Empowering you to meet regulatory and best practice requirements

In April, the new printed Next Cycle Summary (NCS) report was introduced in Care Services dispensaries. As part of the ongoing Care Services Transformation programme, this report will go on to replace the handwritten Missing Items & Queries (MIQ) Record. Use of this comprehensive report will mean that there will no longer be a requirement for Boots Care Services teams to ‘chase up’ potentially missing items.

Please ensure that the new Care Services SOPs (available on MyHub) have been completed and that the NCS guidance has been reviewed by all relevant team members. The guidance and supporting documents can be accessed on BootsLive. 

Centrally-managed communication has been sent to care home staff to inform them of the change – this change supports care home staff to meet the requirements placed upon them by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the Care Quality Commission (CQC), to effectively manage the ordering and supply of the medicines that their residents need.

To support the transition from the MIQ Record to the NCS report, during April, care homes should receive the new NCS as well as the MIQ record. Whilst care home teams get used to the look and feel of the new report, store teams should continue to ‘chase up’ expected items for which prescriptions have not been received. From May, we expect care home staff to use the new NCS report and to understand their responsibility to obtain prescriptions in a timely manner for any items required. This change does not place any additional responsibility on the care home staff; rather it helps to clarify the responsibilities of the pharmacy team and the care home staff.

Please continue to report on PIERS any incident which occurs as a result of a prescription(s) not being received in a timely manner, leaving a care home resident without medication. To support store teams, Escalation Guidance (covering what to do if there are concerns regarding a care home or GP surgery) is available on BootsLive. 

Dengue disease is a viral infection spread by mosquitoes. There is a live vaccine (Qdenga^®) which is licensed in the UK for the prevention of the disease - this vaccine is not currently offered as part of the Boots Travel Vaccination & Health Advice Service. The JCVI travel sub-committee has recently recommended that the vaccine is given only in certain circumstances, and it is anticipated that the Green Book will be updated in due course. Please contact The Pharmacy Helpdesk if you need support to answer queries from travellers about vaccination against dengue.

Boots pharmacies (excluding those in Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man and hospitals) can receive and process e-private prescriptions, in a legally valid manner, from a selected range of online providers with which there is a Company-agreed process in place. Information on dispensing electronic private prescriptions can be accessed on BootsLive. 

There may be occasions when it is necessary to determine whether a patient is considered to be immunocompromised (e.g. when providing a pharmacy service that involves supplying medication under a PGD). The Boots Independent Medical Agency team has produced a document entitled ‘A Guide to Immunocompromised Patients’. This can support the determination of whether a person is immunocompromised and whether they are eligible for a service if immunodeficiency needs to be considered. Please note that the document was produced to help support provision of the Travel Vaccination & Health Advice Service; however, the information can be used as a general resource. The document can be accessed on BootsLive.