| Pharmacies piloting access to GP records ... tructured format, where they can be added automatically or with 'one-click' to the patient's GP record. The GP Connect functionalities have been developed for use with Pharmacy First, the Pharmacy contraception Service and the pharmacy blood pressure service. 'Extensive amount of assurance' in progress Also at the event, Charis Stacey, NHSE community pharmacy and digital primary care strategy lead, said t ... Date: 21-10-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| October Pharmacy First thresholds lowered to 20 ... n of the service to the public, especially as we enter into the winter period.' NHSE has also confirmed that it is reviewing its projected trajectory of how many Pharmacy First, blood pressure and contraception service consultations will be delivered by community pharmacies in 2024/25. How do consultation types vary month to month? Analysis by The Pharmacist has revealed that the majority of consultations ... Date: 01-10-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| Pharmacies told to wind down stocks of contraceptive implant ... have called for a dedicated Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy and improved access to the full range of contraceptives for all people in the location of their choosing. Under the NHS Pharmacy contraception Service, introduced last year, participating community pharmacies can initiate and manage ongoing supplies of oral contraception. Eventually, the service is expected to include Long Acting Reversi ... Date: 24-09-2024 Categories: • Clinical • Community • News • Sexual health • Women's health |
| All parts of Pharmacy First should be open to walk-ins, says CPE ... sholds for the £1,000 monthly payment. Meanwhile, NHS England has confirmed to The Pharmacist that it is currently reviewing its projected trajectory of how many Pharmacy First, blood pressure and contraception service consultations will be delivered by community pharmacies in 2024/25. Date: 18-09-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| NHSE currently reviewing Pharmacy First ambitions NHS England (NSHE) is currently reviewing its projected trajectory of how many Pharmacy First, blood pressure and contraception service consultations will be delivered by community pharmacies in 2024/25. And an NSHE spokesperson has revealed that more than half a million Pharmacy First consultations were delivered in the f ... Date: 16-09-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| CPE ‘pushing for’ £645m investment to cover wider cost pressures ... ed in England, it was backed by a £645m 'investment in the sector'. This was to include funding for IT systems, Pharmacy First marketing and consultations, as well as the pharmacy hypertension and contraception services. Some £112m of the funding was also used to write off 'over-deliveries'. Speaking to delegates at the Avicenna Heathrow conference last weekend, Alastair Buxton, CPE's director of NHS ... Date: 13-09-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| IPA takes pharmacy funding demands to No 10 following Darzi review ... also noted that ‘pharmacies are now closing in significant numbers’. ‘While pharmacies have expanded the range of clinical services that they provide – such as blood pressure checks, prescription contraception, and minor illnesses – the total level of spending on the community pharmacy contract has fallen by 8%,’ the report said. Lord Darzi said that community pharmacy had ‘huge potential’ to provide ‘e ... Date: 13-09-2024 Categories: • News |
| Darzi report: access to pharmacies 'a great strength' but 'at risk' ... also noted that ‘pharmacies are now closing in significant numbers’. ‘While pharmacies have expanded the range of clinical services that they provide – such as blood pressure checks, prescription contraception, and minor illnesses – the total level of spending on the community pharmacy contract has fallen by 8%,’ the report said. Risk community pharmacy ‘will face similar access problems to GPs’ Lord Dar ... Date: 11-09-2024 Categories: • Cancer • Community • Diabetes and endocrinology • Long-term conditions • Mental health and addiction • Musculoskeletal and rheumatology • News • Smoking cessation • Vaccinations and infections |
| Advice on dispensing valproate to men shared by GPhC ... Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) warning to men taking valproate. Last week, the UK medicines regulator said men taking valproate and their partners should use effective contraception, because of a small increased risk of harm to children if the drug is used by a father at conception. Healthcare professionals should inform male patients about this ‘newly identified risk’ at the ... Date: 11-09-2024 Categories: • Clinical • Community • In Practice • Long-term conditions • Men's health • Neurology • News • Women's health |
| CPE concerned pharmacies will 'walk away' from Pharmacy First ... trategically important' that the sector continue to provide the Pharmacy First service, and 'demonstrate that we're doing that well' to local parliamentarians. 'It is a key service, as well as the contraception service and as well as the hypertension case finding service,' he said. And he advised contractors to 'apply skill mix' to the hypertension service, suggesting that 'a good margin' could be made i ... Date: 10-09-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| MHRA warns men taking valproate to use contraception over small risk to children The UK medicines regulator has warned that men taking valproate and their partners should use effective contraception, because of a small increased risk of harm to children if the drug is used by a father at conception. Healthcare professionals should inform male patients about this ‘newly identified risk’ at the ... Date: 06-09-2024 Categories: • Clinical • Community • In Practice • Men's health • News • Sexual health • Women's health |
| NHSE issues advice to pharmacies ahead of early release of prisoners ... role of community pharmacies in supporting individuals who will be released early from prison in the coming weeks. A letter from NHSE has flagged the potential for Pharmacy First and the Pharmacy contraception Service to be used to support those being let out of prison as part of a government initiative to help tackle prison capacity pressures. Those eligible for the initiative will be released from pri ... Date: 03-09-2024 Categories: • Community • News |
| Some pharmacies to start issuing NHS electronic prescriptions ... he proposed prescribing models and pathways fall into three broad categories, NHSE said, including: 1. Building on existing community pharmacy commissioned services such as acute minor illness and contraception 2. Long term conditions; including prescribing for cardiovascular disease (statins, anticoagulation in atrial fibrillation) and prescribing for respiratory disease (inhaler optimisation, rescue th ... Date: 29-08-2024 Categories: • Community • News |
| Pharmacy crises highlighted in 'honest' NHS review ... other parts of the NHS, particularly general practice'. It suggested that an independent Pharmacy First service could be introduced, alongside cardiovascular disease (CVD) screening and treatment, contraception and vaccinations being provided through community pharmacy. And CPE called for open access to Pharmacy First, the free supply of over-the-counter medications for low-income individuals, expanded v ... Date: 19-08-2024 Categories: • Community • News |
| Report pushes for ‘advanced services’ definition for vaccinations in CPCF ... o all new vaccination services’. There are currently nine advanced services within the CPCF that pharmacies can choose to deliver, including adult flu vaccinations, Pharmacy First and the Pharmacy contraception Service. Several benefits that community pharmacy offers vaccine delivery are discussed in the Reform report published this week. ‘Early evidence suggests that where pharmacies have been involv ... Date: 02-08-2024 Categories: • Clinical • Community • News • Vaccinations and infections |
| Pharmacy bodies join calls for improved contraception access ... vision on women’s health ‘as a priority’. ‘Community pharmacies have played a vital role in providing easy, affordable care for women and girls, including providing advice and access to emergency contraception in a safe and non-judgemental environment,' he said. ‘That is why we want to see the introduction of a dedicated Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy and a commitment to continuing the Women’s ... Date: 25-07-2024 Categories: • Community • News |
| Over four in five patients report ‘good' pharmacy experience ... their GP practice, NHS 111 or A&E. Meanwhile, 3% said they went to a pharmacy to monitor their medication or for support for a long-term health condition and just 1% had used a pharmacy to get contraception without a GP prescription. Just over one in 10 (12%) said they had not used any of these pharmacy services in the 12 months prior to the survey. The survey is carried out by Ipsos on behalf of ... Date: 11-07-2024 Categories: • Community • News |
| CPE looking to secure ongoing Pharmacy First funding in core contract ... he sector. And she noted that ‘not all of it’ was for Pharmacy First payments. The £645m investment included a £112m write-off of funding over-delivery and £150m for pharmacy blood pressure and contraception services. ‘Critically’, the funding also included the development of an interoperable IT system with general practice, Ms Morrison said. GPs are currently threatening to turn off parts of the i ... Date: 03-07-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| NHSE: 'Odd' for GPs to turn off pharmacy update record ... very practice ‘has a choice of how to configure their GP IT system’, she added. And she said that there was 'no plan currently to extend this functionality beyond Pharmacy First, Blood Pressure or contraception Service consultation messages'. 'This enhancement is just one of a range of clinically safe improvements NHS England is making with suppliers, to better help practices manage demand and capacity a ... Date: 03-07-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| GPs defend decision to turn off Pharmacy First updates ... reached ‘most pharmacies’, currently allows pharmacies to send ‘structured’ updates to GP practices about Pharmacy First (minor illness and clinical pathways), Hypertension Case Finding and Pharmacy contraception services. According to Community Pharmacy England: 'Update Record means that GP practice staff no longer have to spend time manually finding records and transcribing information from PDF letters s ... Date: 02-07-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| GPs urged to switch off Pharmacy First Update Record to 'avoid workload dump' ... cord? In a notice published on Friday, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) said the Update Record functionality, that allows pharmacies to update patient records with Pharmacy First, blood pressure and contraception consultations, has been rolled out 'to most pharmacies'. 'Update Record allows information about patient consultations outside of general practice to be shared safely with general practice, so the ... Date: 01-07-2024 Categories: • Community • In Practice • News • Pharmacy First |
| Pharmacy closures nearly five times higher in more deprived areas ... longer be relevant and that many communities may now be under-served by pharmaceutical care’. In particular, Mr Badenhorst noted the ‘reduced availability of services like vaccinations, emergency contraception and minor ailment advice, with patients in deprived areas having to seek alternatives or go without these services.’ ‘Further, with fewer open pharmacies, patients face longer queues and waiting t ... Date: 13-06-2024 Categories: • Community • News |
| Revealed: Map of community pharmacy closures over last five years EXCLUSIVE: The Pharmacist mapped community pharmacy closures across England over the last five years, and uncovered a net loss of more than 1,000 bricks and mortar pharmacies since 2019. Read the first article ... Date: 13-06-2024 Categories: • Analysis • Community • News |
| Pharmacy technicians able to supply meds under PGDs from end of month ... thorised by their organisation to practice under it, and may be applied to registered healthcare professional listed in the legislation as able to practice under PGDs. Meanwhile, the NHSE Pharmacy contraception Service ‘must only be used by pharmacists who have been named and authorised by their organisation’, although the government suggested that NHSE ‘may want to expand this service to also include pharm ... Date: 05-06-2024 Categories: • Community • News |
| Conservatives pledge to expand Pharmacy First to include acne and chest infections ... suggested that NHS spending on community pharmacy and ophthalmic services has been reduced by 19.9% since 2016/17, when real-terms funding is adjusted for need. The long-term plan for the Pharmacy contraception service set out that pharmacists would eventually be able to offer Long Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARCs) including implants, vaginal rings, injections and patches, but not intrauterine system ... Date: 03-06-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| NHS England funds new PCN community pharmacy engagement roles ... etween community pharmacies and general practices within PCNs. It will be expected to support the implementation of the Pharmacy First service, expanded blood pressure checks service and the pharmacy contraception service (see box). NHS England (NHSE) has said it will fund the post from 1 April 2024 until 31 March 2025, with £1,040 available per PCN. Integrated care boards (ICBs) will ‘manage the delivery o ... Date: 30-05-2024 Categories: • Community • News |
| Just one pharmacy IT supplier has enabled integrated Pharmacy First GP updates ... product lead for Cegedim Rx, told The Pharmacist that the supplier had gone live with the system this month. ‘Our Pharmacy Services platform now enables every user who completes a Pharmacy First, contraception or Hypertension Case-Finding service to also update the patient’s GP record via GP Connect,’ she added. She described the update as ‘another important step towards community pharmacy working in cl ... Date: 26-04-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| PDA warns pharmacy targets 'must not sacrifice quality for quantity' ... wants the community pharmacy sector to deliver 320,000 more Pharmacy First clinical pathways consultations each month; 71,000 more blood pressure check consultations each month; and 25,800 more oral contraception consultations each month. In response, the PDA said that ‘quality must not be sacrificed for volume alone’. Alison Jones, policy director at the PDA, told The Pharmacist that the association wa ... Date: 10-04-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| NHSE plans to ‘grow patient volumes’ across pharmacy services ... and (NHSE) aims to increase the number of patients accessing Pharmacy First each month by hundreds of thousands by March 2025, it announced today. And it has set targets for tens of thousands more contraception and blood pressure check consultations to be delivered monthly by community pharmacies over the next year. The commissioner also said it would continue to monitor the uptake of these services by d ... Date: 09-04-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| MPs call on health secretary to solve ‘acute pharmacy funding crisis’ ... 2.6 billion a year in government funding. ‘We have also invested up to £645 million across 2023/24 and 2024/25 to support the launch of Pharmacy First and expansion of the blood pressure check and contraception services, which has been widely welcomed by the pharmacy sector.’ They noted the department was ‘currently consulting with Community Pharmacy England on the contractual framework arrangements for ... Date: 08-04-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| Automatic records updates from pharmacies to GPs to be phased in from this week ... bulletin issued on Thursday (21 March) NHS England said that the new functionality, which will provide practices ‘with structured information’ about pharmacy consultations for blood pressure checks, contraception and Pharmacy First consultations ‘will begin a phased roll out' this week beginning 25 March. GP practices will see a gradual increase in messages as pharmacy systems go live. ‘Practice staff w ... Date: 25-03-2024 Categories: • Community • In Practice • News • Pharmacy First |
| Pharmacy closures 'could double' without action, contractors warn ... s services lead for the local pharmaceutical committee (LPC), Ms Somal supports pharmacies to deliver new services. But she said the new funding for new services like Pharmacy First, hypertension and contraception is ‘not making up the shortfall’. She added: ‘It shouldn't be there to make up the shortfall, because they’re doing this on top of their day job.’ She described the ‘whole system’ as ‘a bit bro ... Date: 21-03-2024 Categories: • Community • News |
| Pharmacists need endometriosis education amid slow diagnoses, charity suggests ... cation to ensure the highest standards of patient care.' The RPS also highlighted other training resources available, including NHS National Education Scotland's webinar on women's health, HRT and contraception, educational content open to pharmacists through the Scottish Government Women's Health plan, and the RPS webinar on Women's Health in the Workplace: Menopause and Mental Health (rpharms.com) Date: 08-03-2024 Categories: • Clinical • Community • News • Pain |
| Commissioners need to see pharmacy as an ‘investable proposition’, says Wales CPhO ... vernment.’ The reforms in Wales, which were proposed in 2021 and came into force in April 2022, included a nationally commissioned clinical community pharmacy service that includes minor ailments, contraception and vaccination. Mr Evans stressed the importance of ‘providing a coherent, consistent offer’ across Wales that the public could understand, which is why all pharmacies wanting to provide any of t ... Date: 01-03-2024 Categories: • Clinical • Community • Ear nose and throat • News |
| More than 8,000 Pharmacy First consultations in North East London so far ... will stop people going to A&E, that will stop people going to urgent treatment centres.’ And she said that the ICS had also invested in the community pharmacy hypertension service and the oral contraception service. ‘It’s about having that voice,’ she said, noting that the LPC had also spoken to the ICS about issues like pharmacy closures. ‘The core funding is not there. The [national] contract is ... Date: 29-02-2024 Categories: • Community • In Practice • Pharmacy First |
| Pharmacy First minimum consultation numbers a ‘major concern’ for CPE ... ot they are going to get to that 30’. The chief executive also raised concern over the requirements coming into force in March 2025 that will see payments for Pharmacy First, the expanded Pharmacy contraception Service and the relaunched blood pressure check service bundled together – meaning pharmacies will need to provide all three to be eligible for the funding. With the many pharmacies currently focu ... Date: 26-02-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| Quality of pharmacy consultation rooms ‘variable’ ... the longer term, Ms Morrison suggested that community pharmacies could host multidisciplinary teams, including allied health professionals in community healthcare hubs. The recently expanded oral contraception and blood pressure services could be ‘built into wider services’ provided by the community pharmacy sector, she added. For instance, the blood pressure service could expand into hypertension manag ... Date: 23-02-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| General sale morning-after pill could be ‘detrimental’ to patients Allowing emergency hormonal contraception (EHC) to be sold in non-pharmacy settings would be ‘to the detriment’ of patients, former Royal Pharmaceutical Society chair for England Thorrun Govind has told The Pharmacist. This follows calls ... Date: 05-02-2024 Categories: • Clinical • Community • News • Sexual health |
| Over 10,000 pharmacies in England offering Pharmacy First from today ... had not yet arrived. NHSE confirmed a total of 10,265 community pharmacies would begin offering Pharmacy First in England, while 5,367 pharmacies had also now signed up to provide the NHS Pharmacy contraception Service. Chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) in England Tase Oputu noted that the expansion of clinical services ‘makes the most of the valuable skills of pharmacists and their teams’. ... Date: 31-01-2024 Categories: • Clinical • Community • Ear nose and throat • News • Pharmacy First |
| Pharmacy First success relies on pharmacy and general practice ‘relationships’ ... working collaboratively with pharmacies’. England’s chief pharmaceutical officer recently told community pharmacy teams that key to the success of Pharmacy First, as well as the recently expanded contraception and hypertension services, was ‘effective and sustainable’ relationships between the sector and general practices at a local level. A recent report from The King’s Fund and the Nuffield Trust sugg ... Date: 26-01-2024 Categories: • Community • In Practice • News • Pharmacy First |
| Concerns Pharmacy First will raise risk of patient abuse ... harmacy First has been welcomed by pharmacists up and down the country.' They added: 'The roll-out of this service from next month remains on track and these plans, together with expansion of oral contraception and blood pressure services, could free up 10 million appointments in general practice a year.' And CPE said that it welcomed the feedback, adding that its committee did take into account the impa ... Date: 22-01-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| Around 3,000 pharmacies sign up to contraception service Around 3,000 pharmacies in England have now signed up to provide the NHS Pharmacy contraception Service, the government has confirmed. This comes as health secretary Victoria Atkins said that problem periods, menopause and maternity care would be top priorities under the government’s women’s ... Date: 19-01-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Sexual health |
| CPE still waiting for contractual framework negotiations to start ... egotiations to bring significant clinical service proposals from government and the NHS having had the recent addition of the Primary Care Recovery Plan funding for Pharmacy First, blood pressure and contraception services. ‘But at this stage it is hard to predict the outcome from the negotiations and what we can expect in terms of an overall uplift.’ Earlier this month, CPE raised funding concerns over ... Date: 18-01-2024 Categories: • Community • News |
| Pharmacies urged to boost ambulatory blood pressure monitoring Pharmacies offering the new Hypertension Case-Finding Service need to focus on converting more patients to ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), according to a recent webinar by Community Pharmacy England ( ... Date: 15-01-2024 Categories: • Cardiovascular • Clinical • News |
| Nearly half of staff ‘not confident’ to deliver Pharmacy First amid pressures ... it would launch on 31 January 2024, subject to the ‘appropriate digital systems being in place’ to support the service. It was backed by a £645m investment – which is also to be used for expanded contraception and hypertension services – but concerns have been raised over whether this will be enough to support the scheme. There have also been some concerns over whether IT solutions would be in place rea ... Date: 12-01-2024 Categories: • Community • News • Pharmacy First |
| Pharmacy IT systems to automatically update GPs from February ... ification and clinical pathways for the service. And it reiterated that contractors must opt into the service by 31 January in order to qualify for the £2,000 one-off payment, while to deliver the contraception service they must opt-in to the new extended service by 29 February. When Pharmacy First was first announced, the Government, NHSE and Community Pharmacy England said they agreed that the scheme w ... Date: 11-01-2024 Categories: • Community • News |
| James Davies: Medicines should be seen as an investment, rather than a cost ... DHD clinics are common at the moment because of the shortages, we've got hypertension clinics, cardiovascular disease clinics, there's even some that are doing sexual health clinics, so initiation of contraception and things like that – clearly, that's now going to move into community a little bit more, but there's lots of opportunity. How is the RPS supporting pharmacists to develop those clinical skills? ... Date: 03-01-2024 Categories: • Community • In Practice • Interviews • Interviews |
| New contraception service ‘requires mix of skills’ The expanded Pharmacy contraception Service is ‘not only about pharmacists’ as the ‘whole team has a role to play’, viewers of a Community Pharmacy England (CPE) webinar have been told. The expansion of the contraception service wen ... Date: 19-12-2023 Categories: • Clinical • News • Sexual health |
| Pharmacy First requires ‘effective’ relationships between GPs and pharmacists Key to the success of Pharmacy First and the expanded contraception and hypertension services are ‘effective and sustainable’ relationships between general practice and community pharmacy teams at a local level, England’s chief pharmaceutical officer (CPhO) has said. ... Date: 19-12-2023 Categories: • Clinical • Ear nose and throat • News |
| Meet the Pharmacy Team of the Year Award shortlist: Haringey GP Federation clinical pharmacy team ... prominent feature of the process, and individualised management plans were formulated for 56% of patients. Additional actions taken during the SMRs included blood tests, referrals, health checks and contraception reviews. The Haringey Clinical Pharmacy workforce attended a training session developed and delivered by an LD specialist pharmacist in collaboration with a Haringey GP Federation senior clinical ... Date: 06-12-2023 Categories: • Analysis |
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