ISSUE NO. 46 WEEK ENDING 25th December 2015

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

GENERAL INFORMATION

COMMUNITY PHARMACY BREAK IN – UPDATED INFORMATION

NHS England North (Cheshire & Merseyside) have been informed of two “break ins” which have taken place in Community Pharmacies in the Wirral area where medicines have been taken and staff threatened. We would like to remind all contractors to be extra vigilant at this time. Please consider the safety of all staff particularly when opening and closing your stores early in the morning and late at night.

Further to the above notice issued in last week’s bulletin; please note that if you do find yourselves in this situation please ensure you inform NHS England on or 0113 824 3539. If any controlled drugs are taken during a break in, please contact the Accountable Office on

PRESS RELEASE: REGULATOR ASKS THOSE WITH DIABETES TO STORE HOME USE BLOOD GLUCOSE TEST STRIPS CORRECTLY

Press release: Regulator asks those with diabetes to store home use blood glucose test strips correctly

21 December, 2015 at 12:29pm

Storing home use GlucoMen LX Sensor test strips incorrectly, especially in high humidity, can lead to falsely high readings.

GONORRHOEA AND ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE

Please see the attached letter from the Department of Health about appropriate prescribing for gonorrhoea in light of the risk of antimicrobial resistance. Please send any queries to .

IMPROVING CARE IN CARE HOMES

On 24 February 2016 the Royal Pharmaceutical Society will be launching its next and third campaign around 'Pharmacists improving care in care homes'. In order to make this campaign successful they are asking our members to submit examples of good practice, so if you know of, or are involved in delivering care within a care home then please complete our survey at

They held a Care Home Summit last week with a range of national stakeholders which will help to inform policy and recommendations around this campaign, it certainly has given a lot of food for thought. It is likely that they will be mainly concentrating on the clinical care provided by pharmacists in care homes such as undertaking person-centred medicines reviews and supporting training of staff in medicines issues, as well as ensuring safe and efficient systems of medicines supply and medicines processes within the care home.

CPPE NW URGENT CARE PROJECT - ADVANCED TRAINING IN THE ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF URGENT CASES - NEW DATES FOR 2016

CPPE have successfully delivered 2 pilots and 8 residential Urgent Care workshops and feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from delegates. Consequently more workshop s have been planned.

The 2 day residential is facilitated by CPPE and medic taught. It looks at the consultation process and skills required and then move on to history taking and note keeping. The course explores one major system - respiratory, and 4 minor systems – ENT, superficial eye, lymph and skin. For each of these body systems the medics teach the examination and then there are practice sessions involving examination , case studies, and peer review of history taking scenarios. The course is supported by 2 CPPE tutor, 2 medics and 2 medical role players throughout.

The dates for the next phase of workshops for the project are now planned , and booking is on live on the CPPE website

The dates are:

  • 21/22 January – Central Manchester
  • 26/27 January – Ellesmere Port
  • 27/28 February – Preston ( a weekend date, as we have been asked to provide a non-weekday option)
  • 17/18 March – Stockport

HOME OXYGEN SERVICES REMINDER

Please ensure that existing HOS patients are aware of the need to plan and place their oxygen orders for the Christmas and New Year holiday period in advance by contacting Air Liquide (Homecare) Limited patient helpline - 0808 143 9992.

Please note:

Christmas Day - patients should only contact the AL patient helpline on Friday 25th December and on Monday 28th December for URGENT requests, normal service will resume on Tuesday 29th December 2015

New Year’s Day - patients should only contact the AL patient helpline on Friday 1st January 2016 for URGENT requests, normal service will resume on Monday 4th January 2016

Home Oxygen patients’ requests for refills, for existing HOS patients, will be managed over the Christmas and New Year holiday period in exactly the same way as they are all year round, i.e. empty cylinders will only be exchanged for full cylinders, this is in line with the National Framework Agreement (NFA) and the NW HOS Contract.

Air Liquide (Homecare) Limited will be closed for routine orders and enquiries on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day but the 24/7 Prescriber Helpline 0808 202 2099 and the 24/7 Customer Helpline 0808 143 9992 are available for an ‘Urgent’ response. Please note that ‘Urgent’ response does not include portable oxygen supply (unless this is the patients only source of Oxygen).

WARRINGTON

CCG BULLETIN

WESTERN CHESHIRE

CCG BULLETIN

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