Contract Monitoring
NHS England regional teams have responsibility for monitoring the provision of Essential and Advanced services. Arrangements for monitoring locally commissioned services may be set out in local contracts or Service Level Agreements.
NHS England’s regional teams use the Community Pharmacy Assurance Framework (CPAF) to monitor community pharmacy contractors’ compliance with the terms of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF).
As a result of NHS regulations introduced at the end of 2020, completion of CPAF is now a requirement of the Terms of Service. Therefore, contractors must complete the screening questionnaire within the required time period each year and, if required, the full CPAF questionnaire.
The LPC recommend that contractors familiarise themselves with CPE’s advice page on contract monitoring.
Should a pharmacy contractor have any queries or questions regarding the monitoring process, or require advice and support around a monitoring visits, the LPC is available for support, just contact us, or you can contact the ICB.
For who to contact at the ICB with regard to CPAF queries, please refer to the Pharmacy Contact List which can be found here.
Visit CPE for more info on the following:
- Background to CPAF
- CPAF screening questionnaire
- CPAF full questionnaire
- Contract monitoring visits
- Monitoring the use of standard operating procedures
- Recording advice, interventions and referrals in community pharmacies
CPAF – Best Practice Information
We would like to share the list of best practice requirements with you which have been provided by NHS England that all community pharmacies should annually review:
- SOPs need to be reviewed annually
- Patient questionnaires need to be shared annually on NHS website and available inside the pharmacy
- Annual complaints report needs to be submitted to NHS England
- Claim actual number of NMS provided on that months NHSBSA submission
- Advise patients on how to dispose of unwanted meds
- Advise patients on safe storage of meds where appropriate
- Available services displayed more prominently e.g. outside the pharmacy (in the window etc.)
- Fire risk assessments completed annually
- Health and safety risk assessments completed annually
- Variety of leaflets available in relation to health issues applicable to a wider audience
- Keep up to date training records for staff members
- Training pack/induction process for locums
- Regularly review access to the pharmacy for patients with a disability
