“You Said, We Did”

In the ever-evolving and challenging healthcare landscape, Greater Manchester LPC are always looking to improve the support given to contractors and the overall quality of service. To ensure we are working effectively with contractors, GMLPC regularly undertake surveys to obtain feedback and assess current ways of working.

We would like to share with you some examples of the ways in which GMLPC have listened to contractors’ needs and responded to their feedback. We encourage you to get in touch if you require additional support or have any concerns or queries.

Read the full “You Said, We Did” article here, or find examples below.

Covid-19 Vaccinations

You Said: Contractors requested information and guidance around community pharmacy’s involvement with the Covid-19 vaccination service and testing for staff members.

We Did: GMLPC have made sure to keep contractors updated with the latest information regarding the involvement of community pharmacy in the vaccination programme via newsletters, our dedicated Covid-19 website page, and PCN whatapp groups. This information is cascaded to contractors as and when we receive updates from national sources.

We also developed an expression of interest (EOI) form for all contractors indicating how many staff members in each pharmacy would like to be vaccinated. We’ve had a great uptake of responses so far so thank you to all those who have completed the form.

Tameside & Glossop received extra vaccine delivery over the Christmas period, so to avoid waste GMLPC put together a separate EOI form to share with contractors within the locality. All details for pharmacies who responded were shared with T&G CCG so they could be added to the standby list.

GMLPC are working towards gaining access to these vaccinations through working with Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership (GMHSCP) to ensure the safety and wellbeing of staff members. We will be updating contractors with the latest information as soon as this becomes available.

Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS)

You Said: Contractors asked for support with completing PQS Part 2, which many described as challenging in the current environment due to capacity issues. This not only affected the ability to complete the criteria, but also to comprehend what was required given the vast amount of information.

We Did: To support contractors participating in PQS 2020/21 part 2, GMLPC created a PQS Part 2 schedule featured in our Monday Memo newsletter, accompanied by weekly updates analysing the 5 domains of PQS 2. The schedule is designed to help contractors meet the PQS claim deadline (26th February 2021) by breaking up the domains into 3-4 week windows.

In collaboration with Halton, St Helens and Knowsley LPC, GMLPC also developed a training log summary to support pharmacy teams in completing the required training for PQS Part 2, and a training tracker to record progress.

WhatsApp Groups

You Said: Contractors informed their Locality Leads that WhatsApp groups would be useful to enable pharmacy teams to communicate with other pharmacies in their PCN.

We Did: GMLPC created 58 PCN WhatsApp Groups and distributed the joining link/QR codes to all contractors. LPC office members are on all the groups to allow the efficient cascade of info and the opportunity for contractors to ask questions and receive answers quickly.

If you are currently not a member of a local PCN whatsapp group and would like to be added, please contact Rikki.Smeeton@gmlpc.org.uk with your name and pharmacy F code.

Deadline Trackers

You Said: Contractors asked for an overview of upcoming deadlines to inform them of future requirements and enable them to manage their time to complete these actions.

We Did: In collaboration with Bolton LPC, GMLPC developed monthly deadline trackers to help contractors keep up-to-date with the latest activities they need to undertake each month.

Due to the unpredictability of this year, GMLPC felt it more beneficial to develop monthly trackers rather than an annual one since information and guidance is continuously changing.

The deadline trackers are available on our website and are also included in our Friday newsletter.

As a response to contractor feedback, we will also be sending the monthly trackers to contractors via Whatsapp starting from January 2021.