It has been confirmed that a global exemption has now been applied to Requirement 319 for community pharmacies whilst on-going funding negotiations continue. The exemption is applied during an overnight process and will also be applied to Version 11 assessments that have already been submitted.

Contractors should enter Level 2 attainment against Requirement 319 and add the text ‘Exempt as still under negotiation’ in the General Comments. The remaining requirements should be reviewed and updated as usual, and the assessment should be published (by 31 March 2014), once the contractor is certain that the scores reflect the level of attainment achieved. Once the assessment has been published, the exemption from Requirement 319 will be applied during an overnight process.

We are advised that Requirement 319 will need to completed in version 12 of the Toolkit (scheduled release date June 2014) and PSNC will provide business continuity materials to assist pharmacy contractors to comply with the business continuity planning requirement by 31 March 2015.