Bulletin 6 - Pharmacy First:

One Week Post Launch!

Community Pharmacy & the Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care – Bulletin 6

Pharmacy First launched just over a week ago and we want to thank all our wonderful pharmacy teams who have worked incredibly hard to get ready for the service launch.

There’s been an amazing response to the service with 94% of West Yorkshire pharmacies signing up to provide Pharmacy First. Following the launch the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, David Webb, and the National Medical Director for Primary Care, Dr Claire Fuller, published a joint letter to community pharmacy and GP professionals thanking pharmacy teams for their vital contribution to patient care and highlighting the joint responsibility to work together as an integrated primary care team to ensure the service works effectively to help people access NHS care. Read the letter here.



Have You Checked Out the CPE Pharmacy First FAQ Page?

Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has been responding to lots of questions on the Pharmacy First Service and is updating their FAQ webpage daily. This is an excellent place to start if you have any questions about the service. Visit the Pharmacy First FAQ webpage here.

Here are a just a couple of some of the published FAQs which answer some of the queries we have received from our local pharmacy teams:



Q. Do NHS prescription charges apply where the patient receives a medicine as part of the service?

Yes. The normal prescription charge rules apply to medicines or appliances supplied under the service, whether via the urgent medicines supply part of the service or the seven clinical pathways. The Pharmacy First IT system will print off a prescription token and the patient should complete the relevant parts of the reverse of the form to claim exemption from the prescription charge or to indicate they have paid the NHS prescription charge.

Q. Will the consultation fee be paid for clinical pathway consultations which pass the Gateway point, but where a medicine is not supplied, as it is not clinically appropriate?

Yes, a consultation fee will be paid for consultations which pass the Gateway point, but where it is not clinically appropriate to supply an NHS medicine. In some cases where a medicine is not supplied, the clinical pathway may advise that the patient returns to consult a pharmacist after several days if the condition has not been resolved.

Q. Do pharmacists have to do specific training programmes before providing the service?

No. Pharmacy owners must ensure that pharmacists and pharmacy staff providing the service are competent to do so, and are familiar with the clinical pathways, clinical protocol and PGDs. For some staff, this may involve completing some training programmes, but the learning needs of the individual will determine what training they need to undertake. The Pharmacy First self-assessment framework, developed by CPPE and NHS England, can be used by pharmacists to consider their previous learning and experience in responding to minor illnesses in the pharmacy and to identify any gaps in their knowledge which they need to fill. Working through the self-assessment framework will also help them evidence to the pharmacy owner how they have achieved the necessary competence to provide the service.

PharmOutcomes

A series of helpful Pharmacy First guides are available along with an instructional video guide. See https://pharmoutcomes.org/pharmoutcomes/help/home?pfs (the video guide for the service is less than 15 minutes and is a recommended watch for those pharmacies who are using PharmOutcomes for Pharmacy First).

PharmOutcomes is also hosting a Pharmacy First webinar on Wednesday 28th February 2024 from 7-8pm, which will cover the entire referral process – from GP surgery (including the GP referral process) to pharmacy, and will also include information on how to view the patient GP record in PharmOutcomes and an overview of the writeback process into the GP record. If you are interested in attending this event please register using this link here.

If you are experiencing any issues with the PharmOutcomes system, the contact details for the helpdesk are:

Email: helpdesk@phpartnership.com

Tel: 0345 450 6279

Note: you can also contact the helpdesk by clicking on the help key on the top toolbar:

Other IT Systems

If your pharmacy is using another NHS-assured Pharmacy First IT system, the contact details can be found here.

Training & Resources

We are still receiving lots of queries and requests for information about training so please see below a summary of training that is available to access below.

NHS Funded Training

There is a range of fully funded training options available for community pharmacy teams. Find out more on the Health Education England (HEE) website here. This includes training for:

Community Pharmacists - NEW ear & throat webinar (including otoscopes)

Clinical examination skills modules include ENT, paediatrics, cardiology and dermatology. The ENT module includes a free ear and throat webinar which covers the use of otoscopes. A recording of this webinar is now available on the registered training area of the course website. Find out more and register here.

Pharmacy Technicians

There are a range of courses available for pharmacy technicians including “advancing your role” – building on knowledge and skills to deliver effective clinical services and “Educational Supervisor Training” – to become an educational supervisor and help support, develop and upskill community pharmacy staff. Find out more here.

CPPE has a dedicated Pharmacy First page which includes a self-assessment framework for the service. Completing the self-assessment identify any additional training needs and support to address these where necessary (the self-assessment form links directly to suitable learning resources). There are a lot of other helpful resources available on the CPPE Pharmacy First page (see under “useful CPPE resources to support the delivery of Pharmacy First”).

CliniSkills - free clinical examination skills training is available for Community Pharmacists. See here.

Agilio iLearn Pharmacy First Training – see here.

VirtualOutcomes

VirtualOutcomes is free for all West Yorkshire Community Pharmacy Teams and has training for the whole pharmacy team (an introduction and service overview of Pharmacy First), and 7 separate condition modules for each clinical pathway. See here.

CPE Clinical Pathway Videos

The CPE clinical pathway videos, (there’s a separate video for each clinical pathway), will be useful for pharmacists preparing to provide the service. See here.

Please visit the CPE Pharmacy First webpage here for further information on this new service. You can also email us at info@cpwy.org if you have any questions about the service.



Kind regards,

CPWY

Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire

www.cpwy.org

info@cpwy.org

0113 272 7560