Download the editable scoping and handover template, or use the sections below to prepare your brief. This template is for practices, PCNs and commissioners. Do not include patient data.
Scope the service
Use this editable pack to prepare a discussion about a managed remote clinical pharmacy service. Complete it with aggregate operational information, then agree the scope and working arrangements with the provider. It does not assign contractual responsibilities or authorise clinical work.
Do not enter patient names, identifiers, record extracts, credentials or clinical case details. Keep patient-level handover actions in the authorised clinical system.
Organisation and priorities
Organisation and practice or PCN contact: [Enter organisation, role and work contact details]
Decision needed and intended start: [Enter the commissioning decision, desired timing and constraints]
Main priorities: [Describe the operational problem and which work must come first]
Practice and system profile
Repeat these fields for each practice or group.
- Practice or group: [Enter practice]
- Approximate list size: [Enter size]
- Clinical system and access owner: [Enter system and owner]
Workstreams to discuss
- Medicines queries. Typical volume and period: Enter aggregate estimate. Priority and scope boundaries: Enter priority and exclusions.
- Repeat requests. Typical volume and period: Enter aggregate estimate. Priority and scope boundaries: Clarify preparation and prescribing boundaries.
- Discharge correspondence. Typical volume and period: Enter aggregate estimate. Priority and scope boundaries: Identify medicines-related tasks in scope.
- Clinic correspondence. Typical volume and period: Enter aggregate estimate. Priority and scope boundaries: Identify medicines-related tasks in scope.
State whether volumes are measured or estimated. Distinguish an existing backlog from new work arriving each week. Record dependencies such as missing information or decisions needed from another clinician.
Work excluded from this brief: [Enter activities, systems or practices outside the proposed service]
Agree working arrangements
Use the prompts to assign owners and record the evidence needed before work starts. An entry here is a discussion prompt, not confirmation that the arrangement is already in place. Each clinician remains professionally accountable for their decisions.
Responsibilities and readiness to agree
- Clinical scope. Decision or evidence needed: Protocols, competence boundaries and who makes prescribing decisions. Named owner and status: To agree.
- Escalation. Decision or evidence needed: Receiving clinician, urgent route, response expectations and route if no response. Named owner and status: To agree.
- Access and information governance. Decision or evidence needed: Authorised system access, permissions, secure communication and information-sharing arrangements. Named owner and status: To agree.
- Documentation. Decision or evidence needed: Where actions are recorded and how coding and task closure are defined. Named owner and status: To agree.
- Continuity. Decision or evidence needed: Absence arrangements, outstanding tasks, access failure and the communication route. Named owner and status: To agree.
- Service management. Decision or evidence needed: Provider and practice contacts, issue handling and scope-change process. Named owner and status: To agree.
Reporting to agree
Audience and frequency: [Enter practice recipients, network recipients and reporting frequency]
Measures and definitions: [Enter activity, open-work status, age bands and counting rules]
Source and secure delivery: [Enter approved source, extraction cut-off, access controls and delivery route]
Separate completed work from open GP actions. Do not treat a referral, escalation or recorded action as proof of a clinical outcome. Agree how duplicates, transfers and reopened tasks affect totals.
Quote and funding questions
Ask for the written scope, included work, cover arrangements, reporting, fees, exclusions and change process. Identify any funding route separately and confirm its current eligibility and reimbursement conditions. This pack does not establish funding entitlement or tax treatment.
Prepare handover and the start decision
Plan the transition with the current and incoming service where relevant. Keep record-level information in approved systems. The clinical start depends on agreed scope, authorised access and readiness; this pack supplies no fixed start date.
Handover checklist
- Agree the outgoing service cut-off and incoming service start. Identify any gap or overlap and who handles new work during it.
- Locate open tasks, pending decisions and follow-up requirements in the clinical system. Assign who completes each item and how receipt is confirmed.
- Confirm access, local protocols, documentation conventions, escalation routes and continuity arrangements with the responsible people.
- Tell the practice team how queries are routed. Agree any patient communication required by a change in service.
- Check that outstanding work has an owner before the outgoing arrangement ends. Resolve blockers before authorising the affected workstream.
Outstanding operational decisions without patient detail
Repeat these fields for each outstanding decision or blocker.
- Decision or blocker: [Enter decision]
- Owner: [Enter owner]
- Target date and status: [Enter date and status]
Start decision
Scope ready to begin: [Enter ready workstreams and any conditions or exclusions]
People authorising the start: [Enter practice or commissioner and provider decision-makers]
Agreed start and first delivery discussion: [Enter agreed dates and the evidence to bring]
At the first delivery discussion, compare the work delivered with the agreed scope, check open actions and dependencies, and record any agreed changes. Use the same definitions for practice and network reporting.
Related information
Changing provider and planning handover
Managed remote clinical pharmacy service
Clinical governance and data security
Complete this template with the relevant practice or commissioner and provider. It does not replace service agreements, clinical protocols or individual professional judgement.
