by Tuesday 4 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.
  • Updated contraindications – JCVI and MHRA have updated the Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine contraindications and the next steps. Please refer HERE for further information. 
    • Vaccination with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is now contraindicated in individuals who have a history of a previous episode of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (HITT or HIT type 2). These individuals may be offered vaccination with an alternative COVID-19 vaccine. 
    • You must provide each patient receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccination with adequate information on blood clotting prior to vaccination. This can be found HERE.
  • Manufacturer’s Patient Information Leaflet –in light of JCVI statements, there has been amendments to the PIL. This may mean that some of the PILs in use within Pharmacy are not up to date. Updated printed copies of the PIL will be made available from next week – in the meantime pharmacies should avail of the online version.
  • Waste collections:
    • The pharmacy contractor is required to make arrangements for the removal and safe disposal of any clinical waste (in line with DoH Health Technical Memorandum 07-01: Safe management of healthcare waste) related to this service.
    • An additional sharps box (purple lidded 1 x 11L) and clinical waste bag has been provided to community pharmacies by the HSCB via Cannon Hygiene Services (Initial). These sharps boxes should be labelled/marked ‘COVID Vaccination Service’ for identification purposes. 
    • The CPVS service fee includes remuneration for management of clinical waste and any requirements for supply or disposal in addition to those provided centrally are to be met by the contracted pharmacy. Additional supplies and disposal of sharps boxes, clinical waste bags, etc. can be organised through any of the licensed clinical waste providers.
  • Reporting Side Effects – In addition to reporting significant side effects to the MHRA and the patient’s GP practice, PHA duty room should also be contacted for specific advice on how to manage any patient affected. Please contact PHA duty room on 0300 555 0119.
  • Professional education video – this has been developed by the Public Health Agency and Consultant Haematologists at the Belfast Trust for pharmacists. It provides background information and advice on the optimal management of patients who may present with symptoms suggestive of a thromboembolic event after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccination. This is a professional resource and not intended for public use.
  • It is available at HERE. (Password to open video is: InfoVaccines2021).
  • A series of Question and Answer Sessions are planned – if you have any questions please submit these to pha.immunisation@hscni.net.  Other professional resources can be found on the Public Health Agency website.
  • Personally Identifiable Information – We have been notified of some incidents where personally identifiable information has been shared by email with the VMS system supplier.  Please do not share this information by email. The supplier will contact you to get any information needed and provide guidance re format and amount that can be shared. 
  • VMS
    • If 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.
  • RNIB support – RNIB are now supporting CPVS by allowing those who are blind or partially sighted to contact their phoneline and ask for details on participating pharmacies. All public webpages have been updated with the relevant contact details. Phone operators have been briefed on the service and key reminders to be shared with patients, such as ID, ensuring to share any additional needs at the point of booking, etc. 
  • COVID-19 vaccination programme social media resources can be found at HERE. 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.
      • 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:
    • HERE for all the latest information.
    • Service FAQs at HERE. These are not for public viewing and are password protected Password: CPVS001!
    • Support on VMS – please refer to the FAQs available at HERE.
  • Please do not contact individual HSCB staff directly unless told to do so. Please contact your local HSCB office who will triage your query and send to the appropriate contact.  

Kind regards

SENT ON BEHALF OF 
GERARD GREENE
Chief Executive

This update contains important information for community pharmacy teams, including details of the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic

BSO ALERTS 

  • Weekly Drug Alerts are available here.
  • Weekly Shortages Information is available here.
  • Serious Shortage Protocols are available here.

CPNI ALERTS 

DOH(NI) ALERTS 

HSCB ALERTS 

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, stay safe – Gareth

SENT ON BEHALF OF 
DR. GARETH C. GILVARY
Governance & Support Pharmacist

Dear Colleague

The following concessionary prices have been granted for April 2021:

Drug Pack SizePrice
Candesartan 2mg tablets7£1.50
Donepezil 10mg orodispersible tablets sugar free28£83.89
Eplerenone 50mg tablets28£27.71
Esomeprazole 20mg gastro-resistant tablets28£4.93
Etoricoxib 120mg tablets28£16.51
Etoricoxib 30mg tablets28£11.28
Etoricoxib 90mg tablets28£12.94
Ivabradine 5mg tablets56£5.53
Lamotrigine 200mg tablets56£6.06
Nicorandil 10mg tablets60£5.40
Nicorandil 20mg tablets60£7.99
Pramipexole 88microgram tablets30£4.66
Pregabalin 150mg capsules56£4.30
Pregabalin 200mg capsules84£7.88
Pregabalin 25mg capsules56£3.60
Pregabalin 300mg capsules56£5.61
Prochlorperazine 5mg tablets28£1.60
Repaglinide 1mg tablets90£9.79
Repaglinide 2mg tablets90£9.09
Tolbutamide 500mg tablets28£13.31
Trimethoprim 200mg tablets6£1.41
Trimethoprim 200mg tablets14£3.29

This is the final update of concessionary prices for April 2021.

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

Concessionary prices may be granted up until the end of the month so CPNI will notify you of any further concessionary prices as and when they are agreed.

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.

Kinds regards, stay safe – Gareth

SENT ON BEHALF OF
DR. GARETH C. GILVARY
Governance & Support Pharmacist

Dear Colleague
HSCB, GPC, RCGP and CPNI have jointly developed a short survey on how arrangements for repeat prescribing are working across Northern Ireland, and we would value your input to this.

Since the start of the COVD-19 pandemic in March 2020, both GP practices and Community Pharmacy services have had to put in place a number of new arrangements at very short notice, including revised arrangements for patients to access their repeat medications.  

You will be aware of the guidance and correspondence that was issued by HSCB about this.

At this stage, we would like to take stock of any ongoing unresolved issues so that we can consider any other measures that can be implemented to further support local working arrangements.  We would therefore be grateful if could complete the survey which should take no more than 10 minutes.  It can be found at HERE.

All responses will be anonymous and will help to shape any further guidance or actions that are needed for both GP practices and Community Pharmacies. 

We would like to thank you for your ongoing work in ensuring that patients can continue to receive their prescriptions in a timely way.  

You are asked to complete this survey by Friday 14 May 2021.

Kind regards – Gareth

SENT ON BEHALF OF 
DR. GARETH C. GILVARY
Governance & Support Pharmacist

Dear Colleagues,

Please find attached for your attention, correspondence from Kathryn Turner, Pharmacy Lead, HSCB.

From today individuals aged 30-34 years (at 30th April 2021) can be 
vaccinated through the community pharmacy service.

Kinds regards, stay safe – Gareth

SENT ON BEHALF OF
DR. GARETH C. GILVARY
Governance & Support Pharmacist