| Weekly News Digest - 28th May 2026 |
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| Thames Valley ICB are working towards a single Thames Valley formulary. A new Thames Valley NetFormulary is now live at https://www.thamesvalleyformulary.nhs.uk/. Formulary chapters will stay hidden until later this year while alignment work continues. Please continue using existing place‑based formularies for formulary decisions. The new site will host clinical documents only, including guidelines, position statements, shared care protocols and patient information leaflets. Historic BOB and Frimley sites will remain accessible until 31 July, but they are archived and will not be updated. See here for more information. |
Save the date & Expression of Interest Opportunity: Showcasing Pharmacy Technician Careers – Virtual South East NHS England eventNHS England South East is hosting a workshop celebrating the diverse and evolving roles of pharmacy technicians. The session will highlight career development, leadership, retention, widening participation, and education and training pathways. Open to Pre‑registration Trainee Pharmacy Technicians and Pharmacy Technicians across the South East. Interested in showcasing your role? Submit an expression of interest - see here for more information. |
| OHID and the NPCC have issued a joint letter to Directors of Public Health and policing leads ahead of the summer festival season. It highlights ways to reduce drug and alcohol‑related harm and includes practical advice for local authorities and police when planning events. The guidance also contains clear harm‑reduction messages and links to trusted resources that can be shared with service users and anyone attending festivals or summer events. |
CPE have produced a short video to support pharmacy teams with dispensing and endorsing FP10MDA instalment prescription forms. |
The Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey (CPWS) key findings are available here. |
NMS Myth Busting SeriesView the latest updates in the NMS myth busting series #5 and #6. |
Patient safety impacts of incomplete or inaccurate barcode data in NHS pharmacy services are being explored. The survey is approx. 10-15 mins - deadline for completion is 18th June. |
SPS have produced a monthly newsletter, Spotlight, with helpful information, the May edition is now available to download. |
| From 1 June 2026, the Manage Your Service (MYS) will be the only route to notify ICBs of temporary suspensions/closures. Email notifications will no longer be accepted, and no follow up emails will be needed once a report is submitted in MYS. See here for more information. |
Clinical waste escalationTo help manage the acute situation, any urgent issues e.g. pharmacies who are not receiving a response from Anenta and are having to turn patients with waste medicines away, please email: frimleyicb.southeastcommunitypharmacy@nhs.net with the name of the pharmacy, ODS code and address, brief description of the issue, estimation of volume of waste that needs collecting and the ticket number they have raised with Anenta. It will be escalated to Anenta to prioritise. All tickets raised with Anenta will be actioned in date order (oldest first), so pharmacies are advised to avoid opening new tickets for issues already raised. |
See here for the latest information about access to NHS dental services in the Thames Valley area. |
| CPE is coming to the South East this July to meet directly with pharmacy owners and their representatives as part of our annual series of regional evening roadshow events. Your local session takes place on Thursday 9th July in Farnborough – bringing senior CPE figures together with local pharmacies to talk honestly about funding, pressures on the sector, and what needs to happen next. We hope the series of events will explain the CPCF negotiations, give attendees the chance to ask questions and challenge decisions, gathering real-world insight to help shape preparations for future negotiations. It’s a valuable opportunity to share local experiences, influence future priorities, and connect with colleagues from across the region. Register for your local event. |
| The Community Pharmacy & General Practice Conference (21st–22nd June, Birmingham) is a new, free event bringing together pharmacy, general practice and primary care leaders to explore practical approaches to collaboration, service delivery and neighbourhood working. Register here. |
| If you’ve yet to do any initiation consultations or still feel hesitant in doing them, this workshop is for you. The aim of the workshop is to support Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians with delivering oral contraception initiation as part of the Pharmacy Contraception Service on Sunday 5th July, 10am-12 noon, Hampshire Court Hotel, Centre Drive, Great Binfields Road, Chineham, Basingstoke, RG24 8FY. Book here. |
Steroid emergency card issue for those at risk of adrenal crisis A reminder that all patients with primary adrenal insufficiency and some patients taking steroids for other medical conditions may develop secondary adrenal insufficiency and therefore at risk of adrenal crisis. The national patient safety alert states a patient-held steroid emergency card must be issued to these patients to support early recognition of adrenal insufficiency and emergency treatment if the patient is acutely ill, experiences trauma, surgery or other major stressors. There have been local reports to the ICB that some patients have not been issued steroid emergency cards by secondary care recently on initiation of treatment. This issue has been highlighted back to the acute trust who will investigate as per their incident management route. |
Metoject® (methotrexate) prescribing incident An incident has been reported where the incorrect methotrexate subcutaneous preparation, generic methotrexate instead of Metoject®, was prescribed in primary care. Metoject® is the brand of choice within Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West as per shared care protocol. |
Valproate safety resources available The NHS South East Regional Clinical Quality Improvement team has collaborated with clinicians and people with lived experience to help improve the quality and clarity of conversations about valproate. A new short film has been developed to highlight how these discussions are experienced from both clinical and lived experience perspectives. It is intended to support meaningful, person centred conversations at every contact—whether at the point of prescribing or during routine and annual reviews. The film complements a range of accessible resources, including easy read materials and translations in 30 languages, all designed to support safer, more inclusive care for people prescribed valproate. |
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