NMS Update

How are we doing?

NHS Prescription Services records show that 2,557 or 23% of pharmacies in England claimed payments for the first month of the new NMS.

The data shows that 10,121 NMS interventions were claimed for in October 2011. The data also suggests that there were difficulties with NMS targets, as it appears many pharmacies completed interventions but were not paid, probably because they did not reach their allotted goals.

The number of completed NMS Claimed on FP34C,  for October 2011, in the South Central Strategic Health Authority was 678, of which 378 were carried out in the SHIP area.

Guidance on post-discharge NMS and MUR

New guidance has been published showing how the New Medicine Service (NMS) and post discharge Medicines Use Reviews (MURs) can be used for patients who transfer from hospital to the community.

The guidance has been developed and published by the NHS Employers and the PSNC working with a hospital and community pharmacy reference group and has been endorsed by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Hospitals and community pharmacists can use the support tools to formalise how they share information about changes to patients' prescriptions. This will help ensure patients get the right medicines and the most value from them when they transfer care, as well as potentially reduce the risk of hospital readmissions.

A national referral form  has been developed that can be used by hospitals and pharmacists to transfer patient information. In addition to the referral form the following documents are now available:

•  template patient information leaflet  about the benefits of community pharmacy
• guidance document for community pharmacy about engaging with hospital colleagues
• guidance document for hospital colleagues about engaging with community pharmacy

Alastair Buxton, Head of NHS Services at PSNC said,

“Providing seamless care for patients transferring from hospital is a top priority for the NHS, and the NMS and post-discharge MURs allow community pharmacists to support patients with their transition back into the community. Provision of the services requires local team working between primary and secondary care, which many LPCs and PCTs are keen to support. These resources should assist with local discussions on the services which in turn should help enhance relationships between hospital and community pharmacy colleagues.”

We have joined with the Wessex Local Practice Forum and Chief Pharmacists across the patch and in the Spring we hope to run a joint event getting hospital and community pharmacists together to find ways to  improve communication between primary and secondary care and maximise use of resources such as the NMS and discharge  tMURs.

NMS record keeping requirements

Pharmacy contractors providing the new medicine service (NMS) are required by the Pharmaceutical Services (Advanced and Enhanced Services) (England) Directions 2011 to maintain records of the consultations.  This is referred to as ‘approved data’ within the Directions  which means that the Secretary of State has specified the data that is to be recorded.

The Directions also allow PCTs to request contractors to provide them with some of that data on a quarterly basis. 

What this ‘approved data’ is, the format in which it is to be provided and that it is to be sent electronically to the PCT is specified.  The national reporting templates services for both the NMS and MURs can be found on the DH website

A copy NMS reporting spread sheet  can be found at the PSNC website

NMS reporting template (for electronic submission to PCTs)

NMS reporting template (for electronic submission to PCTs)

What have the SHIP PCTs Requested?

The first quarter is going to be collected locally and collated centrally in SHIP and the next quarter will be done SHIP wide. Information has gone to contractors explaining the intention and directing them where to send their submission. Whilst the deadlines for the return of the data have passed, the PCTs are being flexible.  However they do want to receive the data by the end of January, so if you haven’t submitted, please do so as soon as possible.