I'm a newly qualified pharmacist. Just filling in Asda locums registration form. As well as asking which enhanced services you can do, it also asks which PCTs you are permitted to do them in..
Does that mean you have to get permission from all PCTs you work in before you can offer services like minor ailments, supervised consumption of methadone/buprenorphine/suboxone, EHC?
Also, to provide these services do you need more than the CPPE e-assessment certificates or does it again depend on the PCT you work in?
Enhanced services are not nationally negotiated. The intention was that local commissioners would design services for their own localities and negotiate payment on a local basis. As a consequence many services differ slightly and subtly and a pharmacist may not provide them unless accredited. Hence accreditation is not always recognised from one PCT to another.
Minor ailments schemes in particular differ wildly from one area to another. This, in my view will increase as commissioning will continue to be locally driven. Therefore you should contact the secretaries of the local pharmaceutical committees in the areas you wish to work. They will advise you, suggest dates for accreditation events (sometimes accreditation requires updating/refreshing) and hopefully keep you informed of new developments. It is in the interests of contractors to have locums accredited so you could also ask anyone you regularly locum for to keep you informed. We invite locums to our CPD update meetings.
Contact details of LPC secretaries are on the PSNC website.
In the last month I have been for flu vaccination training, an introduction to NMS and targetted MURs and the launch of the healthy living centre concept. All have been jointly organised by PCTs and LPCs. Thankfully there has been extensive joint work by neighbouring PCTs to harmonise services and recognise each others' accreditations. That is not a national trend it is a local development.
At all of these events there have been many locums present. As they are not in contract with the PCT the only way they learn of events is "word of mouth". So make as many contacts as you can in order that you can be included. Many LPCs post details of such developments on their websites.
I don't know where you work, and I imagine that in most areas the set-up is the same, but in the North West, all the pcts have joined in a Harmonisation of Accreditation Group (HAG) where if you have accreditation for a particular enhanced service in any of the single pcts, they will issue a HAG certificate that you can send to any of the others, and it will be accepted. This doesn't avoid the necessity of reading and understanding, and signing up to the SLAs... the Service Level Agreements, that tell you exactly how to do the service in each individual pct, but it does avoid having to pass duplicate accreditation courses.
Thanks for the info, Mr. Schofield and Mr. Paxton.
I did my pre-reg at an independent, in Bethnal Green, also done some locums there. It's part of Tower hamlets PCT. Last I heard, Newham PCT, Hackney and Tower Hamlets Pct were going to merge. Should make for better harmonisation. Following Mr Schofield's advice I will get in touch with the LPC I think its City and Hackney from the looks of it. Although, I currently live in essex so will get in touch with their LPC as well. Hopefully, I can get a permanent job in one pharmacy in one of these areas.
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