COVID-19 Primary Care bulletin

17 June 2020

COVID-19: today's round-up for primary care

Dear colleagues,

The #LookingAfterYouToo individual coaching support offer for primary care staff has had a brilliant first month since launch, with more than 600 coaching sessions delivered and a flood of positive comments. One GP said they had been thinking of quitting after the pandemic, but “the session was a huge relief and felt like magic.”

If this rings any bells for you and if you would like to talk to a highly trained and experienced coach to process your experiences and develop practical coping strategies, then please do remember this offer is open to all our primary care colleagues, both clinical and non-clinical, and we would encourage you to book a session.

Nikki and Ed

Optometry

Resumption of optical services

A letter has been published setting out the next steps for delivery of NHS optical services in England along with a Standard Operating Procedure for optometry. Working with professional representative groups, we have consensus on the ambition to commence reopening services. We support the full resumption of routine General Ophthalmic Services (GOS) in a way that is safe, and where practices assess that they have the necessary infection prevention and control (IPC) and personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements in place.

Community pharmacy

Expansions to smartcard functionality and summary care record information

As highlighted in the 2 June bulletin, additional information has been added to the Summary Care Record (SCR), including the shielded patient flag, and suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19. These changes apply except where patients have previously informed the NHS that they did not want an SCR or additional information to be shared.

All community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, including locums, can also use their smartcard to view the SCR, shielded patient flag, personal demographic service and access the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) from any pharmacy in England. This additional functionality has been made available for 12 months initially to support workforce flexibility during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dentistry

The latest guidance can be found on our website.

Additional information

Collecting your examples of innovation

We are collating examples of new and innovative ways of working in general practice and community pharmacy, so that we can ensure beneficial changes are captured and, where appropriate, sustained. We would like to learn from you, and the communities you care for, about the innovations that have emerged in response to COVID-19, and understand which of these should be kept and protected in the months and years to come.

Submit your examples by Thursday 25 June at ipsos.uk/COVIDinnovation. Please contact the team if you have any questions.

Dates for your diary 

Thursday 18 June, 4.30-5pm - Proxy Access for Patients - understanding proxy access in the practice setting

Thursday 18 June, 5-6pm – GP Webinar with Nikki and Ed. As part of this webinar, we would like to ask you to share ideas of innovative practice over the past few months. Please submit yours online here.

Nikki and Ed's link of the day

COVID-19: understanding the impact on BAME communities