Managing a temporary pharmacy closure

If an emergency situation means a pharmacy needs to close for a short period, there are actions a contractor needs to undertake to ensure patients are able to access their prescriptions and that the contractor’s business can resume easily and effectively once the emergency has passed.

NB; As of 12th September 2024, NHS England has announced that notifications of unplanned temporary suspensions of services (closures) can now be made via the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal.

The following CPE Briefing provides guidance on planning which can be undertaken, as part of business continuity planning, in advance of an emergency closure and actions that should be considered in the event of a closure:

Briefing 023/23: Business Continuity Plan for Temporary Suspensions – Community Pharmacy England (cpe.org.uk)

The Terms of Service requirements are broadly that your plan must include arrangements for:

• Notifying your Integrated Care Board (ICB) of a temporary suspension, and a likely temporary suspension (in accordance with the approved particulars from NHS England);
• Updating the NHS England Directory of Services (DoS);
• Reducing referrals under Directed services that relate to urgent care;
• Notifying your main local GPs and other local contractors of the temporary closure and its anticipated duration;
• Displaying relevant information for patients on the premises (in accordance with the approved particulars), or for DSPs displaying relevant information on their website; and
• Continuity of care, for example, of patients with booked appointments and those who have supervised administration of medicines.

We suggest you inform Sandie Keall at the LPC, who is happy to facilitate communications between surgeries and neighbouring pharmacies, but can only do this if she is informed. sandie.keall@nhs.net.  07765686621 

For further resources, including templates, please see:

https://cpe.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/BCP-for-Temp-Closures-v2.docx

https://cpe.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Checklist-for-a-temporary-suspension-v2.docx

Pharmacy Closed Poster – Approved particulars

While the provision of pharmaceutical services is temporarily suspended at a pharmacy premises (other than distance selling premises), a notice must be displayed in such a way that it is visible from outside the premises, which:

• states that the provision of services is currently suspended, and
• provides information as to how long the suspension will / is likely to last.

The notice must be printed using a plain font in a minimum size 12 pt, with sufficient contrast between print and background colour, and include:

1. Advice for what people should do if they need to collect a prescription from the pharmacy premises.
2. Advice for what to do if they have medical issues that cannot wait until the pharmacy reopens.
3. Confirmation of the location of pharmacy premises nearby that can provide pharmaceutical services during the temporary suspension.
4. Advice that help can be sought from nhs.uk, calling 111 or the NHS.uk website.

Updating the Directory of Services (DoS)