ISSUE NO.40 WEEKENDING 16Thoctober 2015

ISSUE NO.40 WEEKENDING 16thOctober 2015

GENERAL INFORMATION

PUBLIC HEALTH CAMPAIGN – MOVEMBER

Please see below important information regarding the Directed Public Health Campaign for November/December 2015.

Please ensure you inform NHS England by email to when you are displaying the campaign material.

This will be your mechanism to report your compliance with this contractual obligation.

NOTIFICATION OF DISCHARGE

Some patients discharged from Arrowe Park hospital receive their medication in blister packs or MDS. This is not something the hospital encourage but it is necessary for some patients .

In order to help community pharmacies plan for on going prescriptions they should receive ‘notification of discharge’ information by fax, notifying them of patients who wish to come to them for their medicines when they return home.

Philippa Roberts, Director of Pharmacy at Wirral University Teaching Hospital Foundation Trust, would like you to contact her if you aren’t getting these faxes. Please email her on .

SECURITY OF PRESCRIPTION FORMS SURVEY

You are invited to participate in a survey to evaluate NHS Protect’s Security of Prescription Forms Guidance.
The guidance document was first published in 2008 and has since been updated to reflect a number of changes, including changes to the NHS structure:
NHS Protect would like to conduct an evaluation to assess how the guidance is used and to identify if any updates and amendments are required based on current practices.
We would like to hear from:
- Prescribers of medicines (including contractors and locum staff);
- Independent prescribers;
- Supplementary prescribers;
- Pharmacists and dispensing staff;
- Heads of medicines management;
- Practice managers;
- Staff who manage and administer prescription form stock; and
- Controlled Drugs Accountable Officers (CDAOs).
By completing this survey you will help us determine how we can improve the Security of Prescription Forms Guidance and ensure it remains responsive to the specific needs of prescribers and organisations on how security of these important items can be addressed. However, participation in this survey is completely voluntary.
Please find below the link to the security of prescription forms survey.

The survey consists of 14 questions and should take no more than 15 minutes to complete, a pdf of the survey is attached for your information. All responses are anonymous and will be treated as confidential.
The deadline for completing the survey is 31st October 2015.
If you have any queries about this work or would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact Lorraine Harris, Policy Lead at

EASTERN CHESHIRE

DERMATOLOGY GUIDELINES

Please find the electronic version of the 1st Edition of the Local Health Economy Dermatology Guidelineslocated on the MMT Website under clinical guidelines:

A hard copy is being printed and will be available in due course.

SOUTH CHESHIRE

DERMATOLOGY GUIDELINES

Please find the electronic version of the 1st Edition of the Local Health Economy Dermatology Guidelineslocated on the MMT Website under clinical guidelines:

A hard copy is being printed and will be available in due course.

VALE ROYAL

DERMATOLOGY GUIDELINES

Please find the electronic version of the 1st Edition of the Local Health Economy Dermatology Guidelineslocated on the MMT Website under clinical guidelines:

A hard copy is being printed and will be available in due course.

WARRINGTON

CCG BULLETIN

WESTERN CHESHIRE

CCG BULLETIN

WIRRAL

WIRRAL MEDS MANAGEMENT TEAM INFO.

Wirral Medicines Management Team would like to inform pharmacies about future cost effective switch areas. Availability of products has been confirmed in advance with local wholesalers and manufacturers. Our team will also contact pharmacies individually for switches involving high numbers of patients.

Out of stock items

We appreciate that occasional products become unavailable due to manufacture supply issues, this can cause inconvenience to pharmacies and patients. We would like to work together when this happens to minimise the inconvenience to patients, GP Practices and Community Pharmacies. Therefore if you are unable to obtain stock due to a manufacture supply issue please contact Wirral Medicines Information Services and we will investigate the issue and take appropriate action. This may include informing practices and other community pharmacies , suggesting alternatives , amending ScriptSwitch and possibly delaying projects. The action taken will depend on the product involved as well as the expected timescale of the problem. Sorry we are not able to help with out of stocks due to stock flow or quota control therefore please do not report these by this process.

For further Information please contact Wirral Medicines Information Services 0151 643 5338 (Mon - Fri, 9am-5pm) or via

Please could you adjust your stocks accordingly.

If you have any comments or suggestions for the Community Pharmacy Bulletin please contact