Empowering you to meet regulatory and best practice requirements

Team members who attended the recent CPD day will already be aware that we will be soon digitising prescription laminates. The information will be displayed on the bag information screen at the point of handout. This will remove the need to use the small card laminates to flag ‘high risk medicines’, CDs and fridge lines; the Core Dispensing SOPs will be updated to reflect this change. For handout prompts to be effective, every bag MUST be scanned at the point of handout and time
must be taken to carefully read the information on the bag information screen. Watch this short video for more information. 

Scanning each bag at handout helps to prevent handout errors and ensures that if multiple bags exist for the same patient, they are all located and handed out. Incidents have been reported involving a dispensed medication bag(s) which has been left in eRetrieval in error. Watch this video to see how Columbus helps pharmacy team members at handout when there are multiple bag locations. 

Pharmacists and nurses are reminded that when creating a trip on KnowMalaria the correct region being visited must be selected. This is essential to ensure that the traveller is given an accurate recommendation. The itinerary can be checked against the malaria risk maps on TravelHealthPro. If the traveller is unsure of their plans or is visiting more than one region listed on the app, then select ‘Not sure which region’ or ‘Regions in more than one category’, as appropriate. For example, Kenya has different regions with varying malaria risk levels and different recommendations. In this example trip, antimalarials would only be recommended for the part of the trip where malaria is a risk, i.e. “Any regions not listed”.

If your store provides the Travel Vaccinations & Health Advice Service, please note that the regional information ONLY applies to malaria risk and NOT yellow fever risk. For yellow fever risk, follow on-screen prompts and consult the yellow fever risk maps. 

Legal changes to allow pharmacy technicians in England, Wales and Scotland to supply medication under Patient Group Directions (PGDs) came into effect at the end of June 2024. This is a landmark moment for the profession and one that we support at Boots. It is an important step in workforce change to further meet patient needs by offering flexibility and making best use of the skills of the whole healthcare team. For pharmacy technicians to be able to provide a service (NHS or private) that involves a PGD, relevant service directions, service specifications and PGDs will need to be amended.
Boots is committed to supporting the development of our pharmacy technicians and the important role they play in our pharmacies. We are currently reviewing the impact of these changes on future delivery of services provided using PGDs and we can confirm that we plan to include pharmacy technicians in the Boots private Flu Jab Service PGD for this year. In the meantime, unless communicated otherwise, pharmacy technicians must not deliver any service using a PGD. 

If you are a pharmacist or pharmacy technician and have recently renewed your GPhC and/or RPS or ATPUK membership, ensure that you submit your expense claim(s) before 31 July 2024 for reimbursement. Guidance on reimbursement of such fees is available on BootsLive and Pharmacy Unscripted. 

In light of the recent increase in cases of measles reported in some parts of the UK, it is important to be aware of the signs and symptoms of measles and to be able to provide appropriate advice. Measles is a highly contagious infection and can cause serious health problems. Two doses of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine provide long-term protection against measles (and can give lifelong protection). Individuals who have not been vaccinated may talk to their GP surgery about having the vaccination. Further information is available on the NHS website and patients can be signposted to this.