28 January 2021

Dear colleagues,

Nadhim Zahawi, Minister for COVID Vaccine Deployment, and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, have written to primary care staff to thank you for your incredible work delivering the COVID-19 vaccination programme, and specifically for rescheduling countless appointments with the change in dose interval policy. There are now over 1,000 Local Vaccination Services delivering the vaccine and the letter goes on to acknowledge the huge pressure you have been under as you worked at an extraordinary pace to deliver this hugely important programme.

We wrote to local vaccination sites yesterday to set out the next steps to vaccinate people living in older adult care homes and thank colleagues working in general practice who have made major progress vaccinating residents and staff.

In the last issue of the bulletin we also mentioned that the Countess of Wessex has thanked GP nurses and the NHS for the vaccination programme, and for the personal effect this has had for her. You can view this video here.

Kiren and Ned

COVID-19 updates and guidance

Vaccinating health and social care staff including those with no NHS number 

We have written a further letter from all the chief professional officers to all frontline health and social care staff encouraging workers to protect themselves and others by getting the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible.

Vaccinating our frontline teams against COVID-19 is an absolute and immediate priority, as part of our shared commitment to offer the first vital dose to 100% of those within the first four JCVI priority groups by the middle of February. 

NHS staff do not require an NHS number or GP registration to receive a vaccination and should never be denied one on this basis, either in person when presenting for a vaccine, or through design of booking systems. Please take immediate action to ensure this is not the case in your organisation.

If a member of staff does not have an NHS number, then employers should vaccinate now, record locally via a paper system and ensure that that the vaccination event is more formally documented later. NHS England and NHS Improvement are working to agree a longer-term solution, but employers should not wait for this before vaccinating.

Locum, agency and bank staff in qualifying roles must be given equitable access, and the contracting organisation has a duty of care to ensure these staff are offered a vaccination alongside substantive staff.

Helping locum staff to get their vaccination

The Pharmacists’ Defence Association has established a new portal to ensure that locum pharmacists are put forward for priority vaccination as frontline health and social care workers. 

Pharmacist locums are being invited to register with the portal so that their details can be shared with the relevant CCGs so that locums can be contacted and called for vaccination alongside other frontline health and social care workers. This is to ensure this workforce is not missed. Locums and agencies concerned that locums may not have been picked up through other routes can use the portal to guarantee these frontline workers are captured. Pharmacy employers should be working with CCGs to identify their frontline health care staff for priority vaccination.

All locum/agency/bank staff across the health and care system can access vaccination via the local hospital hub. They may also be vaccinated alongside the clinical teams where they are working or in a pharmacy-led Local Vaccination Centre. We have asked appraisal teams to be aware of local booking links, so contact your appraisal office if you are having difficulty. A letter has also been sent to appraisals teams to contact all GP locums and was also addressed to CCGs to inform them to take into account locums for vaccination.

The NHS England and NHS Improvement letter and associated standard operating procedure makes clear that hospital hubs vaccinating frontline health and social care workers should work with CCGs which are responsible for collating information on eligible staff in all other healthcare settings, including primary care and independent providers in their systems. Both pharmacy and GP-led Local Vaccination Services can also offer COVID-19 vaccinations to eligible frontline health and social care staff.

Updated PCN vaccine planning and progress tracking tool

A new version of the PCN vaccine planning and progress tracking tool has now been launched on the LVS workspace in Foundry. 

This updated version supports PCNs to plan their COVID-19 vaccination programmes for the AZ and Pfizer vaccines and users to calculate weekly vaccination capacity for each vaccine based on site and workforce scenarios. The tool also enables users to track progress with vaccination, including filters for different cohorts, delivery at each site against plan and progress with cohort coverage for PCNs, grouping population across different delivery methods (LVS, Hospital Hubs, Vaccination Centres). Users can also compare maximum daily historic delivery against peers in their STP as well as regionally and nationally.

A user guide is available to help you:

• get access to Foundry
• find the tool and utilise it
• feedback any challenges or suggestions for improvement

Please get in touch with simon.munk@carnallfarrar.com with any feedback or questions about the tool.

Long COVID SNOMED CT codes

An initial set of SNOMED CT codes to support the management of the long term effects of COVID 19 are now available. They correspond to:

• Diagnostic categories
• Referral and signposting
• Assessment instruments and outcome measures
• Community care and self care options

Knowledge about Long COVID is currently limited and evolving; the more we can use these codes, the more understanding we're likely to gain over time.  

Further guidance on the management of the long-term effects of COVID 19 is available from both NICE and NHS England and NHS Improvement.

COVID-19 Vaccination Programme – workspace

Dentistry

The latest issue of Your NHS dentistry and oral health update is available to read online now.

Primary care

Health and Wellbeing Fund to support projects to reduce health inequalities among new mothers and babies

The 19 charities who have been successfully awarded funding through a multi-million pound fund to reduce perinatal health inequalities have been announced. Including projects that will promote nutrition, learning, language development and mental health during pregnancy and post-birth, the Health and Wellbeing Fund focuses on a theme of ‘starting well’ and will provide support over the next three years to expand successful schemes and facilitate co-produced projects to promote equality.

The Health and Wellbeing Fund is an integral part of the Health and Wellbeing Programme, a partnership run between Department of Health and Social Care, Public Health England and ourselves, and is designed to enhance integrated working between the voluntary and public sectors.

Dates for your diary

Tuesday 2 February, 2pm – 3pm. Developing post-COVID assessment services

Thursday 4 February, 10am – 11.45am. Supporting our Working Carers in the NHS

Thursday 4 February, 2.30pm – 3.30pm. Provider collaboration at scale: what is it, what are the opportunities and how do we get there?

Link of the day

PCNs working together: South Tyneside housebound patients given vaccine jab