20 November 2020

Dear colleagues,

Thank you for your swift response to the call for getting involved in the delivery of the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme. We have set up a dedicated space for the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme on our FutureNHS workspace where you can access the recording and slides from past webinars, ask any further questions and get access to key information. Please do ensure you are signed up. We will be holding our next regular GP webinar on Thursday, 26 November. Please do register if you haven’t signed up for our regular webinars before. 

Extension of flu vaccination programme to 50 to 64 year olds

Thank you for the incredible work you have done so far in vaccinating eligible cohorts on the flu vaccination programme. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has now announced the extension of the programme to 50 to 64 year olds. General practices and community pharmacies will be able to vaccinate all 50-64-year olds from 1 December, and should begin planning now, for example, ordering additional stock and organising appointment slots. Vaccination of priority groups should continue alongside this new cohort. Supply is available from the national stock to support this extension. However, it is not known what the exact patterns of uptake will be for this new cohort, so you are advised to only order as much as you need for the immediate term.

This is particularly relevant to general practice given the COVID-19 vaccination programme will begin shortly which will need to be balanced alongside the flu programme and may result in more patients accessing flu vaccinations at community pharmacies in the latter part of the season. It is important to make every effort to ensure as many people as possible in this cohort are vaccinated prior to delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine.

DHSC will also be updating its guidance to general practice and community pharmacy on accessing centrally supplied flu vaccines which includes an update on the availability of supplies.

Please note that it is also very important that routine childhood vaccinations are maintained to ensure these cohorts are not disadvantaged during delivery of the flu and Covid vaccination programmes.

Nikki and Ali

COVID-19 updates and guidance

Clinically extremely vulnerable individuals and the Shielded Patient List

As requested in our letter of 2 November, practices have been asked to urgently review children and young people currently on the Shielded Patient List (SPL) as per RCPCH guidance. We have developed a flow diagram to support GPs in completing this process, which can be found on the on the FutureNHS platform. We hope that this is a useful resource and helps to address any questions related to the prompt completion of this task.

We would also like to remind GPs and practices to add adults with Down’s syndrome to the SPL if you have not already done so and ensure they have been made aware of their highest risk status. Guidance is available on how to do this, as outlined in the 2 November letter.

When adding individuals to the SPL, please check that patient contact details, including email addresses, are up to date. This helps us to communicate quickly with patients on the list to make sure they always receive the right advice. We would like to thank you for your work in continuing to identify and support those at highest risk.

PPE Portal registration reminder

Remember to register on the PPE Portal to obtain free PPE, available to all primary care providers (including community pharmacists, optometrists, dentists, orthodontists and GPs).

The PPE portal is the primary source of free COVID-19 PPE (including Flu vaccination requirements). However, if there is a severe disruption to distribution, in the first instance get in contact with your local authority or LRF. If this route is not possible, get in contact with the NSDR. More information about the PPE portal can be found in this previous bulletin issue.

General practice 

National Call and Recall Service for flu vaccinations – outbound telephone calls

The NHS Immunisation Management Service operates the National Call and Recall Service for the flu vaccination programme on behalf of NHS England and NHS Improvement. In addition to initial contact via letters and emails/SMS, it is making approximately 1.3 million follow-up telephone calls to eligible individuals reminding them to book a flu vaccination. Please let your patients know this is a legitimate service and not a fraudulent organisation.

Flu vaccination reminder letters – glandular fever

Recently patients with glandular fever as a single health condition may have incorrectly been sent a letter, reminding them to book a flu vaccination. These letters were sent as part of the new NHS Immunisation Management Service (national call and recall) and are intended to help achieve the target uptake rates this season. The incorrect letters appear to be clustered in the South and East of the country so not all practices will have registered patients who have been affected. NHS Digital has written to general practices apologising.

NHS Digital is writing again to those patients who received the letter advising them they do not need to get a flu vaccination due to their glandular fever health condition. If your patient is in the cohort impacted by this error and is aged 50-64 they are being advised to wait in line with previous guidance. Outside of these parameters, your professional clinical judgement as to whether to proceed with a request for a flu vaccination should be made on a case by case basis for these individuals.

Alternative offer to live attenuated Influenza vaccine (LAIV)

As set out in the flu letter published on 5 August 2020, this season an offer of inactivated Influenza vaccine (IIV) is also being made to children whose parents refuse live attenuated Influenza vaccine (LAIV) due to the porcine gelatine content, subject to vaccine availability. This offer can now be made. Arrangements should be made to ensure that children who previously declined vaccination due to the porcine gelatine content, are recalled and offered the alternative vaccine.

For confirmation that the use of the ‘Inactivated Influenza Vaccine patient group direction (PGD) V08.00’ may be extended to children whose parents refuse LAIV due to the porcine gelatine content, see the extension of eligible cohorts.

Vaccine for this cohort is now available to order by general practice and school aged immunisation teams via ImmForm. An announcement that ordering is live has been made on the ImmForm news page.

General practice - latest updates

Community pharmacy

How to order additional flu vaccine stock

To support the expanded vaccination programme, the Department of Health and Social Care has secured an additional supply of influenza vaccines. These will arrive later in the flu season to top up local supplies once they run low. This guidance explains how community pharmacies will be able to access this additional stock.

National conferences for PCN pharmacists and pharmacy technicians

The Primary Care Pharmacy Association national half-day PCN conferences for pharmacy professionals are taking place in December 2020: 3 December – South conference and 9 December – North conference. These are open to non-PCPA members. You can check out the agendas and sign up for the events on their website. 

Primary care

Help Us Help You – Mental Health NHS campaign

NHS launched its first national campaign on mental health services on Tuesday. Help Us Help You – Mental Health is a two-month campaign aimed at increasing awareness of NHS talking therapies services (IAPT). It will encourage adults with mental health issues to seek help and consider accessing talking therapy via their GP or through self-referral. It will have a specific focus on BAME groups and people struggling with unemployment. Mental health is a top priority of the NHS, and we count on your support across the country to promote the campaign and help us reach people and communities who are the most at risk this winter.

The campaign resources can be accessed and downloaded for free. We published a press release on our website and a video of our National Director Claire Murdoch on Twitter. On social media we are using #HelpUsHelpYou. If you have any questions, please contact england.mhcomms@nhs.net.

Health and wellbeing: Support and training available for leaders

Support, training, and events are available for leaders and managers across the NHS as part of our staff health and wellbeing programme. The support offers have been accessed by over 300,000 of our NHS people and include a catalogue of helplines, apps, guides and opportunities for staff.

You can access leadership support through the following links:

• Leadership Support Circles: Online sessions focusing on compassionate leadership (25 Nov – 26 Feb)
• Start Well End Well: Webinar focusing on effective teamwork and team wellbeing (1 Dec)
• Coaching and Mentoring Support: Short, focused 1-2-1 coaching sessions to help with immediate challenges, as well as dedicated mentoring to support with decision-making in challenging times.
• Health and Wellbeing Conversations - Support for facilitators: An online guide to support facilitators at all levels in their thinking about health and wellbeing conversations. 
• REACT Train the Trainer: Training for leaders in how to train other leaders and managers to hold supportive conversations about mental health and wellbeing with their teams. To register your interest please email england.covid19-coachingandmentoring@nhs.net. Please note this differentiates from REACT MH training in that we are training leaders in how to deliver this training.

Primary care staff survey - feasibility study

CCG and PCN leads are invited to take part in a short online survey to share their views about the feasibility of developing a new national survey aimed at understanding staff experience in primary care (including dental practice, general practice, optometry, and pharmacy). The survey is being run by Picker on behalf of NHS England and Improvement and takes just 5-10 minutes to complete. Please take part in the survey by 4 December 2020. More information on the feasibility study is available on the Picker website.

Building inclusive primary care networks in partnership with people and communities - webinar series

A new webinar series for colleagues working in primary care networks begins next month to help PCNs provide inclusive services for people and communities from the most marginalised groups, who experience the greatest health inequalities. The regular webinars provide a mixture of practical sessions for those new to engagement and sessions focused on sharing learning and good practice. They will explore existing practice, tools, tips resources and learning experiences. Find out more about the sessions and book your space.

Dates for your diary

Monday 23 November, 1pm - 2pm. Antimicrobial stewardship in primary care webinar

Wednesday 25 November, 2pm - 3pm. Harnessing health and housing support to improve population health

Thursday 26 November, 5pm - 6pm. General Practice webinar with Nikki Kanani and Ali Sparke. To attend please ensure you register by 3pm on 26 November. More information on webinars is on our FutureNHS workspace.

NHS Volunteer Responder programme update webinars

• Thursday 26 November, 10.30 - 11.30am - Join Microsoft Teams Meeting
• Thursday 10 December, 10.30 - 11.30am - Join Microsoft Teams Meeting

Wednesday 2 December, 1pm – 2pm. Digital Nurse Network webinar

Link of the day

CQC: Flu and COVID-19 vaccination arrangements