Services Database Urgent & Emergency Care (UEC) CPCS Pilot (Gateshead Area)

The purpose of the NHS CPCS is to reduce the burden on urgent and emergency care services by
referring patients requiring low acuity advice and treatment to community pharmacies, irrespective
of where they first present, eg from NHS 111, from general practice and from urgent treatment
centres or emergency departments. Its aim is to ensure that patients have access to the same or
more appropriate levels of care, for minor illness with a self-care emphasis and to support access
to urgent medicines supply when they are unable to access a usual repeat prescription. This pilot will test referrals to the same service (NHS CPCS) in community pharmacy settings from the
remaining points of presentation, i.e. UEC settings (notably Urgent Treatment Centres and hospital Emergency departments). The benefits from the already-established NHS CPCS will be extended to those patients using the additional UEC settings for urgent repeat medicine supplies and those low acuity minor illness conditions identified for referral to the NHS CPCS in community pharmacies. The pilot aims to support a reduction in the burden of this case mix on urgent and emergency care services from these additional UEC settings. The agreement is for the pharmacy to provide self-care advice and support, including printed information, to all individuals referred to the pharmacy by the identified additional UEC settings on the management of specified low acuity conditions and urgent repeat medication supplies.

• The pharmacy contractor is expected to meet all the requirements of the current NHS
  CPCS advanced service specification.
• To participate at least one pharmacist in each pharmacy must have undertaken (or be registered to undertake) the CPCS training via Royal Pharmaceutical Society
  (RPS) and Royal College of General Practice (RCGP) accredited training for the
  NHS CPCS. The link to the training site is shown below:
  NHS CPCS Workshops | RPS (rpharms.com)
• The pharmacy must be registered for the NHS CPCS and have a consultation
  completion rate above 60% (averaged over the previous six months) for 111 minor
  illness referrals made into the NHS CPCS. The NHS E/I regional pharmacy
  commissioning team will confirm that the pharmacy contractors have met this
  criterion using the data available for reporting through the CPCS IT systems.