Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2022/23

The 2022/23 Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) went live on 10 October 2022.

To support you in navigating your way through this and with delivery we have created a summary of the domains that includes signposting to local information and directed you to useful PSNC resources.

The declaration window opens on the 5 February at 9am and closes on the 3 March at 23.59.

Whilst PQS appears to be a substantial amount of work it is much easier to manage if you break it into bitesize chunks.

The summary of all domains document we have developed is available on our website as well as signposting to the PQS Action and Evidence Portfolio Workbook from PSNC that guides you through in detail what needs to be achieved and provides evidence of achievement as you work through it.

Please note the various timelines for when each training needs to be refreshed or updated. The PSNC training requirement document identifies all of these timelines in one page succinctly so please refer to it to help support you in achieving these.

Please remember that Hertfordshire and West Essex (HWE) Integrated Care System (ICS) has supported contractors within Hertfordshire to have access to the full range of training courses via Virtual Outcomes. The Virtual Outcomes PQS 2022/23 training modules are now available to support you in maximising your claim.

Gateway Criteria

You have to achieve the Gateway Criteria (NMS and Patient Safety) in order to unlock the payment for the other domains.

Clinical governance provisions in your terms of service require you to report patient safety incidents. Your Patient Safety report should include any of these incidents that you have recorded (preferably monthly) since March 2022 as you must have a new Patient Safety report available at premises level for inspection by the 21 March 2023.

Therefore, we advise starting the Patient Safety report as soon as possible by transferring any current monthly data to the annual report. and or completing monthly patient safety reports from now so that the information is ready for you to transfer across.

If you have not started on your NMS you need to start now. Remember this is an income stream for community pharmacy and it helps general practice with their workload. As there are a substantial number of disease states now covered by this service, it should be achievable for all.

Remember to claim payment for March NMS by the 5 April 2023 or else they will not count towards your gateway tally.

By completing these two Gateway criteria you will ensure there is no risk of missing the quality domains.

Quality Domains

We have suggested start dates for the domains in order to support you to achieve the deadlines without causing too much stress.

The antibiotic review under the prevention domain includes two TARGET leaflets;

• Treating your infection – Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)
• Treating your Infection – Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (RTI)

Each target leaflet area must have a review conducted with a minimum of 15 patients for each over four weeks with a minimum of 15 patients for each leaflet, or up to eight weeks if the minimum number of patients are not achieved within four weeks for each leaflet This needs to be started no later than 13 January 2023. You need to record the start and end date which will be entered with your declaration.

The weight management criteria under the Healthy Living Support requires

• pharmacy teams to proactively discuss weight management with a minimum of 25
• to gain the maximum number of points for this criterion the pharmacy must have referred at least four patients to NHS Digital Weight Management Service or the Local Authority Tier 2 weight Management Service.