Published: 07/11/24

Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS) has been selected as a finalist in the Best Membership Support category at the Association Excellence Awards 2024, which will take place on Friday 8th November, in London.

We have spent much of the past 18 months supporting members through some of the most challenging times community pharmacy has ever seen, certainly the most challenging in my 18 years at CPS. Since the pandemic released its grip on the community pharmacy network, our members have faced significant operational challenges while continuing to deliver world-leading services to our communities, such as the NHS Pharmacy First Scotland Service, which provides critical advice, referrals, and treatment.

During this period, our members were significantly impacted by technical issues related to the new pharmacy payments system at National Services Scotland. At CPS, it is our role to support our members and ensure they are paid accurately and promptly for the services they provide to their communities. To assist with this, we leveraged our relationships and expertise to influence relevant stakeholders, and our Audit and Services Team continue to audit the impact on pharmacy businesses, enabling pharmacy teams to continue providing care to the people of Scotland. This support has ensured that over £10 million has been recovered for our members — funds that might have been overlooked without our intervention. As a result, members have had improved oversight of their income, helping them remain viable during an extremely challenging financial period. This work will continue until we are able to fully audit not just services payments, but payments for all prescriptions too.

One of our key organisational goals is to establish a Community Pharmacist Independent Prescribing (IP) service in all community pharmacies across Scotland within the next decade. Our proposal for an NHS Pharmacy First Plus Scotland Service has been agreed upon with the Scottish Government. This transformative, pharmacist-led service will ensure sustainability across the network for years to come and creates an attractive environment for pharmacists to apply their valuable skills, helping to recruit and retain talented individuals for the benefit of the communities we serve. To support this, we have:

• Agreed with the Scottish Government to allocate portions of the Global Sum and Non-Global Sum to fund this service and facilitate training.

• Contributed to backfill funding for existing pharmacists to undertake Independent Prescribing training.

Timely and accurate communication is key to effective member support. We routinely communicate with members through various channels to keep them informed about the latest developments in community pharmacy, as well as issues within the wider healthcare and political landscape.

We strive to be professional, reliable, and proactive, achieving this through prompt and accurate communication to support our members' pharmacies and communities. Our communication methods include:

• Redesigned weekly newsletter (with an improved engagement rate, averaging a 60% open rate)

• Video news roundup

• User-friendly website

• Website articles

• Direct contractor mailings

• Surveys

• Dedicated enquiry and pharmacy services mailboxes and phone lines, providing rapid responses to urgent member queries

• "Ask Me Anything" live online engagement events

• Social media channels

• In-person contractor engagement evenings held throughout the year

Our website’s primary function is to inform and support. Redesigned within the past year, it aims to provide a more user-friendly experience. Anyone can access the website and explore a broad range of topics, including:

• Community Pharmacy NHS services

• The courier service, which ensures monthly prescription bags are collected from every pharmacy in Scotland and delivered to NSS for payment

• Scottish Government circulars related to community pharmacy

• CPS responses to professional consultations

• Updated drug tariff and reimbursement information

Through these initiatives we have ensured that critical support has been provided to our members through times of enormous stress and rapid changes in practice. The support has been driven by the dedication of the entire team at Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS) and the resource investment made by the CPS Board. We are committed to providing a first-class support service to our members so the community pharmacy sector in Scotland can continue to thrive and be at the forefront of NHS service delivery.