NHS England and NHS Improvement have announced that all primary care contractors, including pharmacy contractors, will be invited this week to place their second round of orders for lateral flow devices (LFDs). This is to supply primary care staff providing NHS services a new box of 25 tests to enable them to test for another 12 weeks, once their first set of tests has run out.

The invitation to place an order will come directly from Primary Care Support England (PCSE) and the ordering and delivery process will work in the same manner as for the first round.

Contractors are asked to note the following key points:

• Please place your order on the PCSE online portal as soon as possible, once you have received a direct email from PCSE;
• Order your test kits, separately from any other orders, as any orders placed with other items supplied by PCSE cannot be processed and will need to be cancelled;
• You will receive email confirmation of your order. Any duplicate orders placed will delay the process of delivery;
• Please order one item per member of staff. The maximum order quantity on the portal is 54. If you need to order for more than 54 members of staff, please email pcse.urgentsupplies@nhs.net;
• Deliveries will start on 25th March and will continue over the following two to three weeks; and
• Reporting of all test results via GOV.UK remains imperative – whether negative, void or positive. This is a statutory notifiable disease reporting requirement.