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Business Continuity Planning

All businesses and NHS providers, including community pharmacy contractors, need to have an ability to cope with emergency situations, so that wherever possible, they can continue to provide services to patients and the public. From 31st July 2023, it is a Terms of Service requirement for each NHS community pharmacy owner to have a business continuity plan for a temporary suspension of service (closure) due to illness or other reason beyond their control, and to action this when necessary.

You can find detailed information and guidance on Business Continuity Planning on the Community Pharmacy England website here

Communications

Community Pharmacy South Yorkshire (CPSY) Communications

To stay up to date with our latest news, guidance, and resources, we suggest that you:

If you can’t find what you’re looking for, email us at info@cpsy.org.uk — we’re happy to help.

Community Pharmacy England (CPE) Communications

To make sure you are first to receive news from CPE, we suggest that you:

Click here to visit the CPE Homepage

Public Health England

Each year pharmacies are required to participate in up to six public health campaigns at the request of NHS England. This involves the display and distribution of leaflets provided by NHS England.

Campaign resource packs will automatically be distributed to your Pharmacy, but if you have not received your pack email: partnerships@phe.gov.uk stating the pharmacy name, address and name of the campaign you have not received materials for

Click here to visit Public Health England’s Campaign Resource Centre 

Controlled Drugs

CD Incident Reporting

  • Serious/Significant Incidents:
    Report immediately to the Controlled Drugs Accountable Officer (CDAO):
    Gazala Khan
    📞 0113 825 5238
    📧 gazala.khan@nhs.net | england.yhcdao@nhs.net

  • Routine Incident Reporting:
    Submit via the CD Reporting Portal: www.cdreporting.co.uk

    For non-urgent incidents (no patient risk or misconduct), reports should be submitted within 2 weeks after internal investigation and reflection.

More details and guidance on Controlled Drugs and CD Regulations can be found on the CPE website here.

Patient-Returned CDs

  • Destruction Requirements:
    Patient-returned CDs (all schedules) should be denatured in the presence of another member of staff, ideally a pharmacist or pharmacy technician.
    Note: An authorised witness is not required (as per RPS guidance).

  • Recording:

    • Patient-returned Schedule 2 CDs must be recorded and their destruction documented in a separate record
      (not in the CD register).

    • For Schedules 3 and 4 CDs, it is good practice to also record the destruction, even though a CD register entry is not legally required.

  • Denaturing Kits:
    Pharmacies should use CD denaturing kits, where available.

Date-Expired Pharmacy Stock

  • Legal Requirements:
    Under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001, pharmacy-owned Schedule 1 and 2 CDs must be destroyed in the presence of an Authorised Witness (AW).

  • Arranging Destruction:

    • Pharmacies can request an NHS England-appointed AW via the CD Reporting website: www.cdreporting.co.uk

    • Alternatively, pharmacies can apply for a Temporary Authorised Witness Licence for a registered healthcare professional to carry out the destruction.

  • Nomination:
    A different staff member must carry out the physical destruction and a list of CDs for destruction must be uploaded to the CD Reporting website.

  • T28 Exemption Requirement:
    Pharmacies must hold a valid T28 exemption from the Environment Agency to legally denature CDs.

Recording Destruction (NICE Guidance)

When destroying Schedule 2 pharmacy stock, the following must be entered into the CD Register:

  • Name, strength, and form of the CD

  • Quantity destroyed

  • Date of destruction

  • Signature of the Authorised Witness

  • Signature of the person carrying out the destruction

  • Temporary Authorised Witness Licence number (if applicable)

Key Updates (Effective from 1 July 2024)

Changes to the CD destruction process will be implemented from 1st July 2024.
Please refer to the updated Controlled Drugs Destruction Reporter SOP – May 2024 for full details.
This guidance will be updated once the new process takes effect.

Multi-Pharmacy Chains

Pharmacy chains can nominate staff to become permanent Authorised Witnesses.
Submit applications using the Controlled Drugs – Multiple Pharmacy Application Form to:
📧 england.yhcdao@nhs.net

More information can be found on the CPE website.

Community Pharmacy Assurance Framework (CPAF)

CPCF services and Terms of Service – Important dates

This page, published by Community Pharmacy England (CPE), outlines key dates related to the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF). It covers important timelines for a range of national services. Additionally, the page highlights deadlines for Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP) and Terms of Service (ToS) requirements. It also features publication dates of relevant news stories that provide supporting resources for these services and requirements. A must-have reference to help you stay compliant and plan ahead!

View the CPCF services and Terms of Service – Important dates page here 

Notification of Temporary Closure and Temporary Suspension of Services

If you are unable to provide pharmaceutical services, for any reason, you must ensure that your Unplanned Closure procedure is followed, and that NHS England and NHS Improvement is notified of any time the pharmacy is closed.
For any unscheduled closure, the pharmacy is required to complete an Unplanned temporary suspension of services form and return it to the following email address  syicb.syprimarycare@nhs.net.The Unplanned temporary suspension of services form should be returned to the above email address as soon as possible, but no later than 2 days following the closure. Please include as much information as possible about the closure; the reason for it, the actions taken by the pharmacy to mitigate the situation and an expected return to full service provision (if still affected at the time of notification). If the pharmacy has been (or will be) closed for longer than 24 hours, please contact the Primary Care Team at the above email address as a matter of urgency, giving a telephone number so that we can contact you on in order that we can advise accordingly on next steps
NOTE-  the guidance above is relevant for closures at any time (including unavoidable delayed opening or early closure).
Failure to open and failure to report a closure, are a breach of the Pharmaceutical Services Regulations, which may result in NHS England and NHS Improvement taking contractual action in line with the attached Performance Management process.
We ask that pharmacies have procedures in place that ensure that NHS England DOES receive the required notifications and that these procedures take into account instances where the regular pharmacist/manager is absent. Larger multiples might want to link this notification into procedures they use to book urgent locum cover etc.

NHS England – Contact information for community pharmacies

NHS England contact information for community pharmacies can be found here 

Digital & Technology

Electronic Prescription Service (EPS)

The Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) allows prescriptions to be sent electronically from the prescriber to the pharmacy, and then forwarded to the NHSBSA for payment processing.

Comprehensive information and guidance on EPS are available on the Community Pharmacy England website here.

Locally produced guidance and key reminders are provided below.

Reporting Suspicious Patient Nomination Changes

The NHS Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) allows patients in England to choose a preferred pharmacy, to which their prescriptions can be sent to electronically, and from where they can then collect their medication. As pharmacy contractors, you play a vital role in protecting patients’ rights and maintaining the integrity of the NHS Electronic Prescription Service (EPS). Unauthorised changes to a patient’s nominated pharmacy can disrupt their care, send prescriptions to the wrong pharmacy, and breach patient consent requirements set out by the Terms of Service in the NHS Pharmaceutical Services Regulations.

Patients must be free to choose their nominated pharmacy. They must not be influenced, persuaded, or incentivised to nominate a specific pharmacy. Information received suggesting that these principles have been disregarded may be reported to the GPhC and treated as misconduct for the purposes of fitness to practise.

If you suspect that another pharmacy has changed a patient’s nomination without their consent, please follow the guidance for pharmacy contractors linked here

To support pharmacy teams, a printable version of the Guidance for display in the dispensary and a Log Form to aid with information gathering have been produced

NHSmail

NHSmail is an NHS funded and managed secure email service which is approved for use for exchanging patient data between health professionals.

Comprehensive information and guidance on NHSmail are available on the Community Pharmacy England website here.

Locally produced guidance and key reminders are provided below.

NHS Mail -How to access on Iphone or Android

You can access your NHS shared mail account on your iphone or android by using the following web address

https://email.nhs.net/owa/nhspharmacy.(your details.pharmacy name etc)@nhs.net

You will then be required to sign in using your personal NHS mail address and password .

Once logged in you will be directed to your NHS shared mailbox

NHS Service finder

NHS Service Finder gives health and care professionals a fast way to access accurate, real-time information to help signpost patients to available services.

NHS Service Finder is a free to use national product for staff employed by a health or social care provider.

This information includes non-public telephone numbers and instructions about who is eligible for services and how to refer a patient. Maps and directions to the services are also available, and you can email service information directly to your patient.

You can access it from any device with an internet connection, using an up-to-date browser.

Click here to visit the website 

NHS Smartcards

NHS Smartcards provide secure access to NHS digital systems, ensuring that only authorised users can access and manage patient and organisational information. Each Smartcard is linked to an individual’s specific role and permissions within the NHS.

You can find detailed information and guidance on NHS Smartcards on the Community Pharmacy England website here.

Within this section you will find a summary of the national arrangements for NHS Smartcards, and information about how to administer them.

Your local Registration Authority (RA) will manage card issues in your area e.g. providing new ones, adjusting roles etc.

Contact details for your local RA are listed here.

Dispensing & Prescribing

Updates

November 2025 – Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (BHNFT) ophthalmology outpatient clinic

June 2025 – Tirzepatide In Community Settings

Guidelines

Barnsley – Gold Guidelines for Prescribing and Dispensing (APC approved)

Monitored Dosage Systems (MDS)

South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) MDS Position Statement – Appropriate Use of Monitored Dosage Systems (MDS)

CPSY Multi Compliance Aid (MCA) Briefing Sept 2025

7 day prescription Guidance Sept 2025 

MDS Contractor Guide Sept 2025

MDS-Notification From

Ordering

7 day Ordering Poster A4

Prescribing Rights

Different types of prescribers hold different prescribing rights. It is important for pharmacy contractors to be able to identify which products each type of prescriber is entitled to prescribe. Further information on Prescribing rights can be found here.

Weight Management

Please find attached a letter from South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) outlining an update to the eligibility criteria for new referrals to the Adult Specialist Weight Management Services (Tier 3).

This change will apply to all new referrals for South Yorkshire patients and will take effect from the 24th October 2025 for an initial 12-month period. The attached letter provides full details of the revised criteria and implementation arrangements.

Formularies

All prescribing undertaken by community pharmacists for new and future services should be in line local formularies.

Please find linked below each place formulary, you will need to clink on the relevant BNF chapter to see recommended first line choices.

Barnsley Formulary

Doncaster – Please find the Doncaster formulary (MPD) linked on the Doncaster notice board SY ICB Medicines Optimisation,

Rotherham – LINK TO BE ADDED

Sheffield Formulary — Sheffield CCG Intranet

Contraception Formularies

Please find linked below the local formulary for each area, to be used as guidance when initiating contraceptives as part of the Pharmacy Contraceptive Service.

Glossary of acronyms commonly used in pharmacy

The world of pharmacy and the NHS is constantly evolving, with new acronyms, and names for services and systems emerging on a regular basis. It can be difficult to keep up with the acronyms and many of them look and sound similar to each other. Community Pharmacy England has compiled a list of acronyms that are commonly used in community pharmacy and NHS policy.

Local Resources

South Yorkshire Resources

When Can My Child Return To School?

The Driving Asthma Improvements in South Yorkshire (DAISY) Project

Barnsley Resources

i-HEART Barnsley

Live Well Barnsley

Barnsley APC Incident Reporting – South Yorkshire LPC

Doncaster Resources

Rotherham Resources

Sheffield Resources

Medicine Shortages

Emergency Ordering Service for Fidaxomicin (200mg tablets and 40mg/ml oral suspension)
October 2025

FreeStyle Libre 2 Sensors Discontinuation
July 2025

Managing PERT Shortages: Creon® Alternative (Adults) – Imported Pangrol®
May 2025

Patient Resources 

See linked below a patient information leaflet which may be helpful when discussing stock shortages to patients. This leaflet has been agreed by the South Yorkshire Integrated Medicines Optimisation Committee (IMOC).

Communicating Out-of-Stocks

The Out-of-Stocks (OOS) process improves communication between GPs and Community Pharmacies (CPs) through AccuWeb, providing a streamlined system for managing medicine shortages.
Read more about the Out-of-Stocks (OOS) process here

Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA)

The Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) looks at the current provision of pharmaceutical services across the relevant Health and Wellbeing Board area.  The PNA is a key document which will be used by NHS England to inform decisions regarding applications for new or changes to existing pharmaceutical services.

2025-2028

Barnsley PNA 2025 -2028

Doncaster PNA 2025 – 2028

Rotherham PNA 2025 Consultation

Sheffield PNA 2025 Consultation – Document not yet received

Safeguarding

Please find linked below the safeguarding information for each area.

Safeguarding – Barnsley

Safeguarding – Doncaster

Safeguarding – Rotherham

Safeguarding – Sheffield

Training & Development

SY ICS Training Opportunities

The South Yorkshire Integrated Care System (ICS) has created a webpage to support both pharmacy staff and employers in accessing high-quality training opportunities across the region. The page includes links to a range of training programmes available for pharmacy staff, as well as feedback from individuals who have previously completed the courses.

View the SY ICS Training Opportunities for Pharmacy Staff in South Yorkshire webpage  here 

To note: Some of the courses offered will need employer support before applying. Please discuss with your employers before completing an application form.

The page will be updated regularly to show what is currently available to staff and employers.

Community Pharmacy Asthma Awareness

The SY ICB Community Pharmacy Asthma Awareness Event held in May 2025, explores the new national asthma guidance with a focus on adults and adolescents aged 12 and over.

Further info, including a link to a recording of the event can be found here 

Waste Management

Hazardous/Clinical Waste Management

 Sharps Bin Disposal – Doncaster

Sharps Bins Disposal – Barnsley

Wellbeing

The South Yorkshire ICS Mental Health Hub

NHS Resources

Pharmacist Support Resources

Mental Health Crisis Support