Following the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, PSNC agreed the requirements for a new Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) for 2020/21 with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I). The scheme has two parts.  The focus of the Part 1 scheme is ensuring community pharmacy contractors and their teams have put in place all reasonable measures to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, protecting both themselves and the people using their services. That scheme is also a Gateway requirement for the Part 2 scheme, which is also focused on activities that support the response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

PQS Part 1 Scheme Requirements

To meet the requirements of the new scheme, contractors need to complete all 14 actions set out in a checklist, all of which relate to the response to the pandemic; many contractors will already have undertaken most if not all of the actions in the checklist over the last few months. Details of PQS Part 1 and supporting material from PSNC.

PQS Part 2 Scheme Requirements

There are five domains each with its own component criteria to achieve; all criteria in a domain must be completed to be able to claim a payment for that domain.

• Domain 1 – Infection Prevention & Control and AMS
• Domain 2 – Prevention
• Domain 3 – Risk management
• Domain 4 – Primary Care Network – Prevention
• Domain 5 – Primary Care Network – Business continuity

Details of PQS Part 2 and supporting material from PSNC

PQS 2 Local Resources

PQS 2 Training Summary: The LPC has prepared a summary to help you to support you and your pharmacy team to complete the required training for PQS Part 2.  To access the summary, please click here.

Domain 1: Details of the local Anti-biotic formulary can be found here.