NHS England announces process changes for some CPCS referrals
NHS England has announced that the way some Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) GP referrals are sent by the EMIS PharmRefer product is changing.
From 29th March 2023 (today), community pharmacies using CPCS solutions from Cegedim Healthcare Solutions, Positive Solutions or Sonar Informatics won’t access those GP CPCS referrals through PharmOutcomes. Instead, referrals from GPs and the emergency departments or urgent treatment centre pilot sites using PharmRefer will be sent to community pharmacies’ NHSmail shared mailboxes.
The change in approach will also apply to general practices making GP CPCS referrals using “Local Services” within their EMIS GP IT system.
Community pharmacies using PharmOutcomes as their CPCS IT system will continue to receive all their CPCS referrals within PharmOutcomes in the usual way.
The PharmRefer product will continue to display all pharmacies that have signed up to deliver the CPCS service allowing the referrer to select any community pharmacy that is listed as offering CPCS in the Directory of Services.
Pharmacy teams should continue to follow their usual processes for regularly monitoring their shared NHSmail inboxes for important emails, including CPCS referrals.
IT system suppliers offering CPCS services
NHS England has assured four IT system suppliers to support the CPCS service. The NHS CPCS IT Buyer’s Guide (Word document) provides further information about them. They are:
- Pharmacy Services (Cegedim Healthcare Solutions)
- PharmOutcomes (Pinnacle Health)
- HxConsult (Positive Solutions)
- Sonar
NHS England have said they are working with all suppliers to develop interoperability and system changes so that the number of CPCS referrals sent via NHSmail can be reduced.
