| Weekly News Digest - 17th April 2025 |
|
| Community Pharmacy England invites pharmacy owners and their teams to the CPCF Roadshow in South/London on Saturday 26th April 2025, from 2pm to 4pm, at the Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury, Coram Street, London, WC1N 1HT. This in-person event will cover crucial topics including the new funding and contractual arrangements for 2024/25 and 2025/26, updates on service developments, funding changes, regulatory adjustments, and the Pharmacy Quality Scheme; as well as insights from the Minister, DHSC officials, and an Independent Economic Analysis. It will include presentations from the CPE Negotiating Team, a Q&A session, this is a key opportunity to understand upcoming changes and raise any questions. REGISTER HERE |
| Attention Pharmacy Contractors - please be reminded that to qualify for the monthly fixed payment, all contractors delivering the Pharmacy First Service must also provide the Contraception Service and Blood Pressure Check Service. For more details and information please read the section in Service developments and changes to fees: Pharmacy First in the briefing document. |
| CPE and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have agreed on a process to ensure that pharmacy owners receive the 19p increase in the Single Activity Fee (SAF) earlier for the dispensing months of April and May 2025. Advanced payments for these months will be adjusted to reflect the SAF uplift. From June 2025 onwards, no changes to advance payments will be needed. See here for more information. |
| The GPhC has highlighted concerns about pharmacies working with online prescribing services not regulated in the UK. It has revealed cases where pharmacies failed to conduct proper risk assessments or due diligence when collaborating with unregulated platforms, often based abroad. Pharmacy contractors are urged to review GPhC guidance, including advice on providing services online and at a distance, to ensure compliance and patient safety. Click here. |
| The GPhC has jointly issued an enforcement notice with the ASA and MHRA, which makes it clear that adverts for named prescription-only medicines (POMs) for weight management are prohibited. |
| From 6 April 2025, patients who hold a tax credit exemption certificate will no longer receive automatic entitlement to free NHS prescriptions under the ‘Tax Credit exemption certificate’ category. The NHS Business Services Authority has produced a poster for community pharmacies to display. |
| Current prescription charges will roll over into April 2025; updates will follow once Ministers announce changes. |
| The EPS team seeks pharmacies to pilot a new prescription tracker from May to June, involving a 45-60 minute virtual session, potential site visits, and regular feedback. The pilot will run for approximately 6 to 8 weeks, pharmacies can express interest in participating by filling out this form. |
CPE would like pharmacy owners to share their views a following the new CPCF funding settlement, before the their next Committee meeting. The survey will closes on Wednesday 30th April 2025. Please note, this survey is for community pharmacy owners only – CCA and multiple branch head offices will be contacted separately. Read more and complete the poll.
|
The new RPS Greener Pharmacy Toolkit provides user-friendly digital resource to introduce more sustainable practices to reduce emissions, improve patient care, prevent ill health, tackle medicines waste and achieve efficiency savings. The Greener Pharmacy Toolkit is designed to help community and hospital pharmacy teams take practical action to reduce the environmental impact of pharmacy services, pharmaceutical care and medicines, while supporting patient care.
|
Stay on top of your schedule with ease using our Monthly Deadline Tracker. This April edition is designed to keep you organized and help you meet your deadlines effortlessly.
|
| Read the latest edition of Healthwise Oxfordshire Newsletter. |
| From 1 April 2025 Berkshire West, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire ICB will take responsibility for handling complaints for residents in the area; this was previously managed by the South East Complaints Hub. See here for more information. |
| CPCF Settlement 2024/25 and 2025/26 |
|
Community Pharmacy England, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and NHS England have announced the 2024/25 and 2025/26 funding settlement for community pharmacy. To help stakeholders understand the implications of these new arrangements, a comprehensive CPCF briefing document and infographic are available for reference. Additionally, a recorded presentation detailing the funding and contractual updates is now available to watch on-demand. |
Contract changesCPE have put together various FAQs on most of the common topics around the new settlement - see quick links below:
General funding FAQs
Summary of regulatory changes
Core opening house information
NMS regulatory FAQs
DSP regulatory FAQs
Changes to NMS fees
The NHSBSA has published the Pharmacy First Clinical Pathways band assignments and monthly caps for April 2025, detailing allocations by pharmacy ODS code. Visit the NHSBSA website for a list of contractors, their assigned band, and monthly cap.
Starting with April 2025 consultations for the Hypertension Case-Finding Service and the Pharmacy Contraception Service (PCS), advance consultation fees will now be paid on the same day as the current advance payment. Additionally, reimbursement for items supplied in the PCS will be integrated into the main advance payment calculation.
|
The Lateral flow device tests supply service will continue to be commissioned as an Advanced service through 2025/26. NHS England has also confirmed the fee for provision of the service will increase to £4.10 + VAT from 1st April 2025. See here for more information about the service and support materials.
|
| Full details of the Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) 2025/26 are now available on CPE's PQS hub page following the announcement on the arrangements for the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) in 2024/25 and 2025/26. |
View the animated short clip summarising the new CPCF arrangements for 2024/25 and 2025/26.
|
| VirtualOutcomes have launched a new course following the series on skin rashes in children (see attached flyer). They are now in the process of writing courses to support the new contract following the announcement. We will keep you posted when these are released but please visit the VirtualOutcomes website for all courses. |
| Pfizer Ltd are holding a promotional meeting on Wednesday 30th April 2025 13:10–13:45pm or 19:25–20:00pm, topics will include: COVID-19 Management: From Patient Identification to Treatment Selection and the LDF Service: Top Tips on Implementation See here for more information on how to register. |
|
|
|
_1.jpg)