Market Engagement - NHS England and NHS Improvement Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF)

NHS COMMUNITY PHARMACY CONTRACTUAL FRAMEWORK

NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSEI) National Commercial and Procurement Hub are undertaking market engagement in relation to the digital requirements that will support the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF).

Technical toolkits have been developed in relation to the following CPCF services, with NHSEI seeking feedback from suppliers as to the viability of the toolkits building on the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) technical toolkit that has already been agreed and published. The exercise is designed to invite feedback and move towards the publication of these toolkits as a standard requirement for software suppliers supporting CPCF services that will include clear timescales for implementation.

It continues to be the intention that in the future, pharmacy contractors will be mandated to use an appropriate IT system if providing the service.

The technical toolkits relate to:

•Discharge Medicines Service (DMS), which is an essential service for all pharmacies;

•New Medicine Service (NMS), which is being delivered by 90% of pharmacies;

•Blood Pressure Check Service, with over 6,900 pharmacies registered to deliver this service and an anticipated uplift on service delivery this over the 2022/23 financial year;

•Smoking Cessation Service (SCS), with 2,200 pharmacies registered within the first 2 months of the service, to provide the follow up support for patients recently discharged from hospital. All acute NHS Trusts in England are required to implement a smoking cessation service with access to discharge follow up by 31 March 2024;

An updated version of the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) technical toolkit is now available after being published on the NHS Business Services Authority (BSA) website.

This engagement activity is aligned with the development of the APIs for the above services to support remuneration and the sharing of data for service evaluation and commissioning purposes, which is being led by the NHS BSA.

Suppliers who wish to participate in this engagement exercise will require access to the National Commercial and Procurement Hub's Intend portal page.

Please register through the Intend e-procurement system (https://in-tendhost.co.uk/scwcsu/aspx/Home) for further instructions.

The deadline for feedback is 5pm (BST) on 17 June 2022.

We will be looking to undertake feedback sessions on this Market Engagement, week commencing the 20th June 2022.

If you require any further assistance, please contact commercial.procurementhub@nhs.net.

This process is being carried out by NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit (SCW) on behalf of the Commissioners.

Additional information: For the avoidance of doubt, this notice is an information gathering exercise rather than a call for competition in its own right, and therefore publication or response does not commit Commissioner(s) or respondents to a future procurement, nor provide any process exemptions or preferential treatment to any parties expressing an interest.

Commissioner(s) will not be liable for costs incurred by any interested party in participating in this exercise. Interested parties should note that a response to this notice does not guarantee an automatic invitation to any subsequent formal procurement, which the commissioners will consider in due course.