Services Database Community Pharmacy Emergency Supplies Service (CPESS) 2016-17 (East & North Hertfordshire Areas)

The service was launched early in order to test the system on 20th October 2015 by the eight pharmacies within the East and North Hertfordshire area that are open for 100 hours across a week. All 52 community pharmacies situated within East and North Hertfordshire that successfully applied to offer the service will be delivering CPESS from Monday 2nd November 2015 until 31st March 2016.

The Community Pharmacy Emergency Supplies Service allows the emergency supply of a patient’s medicine at CCG expense for patients either self-referred or by NHS 111 into the service in order to reduce the number of patients contacting other providers.

This service is aimed to reduce the requests for urgent medicines to out of hours services, A & E services and also to in hours GP services, thereby decreasing the need for immediate clinician input for patients who have run out of their medicines. The service will be restricted to prescription only medicines (POMs). Patients must be registered with a GP in East and North Hertfordshire.

Patients will be carefully interviewed by pharmacists to identify genuine and authentic urgent need. As part of the service, pharmacists are also required to counsel patients on the most appropriate and efficient ways to obtain medicines in the future. 

The pharmacist will supply a maximum of 7 days of medication except where it is not possible to dispense this volume (e.g. inhalers, creams etc.); the smallest pack size should be dispensed in this instance. 

This service was extended until 2nd May 2017.

This service is now complete.

Not known.