For action: Easter bank holiday hours in NHS Profile Manager

Please verify your information on NHS Profile Manager by Friday 31 March. You can do this on your smartphone, desktop or tablet.

This is important as all community pharmacy Directory of Service (DoS) and NHS website profiles will automatically be set to show as closed on Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Bank holiday Monday, unless opening times are specified.

Your profile information on NHS Profile Manager needs to be correct so that NHS staff, patients and the public can access accurate contact information, opening times, facilities, and services.

Sign in to NHS Profile Manager or to get help, view our tutorial video (found in the drop-down section under 'community pharmacy').

You can read more about your obligations for the NHS website and the DoS on The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee website.

You can contact the NHS website service desk if you have any questions.

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For action: Changes to how referrals to the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service are received

23 March 2023: In a previous version of this message we asked community pharmacies to update their email addresses and CPCS status in NHS Profile Manager.

Community pharmacies do not need to update these details in NHS Profile Manager. Referrals from Pharmrefer will automatically be directed to the pharmacies' nhs.net shared mailbox. Please continue to monitor this inbox regularly so referrals are responded to accordingly.

The way Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) referrals are sent by the EMIS PharmRefer product is changing.

From 28 March, community pharmacies that are using CPCS solutions from Cegedim Healthcare, Positive Solutions or Sonar Informatics will no longer be able to access their CPCS referrals through PharmOutcomes. Instead, referrals from GPs and the emergency departments or urgent treatment centre pilot sites using Pharmrefer will arrive into community pharmacies' NHS shared mailbox accounts. If this applies to you, you must tell your staff about the changes and update your standard operating procedures to ensure your NHS shared mailboxes are monitored and referrals are picked up.

Community pharmacies using PharmOutcomes for their CPCS service will continue to receive referrals in their usual way.

The PharmRefer product is also being updated to allow the referrer to select any community pharmacy that is listed as offering CPCS in the Directory of Services.

NHS England has assured 4 IT system suppliers to support the CPCS service. The NHS CPCS IT Buyer's Guide (opens in Word) provides further information about them. They are:

  1. Pharmacy Services (Cegedim Healthcare Solutions)

  2. PharmOutcomes (Pinnacle Health)

  3. HxConsult (Positive Solutions)

  4. Sonar

We are working with all our suppliers to develop the functionality that will enable each IT system to integrate CPCS referrals to improve the referral pathways into community pharmacies.

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