NWL0138 Access to In & Out of Hours 'Anticipatory Palliative Care Medicines' from Community Pharmacies

NHS North West London ICB requires the provision of a North West London (NW London) wide 24/7 access to in and out of hours community pharmacy service. The aim of the service is for local community pharmacists to operate a rota and be on call to keep available for dispensing a stock of date-valid palliative care drugs for residents of NW London. This will provide service users with prompt access to a range of palliative care and specialist medications when they are required, the demand for these specialist medicines maybe urgent and / or unpredictable.

This service will be accessible and provided to all patients who present to the provider with a legally valid NHS prescription for the medication listed in the agreed formulary.

The ICB currently has a contract in place with the Middlesex Pharmacy Group (MPG). MPG consists of Brent and Harrow, Hillingdon, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham and Hounslow Local Pharmaceutical Committees (LPC'S) and are responsible for holding the alliance contract with the participating pharmacies for these boroughs for which they are paid a management fee.

The ICB is of the view that MPG is the only capable provider to deliver the 24/7 access in and out of hour service across all North West London Boroughs. The purpose of this notice is to be transparent about NHS NW London ICB's intention to initiate a new contract with MPG for a period of 12 months, beyond April 2023, to the estimated total value of £65,000.00 (NHS Standard Contract - shorter form).

Should your organisation be interested and capable to deliver this service, please submit your interest via [email protected] and include a 300 word summary of how your organisation would be able to deliver the service. The deadline for submission is 17:00 on 11th May 2023.

KEY REQUIREMENTS PROVIDED BELOW.

Additional information: CONTINUED:

Key requirements include: The provider will manage and operate a rota of participating pharmacies that will be required to stock an identified range of specialist medicines dispensed against presentation of an NHS prescriptions in and out of hours. The rota will cover the out-of hour's period defined as weekdays from closing time of the pharmacy on call to 9am the following morning, and all weekends and bank holidays. The provider will settle pharmacy participant claims for expired drugs and call-out fees without the need to repeatedly request POs from the ICB. The ICB will agree with local stakeholders the medicines formulary and stock levels required to deliver this service. If the participating pharmacy is not able to dispense the required medication within a reasonable timeframe, or at least on the same day, the pharmacy must make arrangements on behalf of the service user or carer for another pharmacy locally to dispense the required medication (e.g. telephone another local pharmacy on the list of pharmacies providing in hours palliative drugs service or wholesalers to check they have the required medications, help to get the prescription sourced The provider will monitor that the participating pharmacy undertake monthly date checking and stock review as expected. The provider will inform out of hours providers accordingly if the pharmacy contractors inform them of difficulty obtaining drugs on the formulary. The ICB will provide a framework for the provider to record relevant service information for the purposes of audit and the claiming of payment.

The ICB is committed to assessing the needs of the service users and considering how it should meet those needs, and improving the quality, efficiency and integration of services.