Key points
1. The new community pharmacy contract in Scotland
will be phased in from April 2006, depending on the availability
of a supporting
e-infrastructure for each service.
2. Implementation of the new contract will be managed at three
levels: in local groups, at NHS board level and nationally.
3. Local practitioner champions will initially gain expertise of
the new contract and then use this knowledge to train other pharmacists.
4. A new contract website is being set up and NES Pharmacy will
provide national training on the new services.
5. Patient registration for the minor ailment service will begin
in March. |
This week, the Scottish Executive published details about how the new
community pharmacy contract in Scotland will be implemented. The implementation
programme
starts immediately and will continue until April 2007.
A phased implementation has always been on the cards. The Scottish Executive
Health Department and the Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council agreed
some time ago that each of the four core services within the new contract
should only be implemented when the supporting e-infrastructure became
available. This means that, from April 2006, the public health and minor
ailment services will be introduced.
The e-infrastructure for the other two services — the acute medication
and chronic medication services — is still in development so these
services will not be implemented until later. It is hoped that the electronic
applications for these services will become available next summer but they
will not be fully rolled out until April 2007.
Implementation of the new contract will be managed at three levels: in
small local groups, at an NHS board level and at a national level. National
co-ordination of the implementation programme will be carried out by an
implementation management group, which will be part of the SEHD. Its role
is to ensure that all community pharmacists are offered the same level
and standard of support.
Local implementation groups will be established by NHS boards.
Local practitioner champions
Perhaps the most important person in the implementation plan — certainly
in terms of whom pharmacists will have the most contact with — is
the local practitioner champion. These practitioner champions will be community
pharmacists whose role will be to gain expertise in the new contract and
then to use their knowledge and experience to train and support other pharmacists.
The idea is that these practitioner champions will become a local contact
point through which training can be cascaded to other pharmacists. As
new parts of the contract are introduced, training will be managed through
the practitioner champions. So information will flow from the SEHD to
local
implementation groups at NHS board level and on to local practitioner
champions.
Practitioner champions are not expected to do this on their own: they
will be trained, supported and remunerated for this role. NHS Education
for
Scotland (NES) Pharmacy will provide an initial round of training. After
that, the practitioner champions will be supported by the local implementation
groups at NHS board level. Remuneration for the practitioner champion
role will come from a ring-fenced central fund allocated to NHS boards
by the
SEHD. This funding will cover the both the time and travel costs associated
with the role.
What community pharmacists have to do now is agree and appoint local
practitioner champions. Since practitioner champions are to be appointed
on a geographical
basis, this decision will be co-ordinated through the area pharmacy contractor
committee. The SPGC and NHS boards must be notified of the names of practitioner
champions by 19 December.
A personal specification for a pharmacist taking up the role has been
prepared. It states that such pharmacists should be on the practising
register of
the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, be wholly or mainly employed in community
pharmacy, have good communication skills, and be aware of the present
and potential future role for community pharmacy services. Desirable
qualities
include experience of teaching, mentoring skills, leadership skills and
an understanding of the principles of the new contract.
The practitioner champions will be supported by local implementation
groups established by NHS boards by 21 December. These groups will co-ordinate
local training activities and deal with any specific local issues that
might impact on the implementation of the contract. They will liaise
with
the SEHD and pass on any information to the local practitioner champions.
Local groups are expected to comprise all the local practitioner champions,
representatives from the area pharmaceutical committee, representatives
from the area pharmacy contractor committee, the board’s director
of pharmacy and medical director, representatives from primary care and
IM&T, and a patient representative.
At a national level, the SEHD’s internal implementation management
group will oversee the implementation. It will be advised by a stakeholder
group consisting of representatives from the SPGC, NES Pharmacy, the NHS
and patients.
Also at a national level, NES Pharmacy will continue to play a key role
in providing training to all community pharmacists as well as specific
training to practitioner champions. Another national resource will be
a new contract website, the address for which will be announced shortly.
It is hoped that pharmacists will use this website as a virtual support
group to share best practice, log problems, provide solutions and report
progress. What will happen now?
Service specifications for both the public health and minor ailment services
are expected to be published by the end of the year.
On the e-infrastructure front, the N3 (NHSnet) connection programme is
expected to be completed by the end of December. Connection is either direct,
for independent pharmacies, or via a head office connection for multiple
pharmacies. Although all independent pharmacies and all multiple head offices
will be connected by the end of the year, connection of each individual
multiple pharmacy will depend on the company head office’s timetable.
Another e-infrastructure development is the roll-out of the application
to support the minor ailment service.
The national electronic patient registration system is now in place and
all pharmacy software suppliers are on course to provide a software module
for the service by April. Some companies are expected to start introducing
the software in December with others following in the new year.
In January 2006, the implementation programme really kicks in with an NES
Pharmacy national workshop on the minor ailment service, NES Pharmacy training
for the practitioner champions, and a national workshop on the new contract
for the NHS and practitioner champions. This will be followed, in February,
with the SEHD beginning national public awareness initiatives about the
new contract. March brings the final preparations for implementation of
the first two core services. A minor ailment service resource pack will
be issued by NES Pharmacy and pharmacists will start to register patients
for the service. Implementation of the minor ailment and public health
services is scheduled for April. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal