Empowering you to meet regulatory and best practice requirements

As we continue with the rollout of Scan to Accuracy Check, many more pharmacies will be undertaking readiness activities ahead of their go live date. The new innovation Core dispensing SOPs are an integral part of these activities and must be fully completed by all the pharmacy team members in the five-week period before their go live date. Please make completion of these SOPs a priority and if your pharmacy is already live with Scan to Accuracy Check ensure that all team members have completed the SOPs. 

Please note the following good practice points to help maximise patient safety:

• Items from a prescription group will increasingly be distributed in multiple eRetrieval locations. Each bag must be scanned into its own location and every bag label must be scanned at handout. This enables the system to prompt the user if there is a bag(s) in a further location or if an incorrect bag has been selected
• All split packs assembled should be kept separate to any full packs on the prescription and should receive a manual accuracy check. Split packs must not be assembled via Scan to Accuracy Check
• When using automated dispensing processes such as ADDD, the DSP or Scan to Accuracy Check, if there has been a data entry error, the Data Accuracy Check is the last point at which the error can be detected. Therefore, the Data Accuracy Check is critical – ensure that adequate time is planned for this activity to be completed, as any errors that are not detected are likely to be repeated in subsequent supplies to the patient (as the data entry becomes ‘trusted’ and is not re-checked).

Data Accuracy Check good practice guidance can be accessed on the Clinical Assessment & Scan to Accuracy Check BootsLive page. 

The NHS Blood Pressure Check Service consists of two stages: the first stage involves identifying people who may be at risk of hypertension and offering them a blood pressure measurement (a ‘clinic check’); the second stage, where clinically indicated, involves offering Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM). To be compliant with the terms of the service, pharmacy teams must be able to offer both parts of the service and if a patient is identified as requiring ABPM this should be arranged for the patient at their earliest convenience. This is a vital part of the service, and it is important that team members providing the service are confident in fitting the ABPM equipment and answering any questions that a patient might have.

If any equipment needed for the service is faulty, broken or not available in your store, please email pharmacyoperations@boots.co.uk with a summary of the issue so that appropriate advice can be given. Materials to support in having brilliant conversations with patients about having an ABPM fitted are available on the Hypertension Service BootsLive page. The Community Pharmacy England website is also a great resource should team members wish to access it.

The Human Medicines Regulations 2012 (HMR) have been amended to allow for original pack dispensing. From January 2025, pharmacists using their professional judgement will have the flexibility to supply up to 10% more or less than the prescribed quantity on NHS prescriptions, if the medicine can be dispensed in the manufacturer’s original pack, and all other prescription requirements are fulfilled. Schedule 1 to 4 Controlled Drugs are excluded. 

Columbus will be updated to enable this from 25 January 2025. Look out for communications and operational guidance which will be sent out nearer that date. Further information on original pack dispensing, including exclusions, can be accessed on the Community Pharmacy England website. 

From 1 January 2025, the emergency measures restricting the sale and supply of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues have been made indefinite. Further information is available here.