Following yesterday evening’s (4th January 2021) Government announcement of the commencement of a new national lockdown in England, clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) patients anywhere in England have been advised to recommence shielding; this included avoiding visiting pharmacies in person.

NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) have consequently confirmed that the Pandemic Delivery Service will now cover CEV patients anywhere in England from today (5th January 2021). These new arrangements replace those already in place for patients in Tier 4 areas previously announced over the last few weeks.

This change to the service requirements was announced, today, in a letter published by NHS England and NHS Improvement.

The service will run until 23:59 on 21st February 2021.

The Terms of Service requirements apply to all contractors in England (excluding Distance Selling Pharmacies) and they will receive the Essential service payment for the days the service is active, as set out in Part VIA of the Drug Tariff.

If a contractor (excluding Distance Selling Pharmacies) is asked to deliver a prescription to a clinically extremely vulnerable patient, this can be undertaken until 23:59 on 21st February 2021, under the terms of the Advanced service and a claim for payment can be made via the Manage Your Service (MYS) platform. Claims should be submitted by the 5th day of the following month.

Further detail on the service requirements can be found here