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Primary Care Bulletin - this week's round-up
16 July 2021
Dear colleagues,
Following the Government’s announcement on Monday that the legal requirement to wear a face covering in shops, public transport and other enclosed public spaces will end on 19 July, we wanted to clarify the position for primary care.
Public Health England’s infection prevention control (IPC) guidelines remains in place for all staff and patients in hospitals as well as GP practices, dental practices, optometrists and pharmacies to ensure that everyone is protected.
Staff, patients and visitors will also be expected to continue to follow social distancing rules when visiting any care setting as well as using face coverings, mask and other personal protection equipment. IPC face covering resources for NHS settings are available to download from Public Health England's campaign resource centre.
The NHS will continue to support staff in ensuring that the guidance is followed in all healthcare settings.
GP appointment data – May 2021
The latest GP appointment data for May 2021 shows an increase in appointments that are not COVID-19 vaccination activity across general practice of 3% compared to May 2019. Thank you for everything you are doing to keep your communities safe and well. We know from the recent GP Patient Survey results that patients continue to trust and value the care you provide.
Nikki and Ed
Dr Nikki Kanani
GP and Medical Director for Primary Care,
Deputy SRO, COVID-19 Vaccination Deployment Programme
NHS England and NHS Improvement
Ed Waller
Director for Primary Care, NHS England and NHS Improvement
COVID-19 updates
Phase 3 service specifications published for general practices and community pharmacies
On 14 July 2021 we published several documents for general practice and community pharmacies to introduce the next phase and outlining the process to be part of the COVID-19 vaccination programme from the Autumn. GP practices and community pharmacy contractors must indicate their interest to participate by 5pm on 28 July 2021.
A webinar was held yesterday evening to work through the process and answer your questions. The webinar recording and slides are now available on FutureNHS.
General practice
Extension of temporary changes to GP Contract under the pandemic regulations
The following temporary changes to the GP Contract in England will continue under the pandemic regulations until 30 September 2021:
- A suspension of the requirement that practices report to commissioners about the Friends and Family Test returns.
- A temporary suspension of the requirement for individual patient consent in certain circumstances, in order to encourage increased use of electronic repeat dispensing (eRD).
- A continuation of the temporary increase in the number of appointment slots that practices make available for direct booking by 111 up to 1 slot per 500 patients per
day. These slots continue not to be appointments in the traditional sense, but practices should clinically review patient referred by 111 and contact the patient to arrange appropriate follow-up. Practices should make slots available in line with demand, and for many practices this will be fewer than 1 slot per 500 patients per day.
We will review these direct booking arrangements with key partners in the context of wider discussions on GP access, with a view to ensuring that they are not extended beyond the necessary period.
Review of the England Medical Performers List – phase 2
We are currently reviewing the England Medical Performers List Regulations in the context of the wider regulatory landscape in operation across England. This supports the aims of the GP bureaucracy review and has the potential to identify where regulatory requirements can be streamlined and simplified, while maintaining the high professional standards that ensure patient safety.
A short questionnaire is available for people to share their views of the existing regulatory landscape for general practitioners in England and to provide their thoughts on how this landscape might be transformed.
Guidance and templates for faster ordering of medications and access to information in the resident’s GP record
A faster and safer way for care home residents to order medication and to access GP record information is now available. Ordering your residents' medication and having access to real time patient information from their GP online services account will help you, the pharmacy and GP practice save time. It will also help make the dispensing of individual medicines easier and potentially result in the reduction of medication waste.
To help, the LGA and NHS have published a step-by-step guide for care homes, GP practices and pharmacies to support ordering medication by proxy, and Access to Information in the GP record guide to support implementation.
The guidance is linked to TPP and EMIS GP practice systems and also covers the necessary security and governance requirements, as it will also help create an audit trail. In addition, all the resources for GP proxy national and regional pages can be found here.
FIT Admin Cancer Pathway – poster
Across London there have been increasing numbers of Faecal Immunochemical Tests (FIT) getting rejected from labs, due to incorrect labelling of kits, the wrong specimen container being used or incorrect/improper closure of the container.
The Transforming Cancer Services Team (TCST) have created a poster for GP practice staff to support them in explaining to patients the correct way to complete and return a FIT. We hope that this poster will enable staff to give clear directions to patients so that samples are correctly collected, and labels filled in and returned quickly to the surgery. Please share this poster with administrative/reception staff in your surgery and display it where the FIT Kits are kept or at a location that is
visible/accessible when staff are speaking with patients about their kits.
Pharmacy
Community Pharmacy Assurance Framework (CPAF) screening questionnaire
Over 6,917 pharmacies had completed the 2021/22 Community Pharmacy Assurance Framework (CPAF) screening questionnaire by 14 July 2021. Community pharmacy contractors are reminded that the mandatory screening questionnaire must be completed via the NHSBSA MYS portal by Saturday 24 July 2021.
NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service Technical Toolkit published
A new NHS CPCS Technical Toolkit, which outlines the requirements IT system suppliers must meet in order to deliver an appropriate solution for NHS CPCS providers (i.e. community pharmacies), has been developed by NHS England and NHS Improvement, NHSX, NHS Digital, NHS Business Services Authority (BSA), together with IT system suppliers and wider community pharmacy stakeholders.
The toolkit will support the requirement for pharmacies providing the NHS CPCS to purchase and fund IT solutions which support the safe and quality delivery of the service once existing IT system funding arrangements come to an end after 30 September 2021.
A supplier showcase is scheduled, providing pharmacies with the opportunity to meet IT suppliers. The event will run from 7pm - 8.30pm on 22 July 2021, held via Microsoft Teams – a formal invitation and link to this event will be shared with colleagues shortly. For further information contact digitalpodac@nhsx.nhs.uk.
NHS Discharge Medicines Service – learning resources available from the Transfer of Care Around Medicines (TCAM) Rollout
The NHS Discharge Medicines Service has been established to ensure better communication of changes to a patient’s medication when they leave hospital and to reduce incidences of avoidable harm caused by medicines. By referring patients to community pharmacy on discharge with information about medication changes made in hospital, community pharmacy can support patients to improve outcomes, prevent harm and reduce readmissions.
To support NHS Trusts with setting up referral processes into the Discharge Medicines Service, Wessex AHSN have published a series of learning resources for NHS Trusts which includes a report and video.
Dentistry
Supporting Dentistry to Improve Access
Avoidance of Doubt: provision of phased treatments has been published to support dental professionals, and to clarify where it might be appropriate to provide phased treatment spanning over several courses of treatment (CoT).
This should improve access to high quality NHS dentistry to meet the needs of patients who will not usually have accessed and completed routine dental care in the previous 24 months. This cohort of patients would generally be those with high dental needs and as such are more likely to be adults from a vulnerable background with additional health or social needs.
Dental standard operating procedure: Transition to recovery
This updated standard operating procedure outlines a phased transition for dental practices towards the resumption of the full range of dental provision.
Primary care
STOMP STAMP Day - Thursday 29 July
On Thursday 29 July, a series of sessions can support you to embed STOMP STAMP principals in your practice. These practical sessions are suitable for clinicians working across primary care and will cover:
- what psychotropic prescribing data tells us about shifting trends
- the impact of psychotropic medication on physical health and well being
- how alternative interventions can be used to minimise reliance on medication
- how primary care can engage with STOMP STAMP and to help tackle health inequalities
STOMP means Stopping Over-Medication of People with a learning disability, autism or both with psychotropic medicines. STAMP means Supporting Treatment and Appropriate Medication in Paediatrics. Register your attendance at any of the sessions or contact england.wesupport.stomp@nhs.net for more information.
GP and Pharmacy PPE engagement panels
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is recruiting panel members for GP and Pharmacy PPE engagement panels to gather feedback on the quality and quantity of PPE provided to meet service needs. The purpose of the panels is to provide end-user customers the opportunity to discuss their (COVID) PPE provision experiences to improve the service of the DHSC PPE cell. The meeting will take place for one hour every month.
If you would like to express an interest in joining, please email NonAcutePPECustomerDemand@dhsc.gov.uk with your name, role and panel preference.
All ages 24/7 mental health helplines across the country
As of May 2020, all NHS mental health trusts in England have had open urgent mental health helplines, four years ahead of the original NHS Long Term Plan target. Our 24/7 all ages NHS mental health helplines were set up, or in some cases expanded, as part of the mental health sector’s response to COVID-19 and have supported around 250,000 people a month since they were rolled out.
You can find more case study examples of the helplines and how they have supported the public. Find your local mental health helpline via nhs.uk/urgentmentalhealth.
New digital playbooks show how technology can improve care and support staff
NHSX has launched three new digital playbooks in mental health, gastroenterology and cancer, meaning the playbook library now covers eight outpatient specialties. The playbooks are aimed at clinical teams wanting to integrate digital solutions into care pathways and help patients benefit from the latest technology. They are a series of free-to-access case studies designed by NHS clinicians and show real-life examples of how digital tools can help improve care. NHSX is inviting anyone with an innovative case study to share to email them for a chance to be included in the
library.
NHS Flex for the Future Programme
NHS England and NHS Improvement together with Timewise have worked together on a new programme to help NHS organisations better embrace flexible working. The aim is to draw on the collective knowledge and experience of NHS England and NHS Improvement and Timewise to provide NHS organisations with a step-by-step programme to create their own local plan to deliver more flexible working opportunities in all roles, meeting the People Plan commitments.
Programme participation is capped at 100 NHS organisations, with priority being given to retention sites. The closing date to sign up is Friday 20 August. One application should be received per organisation using the link (you will need the email addresses of all members of your change team to sign up). You can find more information and register your interest here.
Help to shape the next five-year strategy for Allied Health Professionals in England
Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) in England are developing a new strategy in 2022, to shape how they deliver health and social care services for the next five years. The strategy is being co-created with citizens, the AHP community and other health professionals in three engagement phases. Between 5 and 25 July, we invite you join the anonymous conversation and help to shape the next five-year strategy for AHPs in England. Register to take part.
Blogs, case studies and podcasts
Video: Mental health services for young people in Manchester
Watch a new film showing how organisations, including VCSE, in the Greater Manchester Integrated Care System have worked creatively and innovatively to improve mental health services for their young people. The pandemic has presented many challenges for people, particularly around their mental health and wellbeing. As mental health services work hard to respond to an increase in demand it is partnership working that is proving key to ensuring support is available in communities.
Key dates
Upcoming events and webinars
Wednesday 21 July, 1.30pm - 2.30pm. Social Prescribing for Armed Forces Personnel, Veterans and their Families
Wednesday 21 July, 2pm - 3pm. GP career support offers webinar
Tuesday 27 July, 9am - 11am. Welcome to General Practice webinar for GP trainees and newly qualified GPs
Link of the day
