South West (South) Community Pharmacy information
This webpage is for Community Pharmacists and their teams based in Cornwall & Isles of Scilly, Devon, Bristol, North Somerset, Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
All public and patient enquiries, complaints and Freedom of Information Act requests should be directed to england.contactus@nhs.net or telephone 0300 311 22 33.
If you are from a Community Pharmacy in Cornwall & Isles of Scilly, Devon, Bristol, North Somerset, Somerset and South Gloucestershire and have a query, please contact us as follows:
england.pharmacysouthwest@nhs.net
Winter Planning
Met Office weather warnings for the South West are available here.
If your pharmacy experiences or is likely to experience any service disruption due to the weather please notify NHS England as follows:
- Actual or forthcoming pharmacy closures should be logged through the ‘Reporting an unplanned closure’ on PharmOutcomes (located under Services, and the subheading Unplanned Closures) – re-openings should similarly be reported using the ‘Reopening’ service on PharmOutcomes
- Otherwise by email to england.pharmacysouthwest@nhs.net – this email account is continuously monitored between 08:30 – 17:30 Monday to Friday.
Contact details
Interpretation and translation services
From 1 October 2019 Language Empire is the service provider for BNSSG, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. Language Empire will be providing:
- Spoken face-to-face interpreting
- Telephone interpreting
- Translation/transcription services
In order to book, manage, track, or cancel a linguist request, please sign into Language Empire’s online LE-LSM portal. Please note that you will require the specific username and password/PIN for your Practice, which will have been shared with the Practice directly from Language Empire, to access services.
You can also find helpful service support materials and additional information on the Language Empire site, such as:
- How to Request Language Services
- On Demand Telephone Access Cards
- How to Request Translation Services
- Best Practice Guides for Using Interpreters
- Language ID Charts
Language Empire have a dedicated customer services telephone line and email that is operational 24-hours a day, 7 days a week for any queries:
Email: bookings@empire-groupuk.com
Telephone: 0330 20 20 270
British Sign Language (BSL) Interpretation:
BSL services will continue to be provided by the current BSL providers, with the exception of provision for GP Practices in Devon where the CCG have made other arrangements for medical services:
- BNSSG – Action on Hearing Loss
- Somerset – Capita
- Devon – Language Empire (GP Practices should contact Devon CCG for details of the provider)
- Cornwall – Hearing Loss Cornwall
Changes to core or supplementary hours
Please complete the relevant form if your pharmacy wishes to change their hours:
Unplanned closures
Unplanned closures forms (please note two forms to complete)
In the event of an unplanned closure, all contractors should immediately complete the ‘reporting an unplanned closure’ service form. This form can be found on PharmOutcomes under the ‘services’ tab and then under ‘reporting an unplanned closure’.
Once full pharmaceutical services have resumed the ‘pharmacy reopening’ service form should be completed.
As a temporary measure to ensure effective reporting of unplanned closures by pharmacy contractors to NHS England, we have reinstated the paper unplanned closure reporting template to our website. Where able, all contractors should make every effort to report any unplanned closure and subsequent re-opening via PharmOutcomes, therefore the paper template should only be used in the absence of access to the PharmOutcomes system.
Guidance resources
Forged prescription guidance
- Forged prescriptions guidance (October 2018)
Medicines Shortages
- A Guide to Managing Medicines Supply and Shortages (November 2019)
- Guidance for dispensing contractors (June 2018)
Links to the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments (PNAs)
- Bristol PNA
- Cornwall PNA
- Devon, Plymouth and South Devon & Torbay PNA’s
- North Somerset PNA
- Somerset PNA
- South Gloucestershire PNA
Links to Local Pharmaceutical Committees (LPC)
Medicines Use Review (MUR)
Please use the correct form for your request:
- Form PREM1 MUR premises self-certification form
- Form PREM2A – Off premises at alternative premises
- Form PREM2B – Off premises for particular patient
- Form PREM2C – Off premises for category of patients
- Form PREM2D SWEST – Telephone MUR
- Form PREM2D SWEST – Hospital to Home
Significant Incident reporting
- Incident report form – form to be used by all pharmacies in the South West when reporting an incident.
Serious difficulty and Dispensing by Doctors Application
100 hour pharmacies form
Further details and opening times of pharmacies are available on the NHS website.