Assignment of Locum Code to Pharmacy staff
The FFFFF code is used by qualified locum pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to
operate EPS Release 2 functionality. This enables a Pharmacist or a Pharmacy Technician
to have one position to provide locum support at different dispensing sites where it is not
practical to assign them to individual Pharmacy ODS location codes. However, the FFFFF
code must not be approved for staff not qualified as pharmacists or pharmacy
technicians.
On assignment of the FFFFF code, pharmacy staff and pharmacy technicians can use their
smartcards within any EPS enabled pharmacy in the entire country. Certificates are
normally granted with a 1 year expiry date where locum is the only access on the card (no
other specific pharmacy is on the card).
Steps to add locum access to your smart card
1. Add your name and smartcard number (UUID) to the 'assign position
template'. Do not add anything else.
assign position
template.doc
2. Personalise the letter template as necessary.
Locum letter request
example V1.doc
3. Send these together to the NHS England address on the letter template.
4. Your card will be updated remotely by the RA team once we receive the form
from NHS England signed by them as your sponsor.
Any queries should be directed to the RA generic email box at
YHCS.Smartcards@nhs.net