ACTION: For pharmacy owners who use or have previously used PharmOutcomes

NHS England has this week sent out a further cascade message to NHS pharmacy contract teams for distribution to all pharmacies via email (this follows on from the initial message that was emailed on 24th June 2024) regarding post event messages on PharmOutcomes.

The new cascade message highlights the actions that pharmacy owners who use or have used PharmOutcomes, in the past must take if they have a queue of notification emails within PharmOutcomes for clinical services provided by the pharmacy.

NHS England is asking pharmacy owners to complete these actions by 30th September 2024. If pharmacy owners are unable to complete the required actions by this date, they are asked to inform their local commissioning team.

If you do not use or have never used PharmOutcomes for any clinical services, no action is required. In addition, if you do not have a queue of notification emails within PharmOutcomes for clinical services delivered by the pharmacy, no action is required.

Why is action required?

NHS England was made aware of a technical issue on PharmOutcomes with service notifications (electronic post event messages) not being sent automatically to some GP practices following clinical service consultations in community pharmacy for a range of services.

Ordinarily, notifications will be sent automatically by secure email where a GP practice has a verified email address. However, in the absence of a valid email address for the practice, the pharmacist (or other pharmacy team member) must ensure the notification is sent via an alternative method, e.g. manually via NHSmail or manually printed and delivered. This requirement is described within all the Advanced service specifications for clinical services.

On 24th June 2024, NHS England informed pharmacy owners that they may be impacted if they had a queue of emails relating to their patients. Affected GP practices were also informed. NHS England advised pharmacies and GP practices to await further guidance following a clinical review of the issue to assess next steps.  The cascade message sent out this week provides this further guidance as to the actions to take.

Any questions regarding this issue, should be directed to EMIS PharmOutcomes, your ICB Community Pharmacy Clinical Lead (or equivalent) or your local commissioning team.