Gateway criteria

Gateway Criteria

<p To qualify for a PQS 2019/20 payment,  contractors will have to meet the following four gateway criteria on the day of their declaration (which must be done between 3rd February 2020 and 28th February 2020):

  1. the contractor must be offering at the pharmacy the New Medicine Service (NMS) and/or the NHS community pharmacy seasonal influenza vaccination service; and
  2. pharmacy staff at the pharmacy must be able to send and receive NHSmail from their shared premises specific NHSmail account, which must have at least two live linked accounts; and
  3. the contractor must update its NHS website profile in respect of its opening hours (including Easter Sunday 2020 and the following public and bank holidays: Christmas Day 2019, Boxing Day 2019, New Year’s Day 2020, Good Friday 2020, Easter Monday 2020, Early May Bank Holiday 2020 and Spring Bank Holiday 2020), services and facilities and promptly update this as information changes (including Easter Sunday and public and bank holiday opening hours) to ensure the information is accurate for the public (to be eligible for the PQS 2019/2020 payment, this will have to be done between 00:00 on 1 October 2019 and 23:59 on 30 November 2019); distance selling pharmacies must send an email to the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) Provider Assurance Team between 00:00 on 1 October 2019 and 23:59 on 30 November 2019 as per the NHS England and NHS Improvement Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2019/20 guidance; and
  4. 80% of all registered pharmacy professionals working at the pharmacy have achieved level 2 safeguarding status for children and vulnerable adults in the last two years prior to the date of their declaration.

For further information on each criterion, click on the links above. If a link is not available for a criterion, this will be made available soon.

Contractors passing the gateway criteria will only receive a payment if they meet one or more of the domains listed in the tables under the ‘Quality criteria’ subheading below. Therefore, meeting the gateway criteria will not, in itself, attract a PQS payment; it is subject to how many of the domains the contractor meets.