LAMS Newsletter July 2021

Welcome to your July Newsletter

What a month we’ve had with sporting events keeping us on the edge of our seats. Here at Connect Prescription Services we would like to say a huge well done to all the teams and individuals that have taken part. 

 Shortlist for Nursing Times Award

We are delighted to share that NAMS has been shortlisted for The Nursing Times Award for ‘Managing Long Term Conditions’.  Well done to everyone involved in this outstanding recognition.

 Meet the Team

This month we are welcoming Beverley Tusa to our Connect Prescription Services team. Beverley joins us with 16 years of experience working within primary care as a health care assistant and receptionist in at a GP surgery and is looking forward to getting to know all our patients.

In her free time Beverley enjoys watching box sets, listening to 80s rock music, going out for meals and socialising.  Beverley also likes a bit of a challenge and has also completed an abseil and sky dive and will be taking part in a Trapeze experience in the near future!

 Prescribing and Dispensing Process (the supply of products to patients)

We thought we would take this opportunity to share with you the process that occurs when you speak to our team to place your order.

Step 1 : Patient/Carer with Connect Prescription Services– prescription requirements are agreed between the prescriber (Connect Prescription Services) and patient.

Step 2 : Patient chooses a dispenser. This could be a community pharmacy or a Dispensing Appliance Contractor (DAC) for example Charter, Salts, Bullens, Fittleworth.

Step 3 : Connect Prescription Services sends your prescription to your chosen dispenser.

Step 4 : Your dispenser receives the prescription and supplies your products.  These could be delivered by courier, by post or you may choose to collect them yourself.   

 Improved Coordinator Telephone Process

Some of you may have spoken to us this month and noticed that the questions we ask you are slightly different.  We have developed the set of questions our Coordinators ask, to ensure that we are getting all the information needed to efficiently process your order and to provide the best service possible.  The calls may take a little longer whilst we get used to the new process and we appreciate your patience through this.

Connect Prescription Services Website

Connect Prescription Services announced the launch of our new website in the March newsletter. This can be accessed via the following link: –

https://connectprescriptions.com/

We will be posting live information on the service phone-lines on the website. There’s information on how to order your prescriptions, frequently asked questions and some useful contacts.

Ways to Order & Reminder Calls

With the aim of improving and running a more efficient service, LAMS are now in the process of moving towards providing an outbound call service. This would involve members of the prescription coordinator team calling you at an agreed time, before your order is due, effectively acting as a reminder service. We will be offering this service on your next call. We hope this will reduce the queue and wait time on the phone for any queries and also reduce the risk of you running out of products. Please be aware, if you are planning a holiday to order your supplies within plenty of time.

You can also email your prescription when it is due. Simply confirm your details (Name, DOB, address) and the items required. We will process the request and respond to your email with confirmation of receipt.

Please forward your request to blmkccg.lccg.lams@nhs.net

Our busy periods on the phone lines tend to be Monday all day and the first and third Wednesday afternoon of each month.  Tuesdays after a bank holiday are also very busy and wait times on the phone may be longer. We apologise for any delay during these times.

Bank holiday closed dates 2021/2022

Monday 30th August 2021

Saturday 25th December 2021

Monday 27th December 2021

Tuesday 28th December 2021

Monday 3rd January 2022