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Below is a list of national key contacts, links and organisations you may find useful.

CPSS is not responsible for the content of other sites.

• Independent Pharmacies Association | IPA
• Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK)
• CCA – Company Chemists Association
• General Pharmaceutical Council
• NPA – National Pharmacy Association
• Pharmacist Support
• Community Pharmacy England (CPE)
• Royal Pharmaceutical Society
• NHSBSA
• Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) and CPPE newsletters
• Specialist Pharmacy Service (SPS)
• DHSC resource centre

The ‘Manage your service’ (MYS) portal aims to reduce the administrative burden on community pharmacies by providing one portal to complete reimbursement and remuneration tasks and it’s going to be the only way contractors can claim for certain services.

Pharmacies need to sign-up to use the portal by completing an access authorisation form.

A list of useful FAQ’s about MYS can be found here.

For more information 

• • • Manage your service (MYS)
    • Contact nhsbsa.mys@nhs.net.
    • Contact us at  lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk 

See ‘B’ for blister pack

For more information

• • Email lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk

There is a very high level of media interest about pharmacy locally and nationally.

For all media enquiries for CPSS, Sussex LPC or Surrey LPC or for pharmacy contractor support with the media please contact Julia Powell, Chief Executive Officer at juliapowell@communitypharmacyss.co.uk.

For more information 

• • Contact lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk

Integrated Care Systems (ICS’s) have teams of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who work closely with community pharmacy, GPs and other local health providers to help get the best out of medicines for local people. These medicines management teams also support their Integrated Care Systems aim to improve the health of the population by optimising the use of medicines.

Contact details for medicines management teams in Surrey and Sussex.

Shortages of medicines are becoming an increasingly frequent issue that can hinder pharmacy teams’ efforts to dispense medicines in a timely manner. Community Pharmacy England and CPSS are very concerned about the impact that current supply problems are having on pharmacy teams’ workload and about the potential impact on their patients.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) produces a monthly update of shortages for primary and secondary care, this can be found on the Specialist Pharmacy Service (SPS) website under the medicines supply tool section.

Please report any new medicine shortages not listed on the SPS website using the CPE online reporting form if you have not been able to source stock of a medicine from any supplier or manufacturer. The Community Pharmacy England medicine shortage reporting form is intended for use by primary care teams only. Information on the reported medicine may be shared with the DHSC’s medicine supply team.

If a medicine is not affected by a shortage but is unavailable to purchase from your supplier(s) at or below the Drug Tariff listed price, please report the pricing issue to Community Pharmacy England to consider a request for a price concession.

A guidance document from Surrey Heartlands ICB on managing medication shortages in Primary Care is available here. Guidelines : Stock shortages

Specific local guidance is available on the current Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Therapy shortage here. Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Therapy (PERT) shortages information.

The Central Alerting System (CAS) is a web-based cascading system for issuing patient safety alerts, important public health messages and other safety critical information and guidance to the NHS and others, including independent providers of health and social care. Alerts available on the CAS website include safety alerts, CMO messages, drug alerts, Dear Doctor letters and Medical Device Alerts.

The MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency) also sends alerts. Contractors can sign up to receive information direct to their email in-boxes.

For more information

• • • CPEs page on patient safety information
    • Contact us at lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk

Mind the Gap Handbook, is a clinical guide to signs and symptoms in black and brown skin, which was produced to address the lack of diversity in medical literature and education. 

Download the Handbook from here

At CPSS we actively engage with local politicians to champion for community pharmacy and advocate for change. We have carried out a number of successful visits to date raising awareness of the financial situation within community pharmacy, with further engagement and communications planned as part of our strategy. 

If you would like to support raising awareness of the situation within community pharmacy and to contact your MP, resources are available here. We can also support you with this just contact us at lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk.

ICB’s across Surrey and Sussex provide a free of charge needlestick injury occupational health service via Heales for community pharmacy  
The ICB’s have a contract with Heales Medical for Occupational Health, providing support around needlestick injuries for all staff working in primary care on exposure to potential Blood Borne Viruses (BBV), 52 weeks of the year (normal working hours 9am-5pm Monday-Friday, excluding bank holidays). If you need any further information and a poster regarding the service, please contact us at lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk.

Every week we compile and distribute a round-up of news and updates to help pharmacy owners and pharmacy teams in Surrey and Sussex keep up to date with information from the LPCs and news from the wider network of healthcare professionals, colleagues and local commissioners. 

This is additional to nationally significant news and information distributed by CPE.

For more information

• • • Our newsletters
    • Sign up to receive Surrey and Sussex news distributed by the LPCs
    • Sign up to nationally significant news and information distributed by CPE

The NHS App allows people to see their medical records, order repeat prescriptions and has a number of other functions, full details are available on their website. 

It is available for Android and iOS smartphones, and can be used by anyone aged 13 or over.

The NHS Business Services Authority is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department of Health and Social Care. It provides central services to NHS bodies, patients and the public, such as managing the NHS pension scheme and administering payments to pharmacists and dentists.

Dispensing Contractors – information  |  Drug Tariff  |  Prescribing & dispensing  |  Submitting prescriptions  |   Payments & pricing  |  Serious shortage protocols (SSPs)  |   Hints, tips & webinars  |  Pharmacies, GP practices and appliance contractors news

• • • Sign up for the dispensing contractors newsletter

For more information

• • Got a question? Visit the NHS prescription services knowledge base.

• • NHS prescription services on the NHSBSA website.
  • Contact NHS prescription services.
  • CPE Manage Your Service (MYS).
  • Contact us at lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk.

NHSmail is a centrally funded and managed secure email and communications service which is approved by the NHS for exchanging patient data.

To set up NHS Mail, register via the community pharmacy NHSmail registration portal here. You need to provide the name, email addresses and mobile phone number of each team member that will be allocated a personal NHSmail account (once you have located your pharmacy on the registration page – have your GPhC premises number handy too). Note if you work for a multiple pharmacy group – please check with your head Office for their own internal procedures for obtaining a NHS e-mail address.

          Guide to link shared & personal mailboxes.

If you have any issues during the process, please contact pharmacyadmin@nhs.net, who will support you through the process.

Read more: About NHSmail

For more information

• • Pharmacy helpdesk: pharmacyadmin@nhs.net should be your first point of contact for help with your account, such as unlocking your account or a password reset.
  • NHSmail helpdesk: For all other queries regarding NHSmail, the national NHSmail helpdesk is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on 0333 200 1133, or via email at helpdesk@nhs.net.
  • Contact us at lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk

The NHS website is the primary public facing website of the NHS. Its pages include directories of local health services (a Directory of Services), information on a wide range of conditions and treatments and accessible public health information. The site also provides comparative data about healthcare providers, to help people make informed choices about their healthcare and allows patients to provide online feedback on services.

It is a requirement of contractors terms of service to ensure they verify and, where necessary, update the information contained in their NHS website profile and their Directory of Services (DoS) profile at least once each quarter of the financial year.  

Even if no changes have been made during the financial quarter, contractors should still verify this information using the NHS Profile Manager; this will create records which will act as evidence to NHS England that these actions have been undertaken. 

For more information

• • Read more about updating NHS Profile Manager here. 
  • Contact us at lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk.

ICB’s are responsible for overseeing opening hours for pharmacies. Within the South East this is handled locally by the SE Pharmacy Commissioning Hub based in Frimley ICB.

For information on how to change supplementary hours click here.

For information on how to change core hours click here.

For more information 

• • • CPEs information on opening hours includes advice about: changes to core contractual hours; changes to supplementary hours; temporary suspension of pharmaceutical services; bank holiday opening hours.
    • Contact us: lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk 

To support pharmacies to help signpost patients to their GP the Ovarian and Renal Cancer Health Improvement project team in Brighton and Hove have developed resources that support community pharmacies when selling OTC medication and spotting signs that a patient may need to speak to their GP about Ovarian and Renal cancers. 

The team produced 4 videos, 2 for Ovarian Cancer and 2 for Kidney Cancer to support pharmacy staff using WWHAM questions to refer patients to the pharmacist, so they could have a discussion about the symptoms and signpost to their GP if there are requested repeat supplies of certain OTC medicines.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HGxWsxohtkiWQNhdO9MSJRIIQw5tuo6v/view?usp=sharing 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mTSlsgzUUmKVj21easy1qzNh72HiNO_5/view?usp=sharing 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QDRWmdVPXBYQtk7_8nKqMk7RNNs6um7z/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-UldyWaKnCmpSr0lyE_8hyCpvsdBiUfW/view?usp=sharing

More information on the association between purchasing OTC medications and Ovarian Cancer can be found here.

More information on Kidney Cancer, please visit here.

Ovarian Cancer symptoms

Renal Cancer symptoms

Ovarian Cancer – The Clue is at the Counter

Early detection of Ovarian Cancer saves lives and with community pharmacies are on the front line, small conversations can make a life changing difference. Together, we can spot the signs, raise awareness, and offer hope.

Kaly Mohammed, Clinical Pharmacist in partnership with Target Ovarian Cancer and Community Pharmacy Surrey and Sussex has produced an education session on the importance of the role of community pharmacists on the front line in spotting the early warning signs of Ovarian Cancer and the role pharmacists can play in saving lives.

You can watch the education session here.

Slides for the education session can be found here.

To access the resources to support you and your patients, and to find out more about ovarian cancer, including further learning education modules, visit: https://targetovariancancer.org.uk/health-professionals

Join Target Ovarian Cancer’s Early Diagnosis Network to keep up to date with all things ovarian cancer here:

https://targetovariancancer.org.uk/health-professionals/early-diagnosis-network.