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COVID-19 Primary Care bulletin
13 April 2020
COVID-19: today's round-up for primary care
Dear primary care colleagues,
Thank you to so many of you across primary care who worked over this bank holiday weekend to support our communities to stay safe and well. We also really appreciate all the work that is going into identifying patients at highest clinical risk from COVID-19 to meet the deadline of 5pm on Tuesday 14 April, in order to ensure patients have access to the support they need while shielding.
Plans have been outlined on widening testing of COVID-19 for NHS staff and household members including primary care staff. We expect further guidance on this in the coming days as we step up the level of testing capacity across the health and care sector.
Nikki and Ed
Dr Nikki Kanani
GP and Medical Director for Primary Care
NHS England and NHS Improvement
Ed Waller
Director for Primary Care Strategy and NHS Contracts
NHS England and NHS Improvement
General practice
GPs in practice supporting NHS 111
We are extremely grateful to the number of salaried GPs or GP Partners who have volunteered to support remote delivery of the COVID-19 Clinical Assessment Service (CCAS) in addition to their day to day work in clinical practice. We know how hard you are already working and your ongoing support is greatly appreciated.
Please could anyone who has volunteered to undertake sessions for the CCAS and who has received their honorary contract from South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) NHS Foundation Trust please sign and return this as soon as possible so that we can proceed with onboarding you into the service.
Patients who need support whilst staying at home
We know many patients are asking for wider help and support during this time – whether they are in the shielding group or not. Here are some places you can refer them to:
Where can GPs direct people in need during COVID-19 pandemic:
Highest Clinical Risk Group (only (1.5m)
Anyone in need (including those in the highest clinical risk group)
- All patients at highest clinical risk who are shielding are asked to register to the Government Support website. This service provides access to food and medications whilst at home if needed.
- To access this, patients must be flagged as highest clinical risk by the central process, their GP or a hospital specialist.
- Please note, there may be a short delay between the flag being applied and support arriving.
- NHS Volunteer Responders: you can submit a live referral for an individual that needs support or an NHS service that requires volunteers providing they meet the referring criteria at https://www.goodsamapp.org/NHSreferral or on 0808 196 3382.
- Volunteers can provide: (1) Check in and chat support – short-term telephone support to individuals who are at risk of loneliness as a consequence of self-isolation (note, this is not mental health advice); (2) Community support – collection of shopping, medication or other essential supplies for someone who is self-isolating, and delivering these supplies to their home; (3) Patient Transport – transport to take patients home who are medically fit for discharge.
- Health at home – is a webpage that gives them an overview of NHS services that are available, such as how to order repeat prescriptions online and get them delivered (https://www.goodsamapp.org/NHSreferral).
- Public Health England have provided some guidance on looking after mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Local councils are working with voluntary sector organisations and local communities to support residents in the response to COVID-19. You can signpost them to https://www.gov.uk/find-local-council, where they can locate their council and associated website where they can find all this information
- The government has provided advice on employment and financial support on their website: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
Optometry
New guidance has been published on deploying the clinical and non-clinical optical workforce to support the NHS clinical delivery plan for COVID-19.The optical workforce has a wide range of skills and experience that can be utilised to undertake activities that will help clinical colleagues and the wider workforce during COVID-19. The document sets out the principles of safe redeployment and healthcare delivery as critical care units prepare and deliver increased activity during surge and super-surge in the coronavirus pandemic.
Community pharmacy
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has welcomed confirmation that all pharmacists and pharmacy team members are covered by the provisions of the Assaults on Emergency Workers Act 2018. This was confirmed to the RPS by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) this week.
The legislation which applies to England and Wales enables judges to apply more severe sentences to those found guilty of any physical attacks on emergency or healthcare workers.
Dentistry
The most recent guidance letter for dental staff and dental redeployment is available on our website.
Additional information
The NHS Volunteer Responders service is offering support to pharmacy and general practice to drive patients to appointments, collect medicines from pharmacies and making regular phone calls to check on people isolating at home. We strongly encourage all of you to make full early use of the volunteer responders for your patients, for example they can provide regular check-ins for patients feeling isolated as a result of social distancing. Further details on how you can make use of this resource are available here.
Dates for your diary
Thursday 16 April 5-6pm primary care webinar with Nikki Kanani and Ed Waller
Digital First Primary Care team webinars on practical steps that practices should take to establish a total triage model.
14 April, 10:30 – 11:30am: remote total triage using Footfall
15 April, 1:00 – 2:00pm: remote total triage using Engage Health
16 April, 4.40 – 5.00pm: COVID-19 giving your patients access to online services remotely
17 April, 2:00 – 3:00pm: remote total triage using Sense.ly
Nikki and Ed's Link of the Day
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