Dear Member,

As explained previously the new Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) for 2020/21 has been announced. This consists of two parts. Part 1 to be undertaken now and is related to the COVID-19 response and will the gateway criteria for part 2. Part 2 will be announced later in the year. 

Part 1 is worth £1630 per pharmacy. 

Part 2 is estimated to be worth £5000 - £6000.

The second half of this year is expected to be extremely challenging with an increased number of requirements and difficulties for Community Pharmacy. These include:

• PQS Part 2
• Flu Vaccinations – Contractors should expect to do significantly more than before 
• Reactivation of contractual requirements e.g. DSP toolkit, CPAF, CPPQ, etc 
• Winter health pressures 
• Potential second wave of COVID-19 
• Decreasing prescription items 
• Possible changes to the Community Pharmacy contract 
• Expected recovery of NHSBSA Advanced Pandemic Payments
• Reduction of establishment payments from October 2020 
• Reduction in transitional payments as the new previously announced pharmacy services are introduced e.g. Hep C, hospital discharge reviews and GP initiated CPCS. 
• 100 MURs to be completed within the new target groups by 31^st March 2021

Therefore, it is critical that members undertake the requirements of PQS part 1 promptly to ensure they have the capacity to manage what is coming this winter. 

To support with planning the PharmaPlus have team have reviewed the requirements and created a activity plan to breakdown the requirements into bite sized chunks and we believe you can complete in the next two weeks. 

What you need to do:

• Download the PharmaPlus Activity Plan
• Download the comprehensive PSNC checklist with links to supporting documents
• Follow our daily steps together with the PSNC checklist 
• Complete all steps by our deadlines 
• Submit your claim by 31^st July 2020

As always, please contact the PharmaPlus office for further help and support.