Archives: Contractor Email

Dear Contractor

CPNI wishes to make contractors aware of a number of updates in relation to independent prescribing (IP), including the application process for the NICPLD IP training course.

SUMMARY

• Reforms to pharmacy education and training in Northern Ireland will mean pharmacists joining the register from 2026 onwards, who have completed their training under the new education standards, will be annotated as IPs.  
• Pharmacists registered prior to 2026 may become an IP by completing a recognised training course.
• The application process for the NICPLD Independent Prescribing (IP) training course opened on 02 December 2024 and can be accessed on the NICPLD website. Applications will be accepted until the closing date: 18 February 2025
• Advice for prospective applicants is available here.
• To train as an IP, a pharmacist must have the support of a designated prescribing practitioner (DPP).  This a non funded role and can be a medical prescriber, or a non-medical prescriber.
• Full information on the DPP criteria is available here, and an e-learning course for prospective DPPs is available here.

KEY POINTS FOR COMMUNITY PHARMACY

• 50 NICPLD IP training places are available for community pharmacy applicants.  
• CPNI is aware of the difficulties experienced by community pharmacists in terms of securing a DPP, and continues to highlight this issue to DoH(NI), NICPLD, and other stakeholders.
• NEW: It is no longer necessary for a DPP to have three years of prescribing experience. 
• NEW: The DPP must oversee and sign off on the trainee’s 90 hours of learning in practice, and must directly supervise a minimum of 45 hours. (Previously this was 20 hours).  The trainee can spend time with other clinicians during the other 45 hours of learning in practice, with the agreement of their DPP.
• WHAT THIS MEANS: A community pharmacist IP who is actively prescribing and working in a patient facing role may now be eligible to act as a DPP for a fellow pharmacist. 
• Community pharmacist IPs can prescribe when providing Pharmacy First services, including the Emergency Hormonal Contraception, UTI and Sore Throat services. 
• SPPG and BSO are currently developing an updated process for community pharmacist IPs to obtain HSCNI ciphers and prescription pads, and further information is expected to follow. In the interim, queries regarding ciphers can be directed to Siobhan.O’Hare-Smith@hscni.net. 

ADDITIONAL GUIDANCE AND INFORMATION

• The Pharmaceutical Society NI (PSNI) guidance for IPs is available here. Note: this guidance was published in 2013.
• DoH(NI) guidance for non-medical prescribers is available here.
• The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer sent a letter in February 2024 urging all pharmacist IPs to consider acting as a DPP for a fellow pharmacist. 
• The PSNI issued a clarification in April 2024 to dispel misinformation around the liability of a DPP for any future actions by an IP they have supervised.  
• The NICPLD team have indicated that they will support any community pharmacists with queries regarding IP training or the DPP role. Queries can be sent to: nicpld-prescribing@qub.ac.uk.

ACTION

Contractors are advised to:

Review the information provided above and share with relevant members of the pharmacy team.

Please contact NICPLD if you have any questions or queries relating to IP. Alternatively, should you wish to speak to a member of the CPNI team please call or email Ennis.

Kind regards 

Dear Contractor,

The BSO have issued correspondence on 2 December 2024 regarding the submission of prescriptions to BSO for payment.

SUMMARY

• Contractors are responsible for ensuring that prescriptions are submitted securely to BSO on a timely basis to ensure that contractor BSO payments are not delayed.
• If your prescriptions are submitted late to BSO then BSO may not be able to process your payment in time for the end of the month.
• Prescriptions must be ready on the first day of the agreed collection period when using a courier service.
• Where a submission has not been collected by the third day, it is the pharmacy’s responsibility to contact the courier service or deliver the submission directly to BSO, 2 Franklin Street, Belfast, BT2 8DQ.
• When delivering submissions directly to BSO, deliveries must be made on the dates noted within the correspondence.
• Submissions received after the deadline are at high risk of not being processed.
• This is particularly critical for the BSO payment that is due at the end of December 2024.

CPNI are aware there have been some issues with prescriptions being collected and delivered to BSO within the necessary time frame. With December being a critical month, it is important that prescriptions are delivered to BSO on a timely basis to ensure payment is not delayed.

Contractors may choose any secure means of ensuring that prescriptions are delivered to BSO on time.

ACTION

Contractors are asked to:

• Review the correspondence issued by BSO regarding the submission of prescriptions for payment.
• Ensure that submissions are received by BSO within the agreed time-frame.
• Ensure that any courier used to collect and deliver submissions are contacted urgently where submissions have not been collected when expected and/or where there is a risk of a late submission to BSO.

Please do not hesitate to contact CPNI offices if you require any additional information.

Yours sincerely,

Reminder: The MS forms which has been issued to each Head office/ pharmacy regarding the refresh of handheld scanners should be completed today, 6th December 2024. If any contractor is unable to locate the SPPG email, please contact local integrated care offices.

Dear Contractor

SUMMARY

SPPG have issued correspondence regarding the refresh of handheld barcode scanners within community pharmacy. Each Head Office/pharmacy should now have received an email from SPPG which includes a Microsoft Forms link to complete. This should be submitted by Friday 6^th December 2024.

ACTION

Please check that you have received this correspondence from SPPG and that you submit the information requested in the MS forms link by the deadline stated.

Please do not hesitate to contact CPNI if you require any further information.

Kind regards

“Over half of UK small businesses identified a cyber attack last year” Free: My Cyber Toolkit

Dear Contractor

Over half of UK small businesses identified a cyber attack last year

Around 1 in 3 UK small businesses experienced a cyber crime

(Source: Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024)

These are startling figures.

In response, the Northern Ireland Cyber Security Centre (NICSC) has launched ‘My Cyber Toolkit’ which you can access via this link: Cyber Toolkit.  This is supported by the NI Police Cyber Security Lead.

This free toolkit, which is aimed at the small business sector, contains actionable guidance and can be completed in your own time (it is estimated that it should take about two hours to complete).  This is a FREE user friendly tool that will help you to be more cyber resilient and help you reduce the likelihood of a cyber attack.

How it works:

Get personalised actions
After a few short questions, you’ll get a list of actions handpicked for small businesses by the government’s cyber security experts.

Complete them at your own pace
Starting with low-effort, high-impact actions, the guidance walks you through each one step-by-step.  You can then mark them as completed and keep track of your progress.

Build layers of protection around your business
As you complete actions, you’ll build layers of protection around your business that prevent common cyber threats such as email hacking, data breaches and ransomware.

Action

Contractors are advised to:

Note the free toolkit which is available here and consider applying it to your business.

Contractors are reminded that the storage and back up of patient sensitive data and any amendments to your systems should be carried out in line with advice from your PMR system provider and in line with Data Protection legislation.

Kind regards

Mike

SENT ON BEHALF OF
PROF MIKE MAWHINNEY
Head of Regulatory Affairs

Dear Colleague

The final update of concessionary prices were granted today for November 2024:

Drug	Pack Size	Concessionary Price
Desloratadine 5mg tablets *	30	£4.56
Memantine 20mg tablets	28	£7.99
Melatonin 1mg/ml oral solution sugar free	150	£50.50
Mercaptopurine 50mg tablets	25	£22.41
Travoprost 40micrograms/ml / timolol 5mg/ml eye drops *	2.5	£10.59
Vardenafil 20mg tablets *	4	£3.65

Please note that products marked with an * will roll over into December 2024.

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 Medicine Shortage Reporter.

Concessionary prices are also published on the CPNI website.

Kind regards

Dear Contractor,

Following the recent Autumn Budget announcement that included increases to both Employer NIC contributions and NLW/NMW in 2025/26, a letter, co-signed by the Chairs of Community Pharmacy NI, British Dental Association (NI), BMA NI General Practitioners Committee, and Optometry NI was sent to the Health Minister Mr Mike Nesbitt MLA seeking relief against these cost increases. The letter also asked that the relevant pay and remuneration uplifts for 2024/25 are provided in full to respective contractors at the earliest opportunity.

A press release was also issued today in relation to the co-signed CPNI, BMA, BDA and ONI letter to the Health Minister.

CPNI considers the joint approach to be highly significant, demonstrating very clearly the shared concerns that exist within primary care to both the 2025/26 Budget changes and the current levels of investment in primary care. CPNI will continue to make representations on behalf of community pharmacy contractors on on-going contractual and funding matters.

Please do not hesitate to contact CPNI offices if you require any additional information.

Yours sincerely,