Empowering you to meet regulatory and best practice requirements

This month’s Patient Safety Champions’ letter focuses on the importance of consist ently using the pharmacy Model Day Activity Planner, with scenarios that explore how this tool supports in providing a great service for our patients and has a positive impact on patient safety. Your Patient Safety Champion will share this with you. Please share with your Patient Safety Champion any ideas for SMART-ER actions to support patient safety in your pharmacy.

Following a catch-up period in December, here’s a reminder that the third module of the programme goes live on 6 January 2025. It is advised to undertake all components of the module by the third week of January. This will provide time to put your learning into action and complete eTest2 by the end of the month. There is now a ‘Pharmacy Technician’ Viva Engage channel - please use this to collaborate with pharmacy technicians across the business and share your experiences of the development programme.

Pharmacy professionals have a responsibility to take action to safeguard people, particularly adults with care and support needs (often termed ‘vulnerable adults’) and children, and should remain alert to the possibility of issues such as neglect, sexual exploitation and abuse. It is important to fully understand the responsibilities with regard to safeguarding and ensure that the safeguarding escalation plan in your store is kept up to date with the relevant local contact telephone numbers.  

As part of their role, all Boots pharmacy professionals and nurses are required to complete the appropriate safeguarding learning for their location of work (see below) and any associated assessments. This should be completed every two or three years, but service requirements may mean that this needs to be refreshed more frequently.

• ENGLAND - elearning for health (www.e-lfh.org.uk): Safeguarding Children and Young People and Safeguarding Adults level 2 eLearning modules and assessments
• WALES - WCPPE/HEIW: Safeguarding Children and Young People Level 2 eLearning and assessment
• SCOTLAND - NES/TURAS: Adult Support and Protection Practice Level 2 (Skilled) and Child Protection Practice Level 2 (Skilled) eLearning and any associated assessments
• NORTHERN IRELAND - NICPLD Safeguarding children: A Guide for the Pharmacy Team NICPLD distance learning package or its replacement or if unavailable the Safeguarding Advice and Guidance for Pharmacists recorded lecture completed within the last three years.

Pharmacy team members who are not registered pharmacy professionals should complete the Boots eLearning module, ‘Level 1 Safeguarding children and vulnerable adults eLearning - a guide for pharmacy and healthcare teams’, which is available on BootsLearning. This should also be repeated every two years. Please see the ‘safeguarding’ BootsLive page for links to further country-specific information and other resources.  

Chapter 2: Consent, has been updated with further information in the ‘Disagreement between parents’ section which clarifies the role Gillick competency plays in such situations.

Chapter 8: Vaccine safety and the management of adverse events following immunisation now includes new information and an updated algorithm on the initial management of anaphylaxis by the Resuscitation Council UK. For further information, the Green Book can be accessed here. 

The temperatures of all pharmacy fridges in the store should be checked and recorded on every day that the pharmacy is open. This includes pharmacy fridges in rooms which may not be used regularly, such as the Care Services dispensary, consultation rooms and Our Future Health clinic rooms.

The Human Medicines Regulations (2012) (HMR) have been changed to permit the supply of naloxone for future use (‘take home’ naloxone), without a prescription from registered pharmacy professionals. Further information can be accessed here. Pharmacy professionals are advised that such a supply should only be undertaken as part of a centrally-agreed locally-commissioned service. If you have any queries regarding a locally-commissioned service, please contact your Healthcare Partnership Manager (or country equivalent). Pharmacists are reminded that in an emergency they may directly administer naloxone via injection for life saving purposes.