Due to the new national restrictions across England, new advice has been issued to people who are clinically extremely vulnerable from COVID-19 (those previously referred to as shielded patients).

Two new groups of patients have also been identified as being clinically extremely vulnerable from COIVID-19 and have been added to the list of such patients: adults with Stage 5 chronic kidney disease and adults with Down’s syndrome. NHS trusts and general practices respectively will be adding patients from these groups to the shielded patient list. The need for children and young people to stay on the list will also be reviewed considering individual circumstances. The Summary Care Record will be updated accordingly.

People who are clinically extremely vulnerable will be advised by the Government not to go to a pharmacy, and as a consequence of this new advice, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has decided to restart the Pandemic Delivery Service from 5th November 2020 until 3rd December 2020. The service applies across the whole of England.

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

The Terms of Service requirements therefore apply to all contractors in England (excluding Distance Selling Pharmacies) and 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 during the above time period, under the terms of the Advanced service and a claim for payment can be made via the Manage Your Service (MYS) platform.

Further information on the service can be found here