The Department of Health NI has issued correspondence here dated 14 March 2025 relating to SSP079, SSP080 and SSP081 (Estradot® 50mcg patches, Estradot® 75mcg patches and Estradot® 100mcg patches) extending their expiry dates to Friday 4 April 2025.
BACKGROUND
SSPs made under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 are an additional tool to manage and mitigate medicines shortages.
SSPs enable community pharmacists to supply specified medicines in accordance with a protocol rather than a prescription, without needing to seek authorisation from the prescriber – saving time for patients, pharmacists and prescribers.
Pharmacists should refer to the latest versions of the existing SSPs which are now available on the Business Services Organisation dedicated page on its website HERE.
Operational guidance on the implementation of SSPs in Northern Ireland can be found on the BSO website HERE.
ACTION
Contractors should:
Review the letter here dated 14 March 2025, and ensure that their dispensary teams are aware of the extension of the expiry dates of SSP079, SSP080 and SSP081 to Friday 4 April 2025, and that they are also aware of the specific details relating to these SSPs; and
Note guidance relating to the decision pathways for SSPs; notification of GPs; the need for patient/carer agreement, and action to take when this is not given; professional judgement; and actions regarding unclear quantities.
Contractors are reminded of information issued by BSO ‘Serious Shortage Protocols: Submission Information for Contractors’ which can be accessed here.
Contractors should contact their local SPPG office in the first instance should further information be required. CPNI colleagues are also available for assistance.
Kind regards
Mike
SENT ON BEHALF OF PROF MIKE MAWHINNEY Head of Regulatory Affairs
This update contains important information for community pharmacy teams.
Representatives from CPNI attended Stormont’s Health Committee on Thursday 6 March 2025.
The discussions can be viewed at the following link.
Marie Curie and RPS Daffodil Standards Launch Event
The Daffodil Standards are a joint initiative between the RPS and Marie Curie and seek to build on the care provided to palliative care patients.
Community pharmacists and members of their team with an interest in palliative care are invited to a launch event at Room 115, Parliament Buildings, Stormont on Monday 31 March 2025 11.30am-1.30pm.
The event will be sponsored by Danny Donnelly MLA and will have a number of key speakers regarding palliative care, with a focus on the importance of the contribution of community pharmacy.
Lunch will also be provided.
If any members of the pharmacy team wish to attend this event, please contact Clare Hunter at CPNI offices.
Autumn 2024/25 Community Pharmacy Flu Vaccination Programme REMINDER:
The Autumn 2024/25 Flu vaccination programme is coming to an end on Monday 31 March 2025.
Providers are requested to not vaccinate eligible cohorts after this date.
Please share this information with all relevant staff to allow adequate time for clinic arrangements and stock management.
Please bring this to the attention of your pharmacy team(s).
Kind regards
SENT ON BEHALF OF Gerard Greene Chief Executive
Dear Contractor,
SPPG have issued correspondence today providing a funding update for 2024/25 and 2025/26.
2024/25
The letter outlines that 6% inflationary uplifts to global sum and non-global sum budgets have been approved equating to £6.45m. A £4m global sum advance was provided at the start of 2024/25, so a balance of £2.45m remains. The £41k global sum balance will be paid as part of the end of year modulation payment. The non-global sum balance is £2.409m. £2.208m will be paid with the March payment (equating to eleven months) and the remaining £0.201m will be paid with the April payment.
2025/26
The following interventions have been approved:
The DoH(NI) retained margin minimum threshold is being increased from £31.5m to £34m.
From 1st April 2025, the discount deducted (clawback) on appliances will be reduced from 10.39% to 0% (zero discount). This will result in approximately c£2.76m clawback not being deducted from community pharmacy appliance payments in Northern Ireland in 2025/26.
Consideration is also being given by DoH(NI) in respect of 2025/26 inflationary pressures, which will be considered within the Department’s overall Budget Plan in coming weeks.
In the interim, the Global Sum Fees for 2025/26 will remain at current levels:
• Ordinary Dispensing £1.16 per item • Instalment Dispensing £0.44 per item • Practice Allowance £25,728 per year
Any increase to Global Sum Fees will be considered when 2025/26 budgets have been determined and SPPG will liaise with CPNI in this regard.
While these interventions are very much welcomed CPNI considers that the estimated £2.8m associated with appliances moving to zero discount status, should not be included within the table as presented in the SPPG letter as it relates to cost of goods rather than remuneration.
CPNI will keep the network updated on any further developments.
Kind regards,
SENT ON BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE Chief Executive
Dear Contractor
CPNI wishes to make contractors aware of a number of updates in relation to Experiential Learning (EL), and a CPNI survey to collect contractor feedback on the programme. The survey will remain open until 16 April 2025.
SUMMARY
The EL programme commenced in 2023 and is now in its second year with the 2024/2025 programme due to conclude at the end of March 2025.
There are 211 community pharmacies actively participating in the programme, hosting approx. 696 placement weeks for students in the 2024/2025 programme year.
To date, 342 community pharmacists have completed the funded EL practice supervisor (PS) training.
EL is now facilitated in the three main pharmacy sectors – Community, General Practice and Hospital.
There are some key differences in the EL programme in community pharmacy and in general practice. For example:
Community pharmacies host an EL student for 5 days, where they are supported in completing their learning activities by a Practice Supervisor (PS).
General practices host an EL student for 3 days, during which time they are with a PS, and the remaining 2 days are spent in a group learning setting led by a funded GP Pharmacist Educational Lead.
NICPLD has confirmed that separate, additional funding has been provided to the GP Federation to facilitate the 8 x GP Pharmacist Educational Leads.
EL FEEDBACK
NICPLD collects and reviews feedback from EL students and their PS’s during each EL placement block.
Feedback from students and from community pharmacist PSs has been consistently positive.
Feedback from community pharmacy contractors is not routinely collected, however queries, comments and suggestions can be sent by email to h.hirst@qub.ac.uk.
Hospital pharmacists involved in EL have recently raised concerns regarding the number of EL students and have asked for a review of the programme in their setting.
Feedback from GP providers has not yet been shared, however feedback from the small cohort who participated in the 2023/24 programme helped to shape the current adaptations (3 days in practice, with additional funding for 2 days of group learning).
CPNI EL SURVEY
NICPLD has indicated that EL feedback will be used to inform a review of the programme and the development of an ongoing EL strategy.
CPNI has therefore developed a survey to gather views from community pharmacy contractors on what is working well and what changes may benefit the community pharmacy EL programme.
The survey is open to all contractors, regardless of participation in EL, and will remain open until 16 April 2025.
ACTION
Contractors are advised to:
Review the information provided above and share with relevant members of the pharmacy team.
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the CPNI team or email Ennis.
Kind regards
SENT ON BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE Chief Executive
BSO has raised a number of issues with CPNI associated with late submissions of prescriptions to BSO for payment. You and the pharmacy staff involved in the prescription submission processes to BSO are asked to consider the following:
The number of prescription submissions arriving late to BSO (beyond the 3-day courier collection period) is impacting on BSO’s ability to make payments to contractors with late submissions at month-end.
BSO payment processes are such that they only have a limited window in which to process the prescriptions in time for payment at month-end and they are increasingly not able to facilitate late prescription submissions.
Contractors will be aware that it is the responsibility of the contractor to make sure that prescriptions are received by BSO on time irrespective of whether a courier, a member of staff or any other method is used to transport the prescriptions to BSO.
Contractors and staff involved in prescription submission processes are asked to note the monetary value typically contained within the prescription submission for the pharmacy / pharmacies you operate.
For the purposes of illustration each prescription form should be considered equivalent to a ‘£20 note’. Teams should then consider how an equivalent ‘package of cash’ would be handled within the pharmacy, the storage of it until it is taken by the staff member to BSO or handed over to a courier driver for onward transportation to BSO.
In a number of instances prescription submissions were not received by BSO for several days after they left the pharmacy and the submissions were subsequently classified as ‘missing’ while en-route to BSO.
Factors involved in several of these cases included
i) the prescription submission package intended for transportation to BSO being mistaken for drugs being returned to a pharmaceutical wholesaler.
ii) illegible or missing address details and
iii) poor packaging contributing to transportation difficulties.
Contractors and staff are also asked to note the GDPR obligations associated with the handling of the confidential patient information contained on prescription forms while they are in the pharmacy and en-route in a submission to BSO.
Contractors can consider the following Do’s and Don’ts. You may wish to make all staff who are involved in any process associated with prescriptions being prepared for submission to BSO aware:
Do’s
Ensure pharmacy staff follow the BSO guidance here and here when coding, prepping, bundling and documenting the submission of prescription forms prior to submission to BSO for payment.
Ensure prescriptions are ready for submission to BSO on-time and in accordance with the schedule. Please note: failure to do so may result in BSO not being able to make your payment at month-end.
Ensure that prescriptions being transferred to BSO are securely contained within a robust container (secure box/secure package etc).
Ensure that the BSO address (and/or any relevant courier labelling) is clearly visible and securely retained on to the container.
Ensure the container is clearly identifiable to all relevant pharmacy staff as the BSO prescription submission irrespective of whether it is transported to BSO by a staff member or a courier. The use of ‘high visibility’ colour-coded security tape on the container may be helpful in this.
Separate and securely store the prescription submission package/container away from any other packages/parcels/wholesaler boxes that staff and/or 3rd party drivers have access to in the pharmacy.
Only authorised pharmacy staff should be permitted to hand over the BSO prescription submission to the pharmacy staff member or the courier transporting the prescription submission to BSO.
If using a courier, ensure that all processes are followed before the courier leaves the pharmacy with the BSO prescription submission.
The prescription submission must be ready by 9am of the first day of the agreed collection period.
Ensure that an authorised and ID identifiable member of the courier staff is collecting the prescription submission.
If the courier does not arrive within the agreed collection period, they and the BSO should be contacted urgently, with the aim of getting the submission to BSO on time.
The submission box should have a tracking label clearly placed on to the box, and any possible previous delivery information on the box should be removed to negate any confusion to the driver.
Securely retain all documentation confirming the collection of each prescription submission.
Contact BSO if, for any reason, your prescription submission is not transferred to BSO within the 3-day submission period required by BSO.
Don’ts
Do not hand any prescription submissions over to any individuals that are not authorised to transfer/transport prescriptions to BSO on your behalf.
Do not hand any prescription submissions over to any individuals if you have any doubts about the prescription submission reaching BSO.
BSO wish to acknowledge the cooperation of those contractors that submit prescriptions in accordance with the set timelines and requirements.
Please contact CPNI office if you require any further advice regarding this.
Kind regards
SENT ON BEHALF OF GERARD GREENE Chief Executive
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