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Arrangements for locum pharmacy staff (pharmacists, dispensing technicians and pharmacy assistants) using EPS Release 2

Under normal Smartcard arrangements all pharmacy staff would need to request that their local Registration Authority (RA) issues them with a User Role Profile (URP) specific for the organisation where they have been asked to work. Special arrangements have been made for locum pharmacy staff to use a virtual national locum organisation code - FFFFF.

This arrangement will not be required for all locums. Locums who work regularly in a small number of pharmacies or who have sufficient advance notice should have individual URPs for each organisation in which they work added to their Smartcards in the usual way.

The table below provides further information to exemplify:

Working arrangements Smartcard arrangements
Pharmacy staff that only ever work in one pharmacy Normal Smartcard arrangements: pharmacy staff would need to request that their local RA issues them with a URP specific for the organisation where they have been asked to work.
Pharmacy staff that work in a regular group of pharmacies (e.g. four local pharmacies) Normal Smartcard arrangements: pharmacy staff would need to request that their local RA issues them with a URP specific for the organisations where they have been asked to work. (NB pharmacy staff can have more than one organisation on their card and will need to choose which one they are working at for a particular day when logging on.
Pharmacy staff that work in one pharmacy/a regular group of pharmacies but are also sometimes required to work at short notice in an unknown pharmacy Normal Smartcard arrangements will apply as above in order for the pharmacy staff to have their regular pharmacy (pharmacies) URP on their cards, but there will also be cause for such pharmacy staff to have the FFFFF URP issued on their card.
Pharmacy staff that work in a range of unknown pharmacies at short notice These pharmacy staff will need to be issued the FFFFF URP.
  1. What is the FFFFF code?
    FFFFF refers to the code for the national locum organisation. Pharmacy staff can be issued with a URP associated with a virtual national locum organisation using the code FFFFF. This is in order to ensure that pharmacy staff can operate Release 2 dispensing functionality in different organisations in England at short notice, as appropriate. 
  2. When should the FFFFF URP be used?
    The FFFFF URP should be used for pharmacy staff who work at pharmacies they do not regularly work at and at very short notice. Without these arrangements pharmacy staff might be unable to dispense an electronic prescription in a timely way, which could lead to a risk to patient safety.
  3. How do locum pharmacy staff get the FFFFF URP added to their Smartcard?
    Pharmacy staff that need the national locum URP added to their Smartcard should contact their RA sponsor regardless of where they will be working in England. An RA sponsor can choose to set a time limit for the validity of the national locum URP where they deem this necessary, if they are using Positions in UIM. If they are using the Spine User Directory then the time period can only be enforced through a manual process.
  4. What is the RA sponsor's responsibility in relation to FFFFF?
    The RA sponsor has responsibility for ensuring that pharmacy staff have a legitimate reason for having the FFFFF URP added to their Smartcard. A legitimate reason is that they:
    - expect to have to work at very short notice; and
    - do not know in advance where they will be working.
    The sponsor does not need to check for fitness to practice or performance related monitoring elements.
  5. What are the PCT responsibilities in relation to FFFFF?
    PCTs have a duty to provide pharmaceutical services and will therefore recognise that they need to take a collective responsibility for the differences in the working arrangements of the pharmacy workforce.  If PCTs do not support the virtual national locum organisation using the code FFFFF they will need to resource another model that supports pharmacies locally maintaining a pharmaceutical service. It would need to be able to accommodate pharmacy staff locally working in pharmacies at short notice and recognise that some pharmacies are open long hours with changes of pharmacy staff at any point in the day. Use of the FFFFF URP will avoid the need for a RA function 24 hours a day, seven days a week. PCTs should include their approach to the use of the locum code in their Smartcard Transition Plan.
  6. Are there any information governance issues?
    The National Information Governance Board's view is that the benefits of the FFFFF URP outweigh the patient safety risks of a locum community pharmacist not being able to dispense when required urgently. PCTs have a responsibility to make sure that issuing the FFFFF URP is appropriate to the pharmacy staff in question. Pharmacy staff also have to comply with their professional code of conduct at all times and are accountable to their professional body.

More information
Further information, application forms and advice can be obtained from the PCT Registration Lead, the Integrated Identity Management and Registration Authority area of the nww site or information on smartcards on the EPS website.