Actions required for Contractors using PharmOutcomes

All community pharmacies in England will, in the coming days, receive a communication from NHS England requiring action to be completed following discovery of a technical issue causing unactioned Post Event Messages (PEMs) within the PharmOutcomes IT system not being communicated through to some GP practices following clinical service consultations. This follows initial communication sent out in June 2024.

Ordinarily, notifications are sent by secure email where a GP practice has a confirmed email address. However, in the absence of a valid email address for the practice, the pharmacist (or other pharmacy team member) must ensure the notification is sent via an alternative method e.g. via email or manually printed and delivered. This has resulted in a backlog of unactioned PEMs where this has not been done.

NHS England requires Community Pharmacies using PharmOutcomes, following the supporting guidance supplied, to:

• Review and action the queue of clinical services notifications emails, in order of this priority:
  1. Blood pressure check national advanced service
  2. Contraception national advanced service
  3. Pharmacy First consultations for minor illness and clinical pathways consultations
  4. Smoking Cessation Service
  5. Local services
• Report any concerns about potential harm due to any delayed notifications using the Learning From Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) portal using the code ‘PharmacyPEM’
• Complete and return any locally agreed auditing report to confirm completion of actions

NHS England has asked for this to be completed by Monday 30th September 2024.