Community Pharmacy

Question 1

What are essential services?

Answer 1

Essential services are services all pharmacy contractors have to provide as part of the NHS Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (the ‘pharmacy contract’).

These include:

• dispensing medicines
• dispensing appliances
• repeat dispensing
• clinical governance
• public health (promotion of healthy lifestyle)
• disposal of unwanted medicines
• signposting
• support for self care
• funding for essential services

Question 2

What are advanced services?

Answer 2

There are six Advanced Services within the NHS Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF). Community pharmacies can choose to provide any of these services as long as they meet the requirements set out in the Secretary of State Directions.

These include:

• medicines use review
• flu vaccination
• new medicine service
• appliance use review
• stoma appliance customisation
• NHS Urgent Medicine Supply Advanced Service (NUMSAS)

Question 3

What is a ‘Healthy Living Pharmacy’?

Answer 3

3P’s: Promotion, Prevention, Protection

The Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP) framework is a tiered commissioning framework aimed at achieving consistent delivery of a broad range of high quality services through community pharmacies to meet local need, improving the health and wellbeing of the local population and helping to reduce health inequalities.

There are three levels of service delivery within the HLP framework:

• Level 1: Promotion – Promoting health, wellbeing and self-care (in July 2016, Level 1 changed from a commissioner-led process to a profession-led self-assessment process);
• Level 2: Prevention – Providing services (commissioner-led); and
• Level 3: Protection – Providing treatment (commissioner-led).

Question 4

Who are the elegible groups to receive the flu vaccination for free?

Answer 4

The eligible groups are:

• all people aged 65 years and over
• people aged from 18 to less than 65 years of age with one or more of the following medical conditions:
  - chronic (long-term) respiratory disease: severe asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or bronchitis;
  - chronic heart disease (e.g heart failure)
  - chronic kidney disease (stage three, four or five)
  - chronic liver disease
  - chronic neurological disease, such as Parkinson’s disease or motor neurone disease, or learning disability;
  - diabetes
  - weakened immune system due to disease (such as HIV/AIDS) or treatment (such as cancer treatment); or
  - splenic dysfunction (e.g sickle cell)
• pregnant women aged 18 or over (including those women who become pregnant during the flu season);
• people aged 18 or over living in long-stay residential care homes or other long-stay care facilities*;
• carers aged 18 or over; or
• household contacts of immunocompromised individuals who are aged 18 or over.