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The spring covid vaccination campaign starts this Monday 13th April, and it was good to see several of you on the ICB vaccination drop-in event on Thursday 9th April. Please be aware that vaccination invitation texts and emails are still being sent to patients who are not actually eligible for vaccination: The wording has slightly changed to say “we’ll need to confirm this with you when you attend, before you can be vaccinated.” We have raised concerns with region that this is still putting additional pressure on pharmacies to manage patient expectation, and that it may waste appointments if patients book but are not actually eligible. The regional vaccination team have agreed to take this back to the national team, however texts and emails have already been sent to patients. To read more click here.
We would like to remind pharmacies of the contractual requirement to prepare and submit an annual complaints report covering the previous financial year. What Must the Report Include? To fulfil the requirements of the complaint’s procedure, your annual report must include: · The total number of complaints received. · The number of complaints that were decided to be well-founded. · The number of complaints referred to the Health Service Commissioner. You will also be required to provide a summary of the subject matter of the complaints, any matters of general importance regarding how they were handled, and any actions taken to improve services as a result of the feedback. As the report is public-facing and can be requested by anyone, please ensure that you maintain patient confidentiality. To read more click here.
Update on Meningitis outbreak in Kent and latest guidance The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and NHS are coordinating the health response to a number of cases of invasive meningococcal disease in the Kent area. A range of communications resources have been shared with partners: • You can read more on the cases in UKHSA’s media statement: Cases of invasive meningococcal disease confirmed in Kent - GOV.UK This same link will be updated with any further news updates. • Blog on meningitis: What is meningitis? Symptoms, risks and how to protect yourself – UK Health Security Agency • A vaccine communications toolkit for university students and a meningitis and septicaemia signs and symptoms asset has also been developed, co-badged with Meningitis Now.
It’s interesting how some of the same topics keep coming round, recently there has been a growing flurry of complaints about changing of patient EPS nominations. We have seen first hand on visits that many contractors are obtaining patient consent, ie patients are signing an EPS nomination form* but we are not sure that this is necessarily informed consent. This is often because a patient has an acute prescription (for example at the weekend or out of hours) or is attending for some other service that they cannot access at their usual pharmacy for whatever reason. It is perfectly reasonable for the “new” pharmacy to ask the patient if they want to change their nomination.
If you are not sure if you completed a DBS check within the last three years, or you are not sure if you enrolled for the DBS update service (which automatically renews and avoids the need to reapply every three years) or if you don’t know if you have a standard* or enhanced DBS check you can search "Track a DBS Application" *You must have the enhanced DBS check to meet the criteria for PQS, also any registered staff providing off-site vaccinations or the 2-3 year old ‘flu vaccinations are required to have a current enhanced DBS check
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The spring covid vaccination campaign starts this Monday 13th April, and it was good to see several of you on the ICB vaccination drop-in event on…
We would like to remind pharmacies of the contractual requirement to prepare and submit an annual complaints report covering the previous financial year. What Must…
The spring covid vaccination campaign starts this Monday, 13th April, and it was good to see several of you on the ICB vaccination drop-in event…
NHS England is undertaking an evaluation of the provision of the childhood flu vaccination Advanced service. The service was commissioned to provide flu vaccinations to…
NHS England has authorised and published a vaccine group direction (VGD) for use in the Spring 2026 COVID-19 vaccination campaign. VGDs are a new legal…
Every community pharmacy owner has an NHS Parent Organisation Code (POC). This is the unique code that identifies your parent organisation within the NHS. If…
