Pharmacy London CPCS Info, Guidance & Checklist for Superintendent Pharmacists

This document is a guidance template only. It is intended to support Superintendent Pharmacists. Individual pharmacies will need to read, review, edit & adapt it for use in their own practice. All liability for the production of all SOPs & processes lies with the individual contractor.This document is a summary of information, guidance & a checklist for Superintendent to work through so they can deliver the Community Pharmacy Consultation Service (CPCS). It includes material from several sources including the PSNC & NHS BSA, website. The aim of the document pack supplied by your Pharmacy London LPC is to comprehensively cover the requirements & summarise other NHS & PSNC documents in one place; this includes the NHSE Service Specification & the NHSE CPCS Toolkit. Other documents & SOPs are available from other organisations, it is the Superintendent’s clinical decision to choose what to use. We hope this comprehensive package is of help.

Only Superintendent Pharmacists (or other Lead Pharmacists within an organisation) need to read this document

CPCS is the new service (Oct 2019) which is a merging of the DMIRS & NUMSAS services

1)         Pharmacy needs to Register for the Manage Your Service (MYS) application – this is how the pharmacy register for CPCS (& claim for Quality Payment advanced payments & Flu payments).

Pharmacies must, as their first step for participating in the Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) 2019/20, register for the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) Manage Your Service (MYS) application.

MYS will be the only way to claim a PQS Aspiration payment and make a PQS declaration. The system will also be the route for claiming payment for the Flu Vaccination Service from 2019/20 and notifying readiness to provide the new Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS).

Pharmacies should register as soon as possible to ensure their application can be processed in time to allow them to claim for their Aspiration payment for the PQS (this will need to be undertaken by the end of October 2019).

Registering for MYSTo use MYS, the pharmacy must register individuals who they want to be able to access the application for their pharmacy using the ‘MYS access authorisation form’ on the NHSBSA website. Contractors should read MYS FAQs on the PSNC website before completing the authorisation form.

Only the business owner, director or an individual previously verified via the NHSBSA Information Services Portal (ISP) registration process, can register pharmacies and authorise access for individuals for MYS - pharmacies which are part of a multiple should therefore follow the advice provided by their head office on this matter.

Action: Log in to MYS to check your log in is working Any pharmacy not previously registered on MYS –will have to set up their MYS account

(note only the business owner, director or an individual previously verified via the

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NHSBSA Information Services Portal (ISP) registration process, can register pharmacies and authorise access for individuals for MYS)

2)         CPCS: Check that your shared NHS mail account is in the pharmacy directory

Community pharmacies will be required to have a shared NHS mail account to deliver the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS), but only accounts listed accurately in the NHS mail pharmacy directory will be recognised as meeting this requirement.

Whilst most pharmacies will have their NHS mail set up correctly, all pharmacies are advised to make sure that their pharmacy’s account follows the naming style: nhspharmacy.location.pharmacynameODScode@nhs.net  . This naming style indicates your email address appears in the community pharmacy directory so that other NHS providers can find your email address more easily when they need it.

If you think that such a shared email address was set up in the past, but are no longer sure about the details, you may need to raise a technical query. The process for raising queries is set out

If your pharmacy has never had a shared NHS mail account within the pharmacy directory, or you only have an ‘old-style shared’ account with the incorrect naming style, then you should use the NHS mail pharmacy registration portal to create a new shared pharmacy mailbox. You will also need to enter the details of pharmacy team members who will need access to the account; the first person listed within the portal will be granted ‘owner’ administrative rights for the shared pharmacy mailbox.

Read more about NHS mail and the registration process at: psnc.org.uk/nhsmail.

Action points: Check your pharmacy’s shared NHS email address meets the naming style

nhspharmacy.location.pharmacynameODScode@nhs.net

NB you can now have 10 personal NHS emails linked to the shared NHS email. It is important to have regular staff & regular locums (esp weekend staff & locums) linked to the shared NHS Email account

o Action – Contact all your pharmacy’s regular locums / weekend pharmacists,

consider getting their personal NHS email address & consider linking them to your pharmacy’s shared NHS email

If any of your regular pharmacists haven’t got a personal NHS e-mail consider organising with them getting a personal NHS email

3)Key message for LPs to understand about CPCSCPCS is different from most other NHS Pharmacy services: The CPCS service is based on receiving a referral (not signposting) from non-clinicians (the NHS 111 Call Advisors) to the pharmacist (the clinician). With referral services (as opposed to signposting services) the clinician (the pharmacist) takes on responsibility for Clinically Managing Patients (ie Assessing, Red Flagging / Safety Netting / Escalating if necessary).

CPCS is different from most of the other “transactional” services the NHS usually commissions from pharmacy. The pharmacist doesn’t have to “fix” the patient then & there but they do need to “clinically manage” patients, (& it’s ok (indeed it is critical) to advise the patient to come back if they are not better, ie to say “If your symptoms do not improve or become worse, then either come back to see me or seek advice from your GP”)

“Clinically managing” a referred patient means: looking out for Red Flags (ie assessing the patient & using the NICE CSK & SCR one-click both built into the CPCS IT system); safety document.docx Page 2 of 13

netting (ie giving advice to the patient about what to do if they are not better/get worse); & escalating the patient if necessary.

FAQ regarding use of equipment. This is for consideration only in response to a FAQ. Using equipment that most pharmacies sell & probably already use in their consulting rooms (eg digital otic thermometers, BP machines) to gather data significantly helps the assessment (& it doesn’t have to be the pharmacist that takes the readings, just like in a hospital / surgery where a trained HCA usually takes these readings before the patient sees the clinician – it is worth considering if this could be part of a pre-screen carried out by a member of the pharmacy team. If clinically indicated the pharmacist should be considering gathering key data eg like a patient’s temperate if the patient seems to have an infection or it is otherwise indicated). However please note that use of equipment is not a specific requirement in the CPCS service Specification.

Ensure all staff (Pharmacists & non-pharmacists) carry out the training described below so they can complete the NHS CPCS self-assessment framework, which is part of the NHS declaration & signing up process.

Basic background understanding about the CPCS service & referrals: NHS 111 acts as a triage service, ie it sends people that phone NHS 111 on to other

places The NHS 111 call advisors are non-clinicians, they use NHS software algorithms to work

out what the best place to send the patient is (eg A&E, GP, Community Pharmacy ect etc) based on what the patient says on the phone

If NHS software algorithms says a referral to pharmacy via CPCS is appropriate, the NHS111 algorithm shows the NHS 111 Call Advisor the 2 nearest pharmacies to where the patient is, which have the appropriate NHS DOS profile (there is no “direction” to specific pharmacies)

Remember the Call Advisors at NHS 111 are not clinical, so they are NOT diagnosing, just using algorithms to work out what the best place to send the patient is (based on what the patient says on the phone). Whatever clinical place the patient gets sent to (eg A&E, Community Pharmacy, GP, Out of Hours, etc) that’s where the diagnosis & managing the patient happens.

Pharmacists should bear in mind that sometimes what patients say on the phone to the NHS 111 Call Advisor doesn’t match to what the patient presents with when they walk through the door.

o For eg there have been 3 cases (in the original pilot areas during 2017-19), when the patient attended the pharmacy & the pharmacist saw the patient it was clear they were in a really bad way & the pharmacist needed to call 999 for an ambulance. This was totally correct escalation by the pharmacist. It wasn’t that the referral was wrong, it’s just what happens in Urgent Care (CPCS is part of the NHS Urgent Care offer) & in these cases it was shown the pharmacist “managed” the patient totally appropriately.

This is no different than if a patient walked into a pharmacy off the street, we’d still “manage” the patient (eg we are aware of a case where a patient walk into a London pharmacy a couple of years ago complaining of indigestion & wanting to buy some Rennies, as the pharmacist came over to serve the patient & looked at the patient it was clear it wasn’t indigestion & actually the patient then collapsed on the floor & had a heart attack & the pharmacist performed CPR & got the MCA to call an ambulance, this saved the patient’s life).

o The point is, we should think of CPCS referrals in the same way we treat an OTC consultation (ie a patient walking into the pharmacy off the street) & we “manage” the patient in the appropriate way (anything from calling an ambulance (for a patient having a heart attack -ie in CPCS language this would be called “appropriate escalation”) to giving verbal advise & assurance or saying

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to a patient with a very minor issue “take these paracetamol, 2QDS for a couple of days & pop in & see me if you’re not better tomorrow”

o Another example was a patient that was referred via CPCS with a sore eye. The pharmacist wrote on the CPCS IT System “it was a totally inappropriate referral & the patient should have been sent to an optician or eye hospital, the pharmacy does not have equipment like an ophthalmoscope to look into the eye”. What the pharmacist actually did with the patient was to provide really good care – they looked at the patient’s eye (with a pen torch) & talked to the patient, was happy it was nothing serious & advised the patient to pop into the optician across the road (whom the pharmacist knew well) or at least come back & see them if it wasn’t better. Apart from writing on CPCS IT System the referral was inappropriate, what the pharmacist actually did was to perfectly handle the referral, ie the pharmacist “managed” the patient (ie assessed the patient, checked for Red Flags & Safety Netted), realised there was nothing serious & signposted appropriately to the optician (ie a perfectly dealt with case). That’s exactly what the pharmacist would have done if the patient walked into the pharmacy off the street. CPCS is about the clinician (the pharmacist) “managing” the patient. It shows that in this example, actually the referral was appropriate, perhaps in this case the pharmacist didn’t fully understand how CPCS referrals works, but did manage the patient perfectly

4)         Read the CPCS SOP and register your pharmacy to provide the service

Pharmacy contractors can now (Oct 19) register to provide the service via the NHSBSA Manage Your Service (MYS) portal. This includes claiming the Transition payment supplement, which will be £900 for those who claim by 1st December 2019.

Action for all pharmacies - register now to provide the service via this link NHSBSA Manage Your Service (MYS) portal See step by step instructions below

Even if your pharmacy was registered for either NUMSAS or DMIRS these will stop on midnight of 28th Oct & you must register for CPCS.

Action for all Superintendent Pharmacists. Ensure full training of all staff has taken place. This includes all pharmacists,

regular pharmacists, weekend pharmacists, second pharmacists & regular locums. In addition, non-pharmacists are advised to read certain documents

The documents listed in the table below (all provided by your Pharmacy London LPC) cover all the requirements to deliver the service. These documents comprehensively cover all the requirements & summarise other NHS & PSNC documents in one place.

Documents to be read to deliver the CPCS service To be read by which members of staff

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“CPCS SOP”

We suggest all staff read Appendix 2: Key message (of the SOP) so as to have a general understanding about CPCS (at the end of this SOP)

All staff. NB pharmacists to read the whole SOP. Non-Pharmacists do not have to read the sections marked for the Pharmacist

RPS Emergency Supply guidancehttps://www.rpharms.com/resources/quick-reference-guides/emergency-supply

All dispensary staff

“CPCS info, guidance & checklist for Superintendent Pharmacists” ie this document

The Superintendent Pharmacists or other Lead Pharmacists

“CPCS Pharmacists learning and development requirements checklist” All Pharmacists“CPCS One-page flow chart Service Summary” All staff (including All

Pharmacists) “CPCS (Minor Illness) Patient Flow & CPCS (Urgent Medicines Supply) Patient Flow”

All staff (including All Pharmacists)

“NHSE CPCS advanced service specification vFinal Oct 19” However, the CPCS SOP supplied in this document pack compressively covers the NHSE CPCS service specification so by implementing the SOP, the service specification will be comprehensively covered. Please note that when registering to provide the CPCS service the contractor declares “I confirm that I have read the service specification and will be able to comply with its requirements and deal appropriately with any CPCS referrals from the service commencement date (29th October 2019).”

All Pharmacists

For contractors where their LPC has signed up to the on line Virtual Outcomes modules we suggest all staff complete the Virtual Outcomes on line course NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service https://www.virtualoutcomes.co.uk/pharmacy-training/

All staff (including All Pharmacists)

A Step by Step guide on how to register to provide the CPCS service: action - all pharmacies to register When registering to provide the service on the MYS portal, contractors will need to make the following declaration:

I am registering to provide the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service from this pharmacy.

I confirm that I have read the service specification and will be able to comply with its requirements and deal appropriately with any CPCS referrals from the service commencement date (29th October 2019).

I am claiming the CPCS Transition payment and understand that I am committing to provide the CPCS until 31st March 2020, unless exceptional circumstances prevent the pharmacy from providing the service. Where I withdraw from service provision prior to 31st March 2020 and NHS England do not believe exceptional circumstances apply, they may reclaim all or part of the CPCS Transition payment.

The process for registering for the service is outlined below:

Logon to the MYS portal at https://services.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-prescription-services-submissions/login

Once you are on the “Manage Submissions” dashboard, select the “NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service” tab.

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Once on the Registration page, it is recommended that you follow the links to the NHS England and Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) websites to read the requirements for providing the service and the service specification, if you haven’t already done so.

Once satisfied that you wish to register to provide the service, select “Yes” at the bottom of the page and click on the “Next” button.

Once on the Declaration page, review the declaration and type your First Name and Surname in boxes.

Tick the box marked “I agree and accept the declaration above”.

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On the next page, you are asked to confirm that the email shown in the box is the correct shared NHSmail email address (which must be in the following format: nhspharmacy.location.pharmacynameODScode @nhs.net ). This email is the back-up to the NHS CPCS IT system and it is important that this is checked and that it is correct.

In addition to the shared NHSmail email address, there is an option to send the confirmation of the declaration made on MYS to another email address. If you would like to use this option, type your second e-mail address in the box highlighted below.

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If you wish to find out more about using MYS to manage other claims and declarations, tick the box (this is voluntary). The MYS team will send you further information on use of MYS to your shared NHSmail account.

Finally, click the “Register” button. The message below will then appear to confirm that your registration request has been sent and received at the NHSBSA.

A confirmation email will be sent to your shared NHSmail account. Once this is received, you are registered to provide the service.

NB Pharmacies that wish to provide the NHS CPCS and who previously provided the NHS Urgent Medicines Supply Advanced Service (NUMSAS) or Digital Minor Illness Referral Service (DMIRS) pilot services MUST still register to provide the NHS CPCS (as the NUMSAS and DMIRS pilot services will cease once the NHS CPCS starts, & even if the pharmacy previously registered to provide NUMSAS or DMIRS they will not be automatically registered to provide CPCS, so they must register for CPCS).

5)Service fundingFunding for the CPCS will include an initial supplement to the Transition payment for contractors that register to provide the service before the below deadlines:

Register by 1st December 2019 – £900 supplement Register by 15th January 2020 – £600 supplement. No supplement will be paid for registrations after 15th January 2020.

When a pharmacy provides the service, they can claim a £14 fee per completed consultation.

This payment model will be reviewed for 2021/22 onwards, depending on factors such as volume of service.

The anticipated National funding profile for the initial (NHS 111 referral) service is:

2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24

£4 million £9 million £13 million £16 million £19 million

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6)IT requirements and supportThe service specification requires that from 1st April 2020, the pharmacy must have IT equipment accessible within the consultation room to allow contemporaneous records of the CPCS consultations to be made within the CPCS IT system. As with the provision of all community pharmacy IT hardware, the provision of IT equipment in the consultation room is for the pharmacy contractor to arrange. The costs of IT equipment were included in PSNC’s assessment of costs of providing the service which has informed the agreement on the funding for the CPCS, which includes a £900 supplement to the Transition payment if contractors register to provide the service by 1st December 2019.

Action: Ensure you have a PMR computer with N3 connection (or other appropriate IT) in the

consultation room by 1st April 2020

In London the CPSC IT software provider will be Sonar, outside of London it is PharmOutcom

7) CPCS Pharmacists learning and development requirements checklist

Action: for the Superintendent Pharmacist to complete this (if they personally are going to deliver the CPCS service) & check all other pharmacist that work in their organisation have also completed it. There is a separate Word document that each pharmacist can use to complete this (so use that version)

The Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) & other organisations have a range of training resources which can be used by pharmacists to prepare to provide the CPCS. There is a self-assessment framework (an enhanced version of this is below) which helps pharmacists to identify gaps in your knowledge. The Superintendent can choose to use the enhanced version provided here or the one the NHS BSA website (a self-assessment framework). The only difference is that the Table 2 provided here provides more supporting resources & links to the documents in this document pack. By completing the enhanced self-assessment framework below the pharmacist will have automatically covered off the requirements of the self-assessment framework on the NHS BSA website.

All pharmacists should work through the framework as a checklist to ensure they have completed all the required learning ahead of providing the CPCS service.

The NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) self-assessment framework – (this is from NHS BSA website)

This self-assessment framework supports you (the pharmacist) in reflecting on your knowledge and skills to provide the NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS). The framework highlights the key competencies required to provide a high-quality person-centred service to the people referred to your pharmacy from NHS111. Through engaging with this framework, you will build your confidence in offering person-centred care in this new pharmacy service.

How to use this self-assessment framework Work through the competencies to assess your readiness to provide the CPCS. You may not meet all of the competencies outlined however you can use the self-assessment framework to identify your personal learning needs and continue to develop your practice.

Revisiting this self-assessment framework will support you in applying your experiences of providing the service and that of your peers to continually develop and improve.

Table 1 of the self-assessment framework includes two sets of competencies. The first set addresses your understanding of the service and how it will operate in the pharmacy. The second set look at the clinical knowledge and skills required to deliver the service. As you work through the competencies consider your previous learning and

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experience of responding to minor illness in the pharmacy. What evidence do you have to support you in meeting the competence and is there any further learning or training you could complete to take your knowledge and skills to the next level?

If you do not meet a specific competence you can identify suitable resources to support you in the third column of table one. You can find the references to the full list of learning resources in table 2

Table 1Name of PharmacistGPhC registration number

Knowing yourself, your team and the service - understanding of the service and how it will operate in the pharmacy

Tick Learningresources(table 2)

1. Can you explain the NHS Urgent care system and the role of community pharmacy as part of this system?Do you have an up to date understanding of the Human Medicines Regulations (HMR) in relation to the emergency supply of POMs (ie do you understand the Emergency Supply regulations)

Yes No

A, D, F , J

2. Can you describe the aim of the CPCS service, your role andthe role of the pharmacy team in providing the service

Yes No

A, D, F , J

3.Can you demonstrate a stepwise approach to the CPCS process to enhance patient experience and deliver a safe and effective service in your pharmacy (from receipt of referral to completion)

Yes No

A,F,L

4. Can you apply the principles of consent, confidentiality and safeguarding within the context of providing the CPCS

Yes No

A, C, E, J

5. Are you able to accurately record consultations using CPCS IT systems (Sonar for London & PharmOutcomes for the rest of England) and transfer data to the GP systems to enable GP message close down. Does your SMART card work &

Yes No

M

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can you access SCR?6. Do you know how to feedback to enable service improvement including identifying and reporting of incidents

Yes No

A

Applying clinical knowledge and skills- the clinical knowledge and skills required to deliver the service7. Do you understand the steps involved in taking a person’s clinical history including their medicines

Yes No

E, J

8. Are you able to apply tools and techniques to demonstrate a structured person-centred approach to clinical history taking

Yes No

B, E, J

9. Can you apply evidence and guidance to support clinical reasoning and engage the patient in shared decision making

Yes No

E, G, H, I, J

10. Can you identify presenting red flags in the consultation to enable safe, effective, ‘warm’ clinical transfer of the patient

Yes No

E, F, J

11. Do you follow the guidance for hygiene and hand washing in a clinical setting

Yes No

J

12. Are you able to conduct general observations and basic clinical examination/assessment skills to inform clinical decision-making in the consultation?

Yes No

J

13. Are you able to interpret and apply clinical assessment test results and findings to aid clinical diagnosis and decisions

Yes No

E, G, H, J

14. Can you safely and effectively close the consultation including safety netting, signposting and referral when necessary

Yes No

E, F, J

15. Can you complete an accurate and concise clinical record to support data sharing across healthcare settings

Yes No

J, K

16. Do you promote self-care and prevention measures in the consultation Yes No

B, E, J

Table 2 This table includes a list of learning resources which you can access to meet any gaps in the competencies in table 1.

Name of PharmacistGPhC registration number

Have you completed this activity completed? (Yes or No)

Has a copy of your certificate / attendance sheet been supplied to the Superintendent Pharmacist / other Lead Pharmacist? (Yes or No)

Resource A “CPCS SOP” - note the SOP covers the information in CPCS Service specification (the SOP & service specification are provided in this document pack)

N/A

Resource A (continued)

RPS Emergency Supply guidancehttps://www.rpharms.com/resources/quick-reference-guides/emergency-supply

N/A

Resource B CPPE Consultation skills: what good practice looks like e-learninghttps://www.cppe.ac.uk/programmes/l/wgll-e-01

Resource C CPPE Safeguarding children and vulnerable adults - a guide for the pharmacy team e-learninghttps://www.cppe.ac.uk/programmes/l/safegrding-e-02

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Resource D Virtual Outcomes on line course NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (only for where the contractor’s LPC has signed up to Virtual Outcomes)https://www.virtualoutcomes.co.uk/pharmacy-training/

Resource D(continued)

Pharmacy London CPCS info, guidance & checklist for Superintendents Note this document only needs to be reviewed by the Superintendent Pharmacist

N/A

Resource D(continued)

CPPE Urgent care: the place of pharmacy and CPCS e-learning (in development)

Resource E CPPE Clinical history-taking: what a good consultation looks like e-learninghttps://www.cppe.ac.uk/programmes/l/consult-e-00

Resource F CPPE CPCS video wall (in development)

Resource G CPPE Common clinical conditions and minor ailmentshttps://www.cppe.ac.uk/programmes/l/respmin-p-03/

Resource H NICE Clinical knowledge summaries (NICE CKS)https://cks.nice.org.uk/#?char=A

Have you used NICE CKS?

Resource I CPPE Dermatology pocket guide: common skin conditions explainedhttps://www.cppe.ac.uk/programmes/l/dermatology-p-01/

Resource J HEE commissioned Assessment Skills face to face training events in London orCPPE Community pharmacist consultation service: clinical examination: essential skills face to face workshop

Resource K CPPE Documenting in clinical records e-learning (in development)

Resource L CPPE Pharmacy services: delivering quality e-learninghttps://www.cppe.ac.uk/programmes/l/services-e-01/

Resource M Support from PharmOutcomes and Sonar ie the CPCS IT system providers. See Sonar website (if a pharmacy in London) or the PharmaOutcomes website (if outside of London)

N/A

Resource M(continued)

Your pharmacy’s SCR SOP

For the CPPE resources many can be directly accessed from the CPPE NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service learning page https://www.cppe.ac.uk/gateway/cpcs

Action for the Superintendent (or other Lead Pharmacist) - to ensure all Pharmacists are aware of the below “actions for all pharmacist” (this includes all regular pharmacists, weekend pharmacists, regular locums, support pharmacist)

Actions for all Pharmacists Ensure you are competent to deliver the CPCS service in line with the NHSE Service

Specification, this can be demonstrated by having completing the self-assessment framework above.Log onto the CPPE website / Virtual Outcomes website / RPS website etc & go through the suggested courses.

o BTW you will have done most of the CPPE courses already. o Ensure CPPE certificates & other certificate are made available to the

Superintendent Pharmacist (or other appropriate Pharmacist) & stored in the pharmacy

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8)NHS CPCS Implementation checklist - to be actioned by the Superintendent Pharmacist (or other appropriate Lead Pharmacist)

Action CompleteThe pharmacy is registered with NHSBSA (via MYS) to provide the service.

All pharmacists have read the CPCS SOP (NB this covers the NHS CPCS service specification, as well as the other NHS key guidance doc, the NHS CPCS toolkit)All Pharmacists are familiar with and feel competent to provide care for patients presenting with referral conditions for the Minor Illnesses listed in the CPCS SOP for the CPCS Minor Illness serviceThe pharmacy team have a process in place to check for referrals from NHS 111 at appropriate intervals ie the CPCS IT system & the pharmacy’s shared NHS email is checked (as a minimum) on opening the pharmacy, at approx 12pm, at approx 4pm & 1 hour before closing.These are suggested times – the superintendent pharmacist should identify what times are appropriate for their pharmacy. The Service spec states “During the pharmacy’s opening hours, the CPCS IT system must be checked with appropriate regularity, to pick up referrals in a timely manner. This includes checking the pharmacy’s shared NHSmail mailbox when a pharmacy opens and before the pharmacy closes each day to ensure that no messages have been missed that may have been sent to the NHSmail mailbox during any period of ITK messaging outage within the CPCS IT system.”The pharmacy team have logon credentials to access the NHS CPCS IT system.

The pharmacy team have access to the pharmacy’s NHSmail shared mailbox on every day the pharmacy is open.Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians can access the NHS Summary Care Record (SCR).

Locums or relief pharmacists are able to readily access the NHS CPCS service specification, SOP and have the required logon credentials for the NHS CPCS IT system and access to the NHSmail shared mailbox for the pharmacy.

The DOS helpline number 0300 0200 363 has been added to the pharmacy’s business continuity plan processes in case of an emergency closure where the service needs to be temporarily disabled. All Pharmacists and locums who will be delivering the service have been signposted to the “CPCS Pharmacists learning and development requirements checklist” (in the Pharmacy London document pack)

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