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Primary Care Bulletin - today's round-up
27 April 2021
Dear colleagues,
New photographs show the people behind the national vaccination effort
As we mark the start of World Immunisation Week 2021 (#VaccinesWork), a series of unseen photographs capturing the size and scale of the UK-wide vaccination programme have been published by the government. The new photo montage comes as over 45 million jabs in total have been administered across the UK in over 2,800 vaccination sites. This comes as a new campaign begins urging under-50s to get the jab. Download promotional materials and view the new advert which launched last night.
Dr Nisha Jayatilleke, National Speciality Advisor for Immunisations has shared the importance of people attending their routine immunisation and COVID-19 vaccine appointments. Thank you for all GPs and your teams continue to do to keep your population healthy and safe from dangerous illnesses.
The vaccination programme has been a monumental team effort and we thank you all once again for your hard work and dedication to protect those in your communities against COVID-19. Yesterday we announced the rollout of the vaccine for 44 year olds and today we are pleased to say that we can begin moving down the cohorts to 42-43 year olds.
Congratulations to Dr Kiren Collison
We have been busy over the last few weeks recruiting someone to be our Deputy Medical Director of Primary Care, who would share duties alongside Dr Raj Patel. We are pleased to confirm that having filled the role in the interim, Dr Kiren Collison will be occupying the role on a permanent basis. Please join us in congratulating Kiren on her appointment.
Finally, we hope that many of you can join us tomorrow at 5.30pm for a special PCN webinar on the additional role reimbursement scheme. Recruiting to these new roles and continuing to build multidisciplinary teams will be vital as we restore services after the pandemic.
Dr Nikki Kanani
GP and Medical Director for Primary Care,
NHS England and NHS Improvement
Ed Waller
Director for Primary Care, NHS England and NHS Improvement
COVID-19 updates
General practice
GP registration messages on practice websites
Everyone is welcome in general practice. You do not need to proof of ID, address, immigration status or an NHS number in order to receive care or see a GP. Many practice websites however are still displaying messaging that exclude certain members of society from accessing GP services. We are therefore asking all GP practices to review their practice website, to include a statement that anyone can register without needing proof of ID, address or immigration status, similar to that on the NHS.uk webpage. This is not a legal requirement and can often be the reason why people do not wish to register. Practices are also encouraged to:
- complete this 'Homelessness Training for GP Receptionists' bitesize training – receptionists are the first experience someone has in a GP practice and this training will support them to know what they can do to make a difference.
- offer an initial health assessment for new registrants to identify vulnerability to COVID-19 and code as Clinically Extremely Vulnerable as appropriate.
- join the Safe Surgeries initiative which reassures people that immigration status will not be checked, and they are in a safe space.
Extension to the Shingles immunisation programme for those who missed vaccination during lockdown
Individuals become eligible for routine vaccination against shingles when they become 70 years of age and all those aged up to and including 79 years, are now eligible to receive the vaccine until they become 80 years of age.
We had previously advised that individuals who were eligible for the Shingles vaccination programme who turned 80 years during the COVID-19 pandemic and missed the opportunity to be vaccinated, either due to lockdown or because they were shielding at home and unable to attend their general practice, could continue to be vaccinated up to the 31 March 2021. This has now been further extended until 31 July 2021. There are no contractual changes to this programme: offer of vaccination is opportunistic or if requested for the catch up cohort, i.e. those aged 71-79 years. GPs will continue to be reimbursed the standard item of service fee which should continue to be claimed manually.
As this cohort will not be included in the Shingles PGD, a Patient Specific Direction (PSD) should be used by practices for this specific cohort of patients.
Supporting pregnant women in general practice
Pregnant women value the support from a partner, relative, friend or other person through pregnancy and childbirth as it facilitates emotional wellbeing and is a key component of safe and personalised maternity care. On 14 December, NHS England and NHS Improvement published guidance which set out the expectation that all trusts should facilitate this as soon as possible. A number of GP practices still have restrictions in place and so we are now asking GP practices to lift these as soon as possible in line with the guidance to trusts.
Launch of framework for suppliers of digital services to general practice
This week sees the launch of the new Digital First Online Consultation and Video Consultation framework in general practice which will improve the standards of systems available for patients and practices. The new procurement framework means that PCNs working with commissioners, will be able to select assured systems from a growing range of suppliers to better meet local needs - improving choice, functionality, usability and integration.
The framework will drive product improvement responsive to user needs including work underway to better integrate online consultation systems with GP clinical systems and to send requests appropriately to other primary care services to help reduce pressure on practices and navigate patients to the right person first time.
Primary care
Applications opened for new NHS Regional Clinical Fellow Scheme
The Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management is inviting applications for an exciting, new fellowship scheme for aspiring clinical leaders. Clinicians will be based in NHS regional teams across England and will lead key projects that contribute to regional and national priorities, gaining essential leadership and strategic skills.
Posts are available less than full time for 12 months, commencing from 1 September 2021 and are open to doctors in training, dentists, pharmacists, allied health professionals, nurses, midwives and healthcare scientists that hold full registration with the relevant professional body and are able to demonstrate experience at the required level. Apply by 9am on Tuesday 4 May 2021.
Your chance to inform staff training in primary care
Health Education England and NHS England and NHS Improvement would like to hear from GPs, practice nurses, practice/PCN pharmacists, practice managers and administrative staff about their experiences of supporting remote triage (navigating patients to the right person at the right time), online, telephone and video consultations in general practice. Your input will be crucial in designing effective training to support all primary care staff and trainees to confidently work with these approaches.
Virtual focus groups will be run in May - June 2021. Find out more about the study or sign up to participate here.
Health Education England (HEE) provides OUP medical and nursing handbooks
HEE’s national NHS Knowledge and Library Services team is funding online access to over 130 titles published by Oxford University Press (OUP). The e-books are particularly useful for GPs, practice nurses and students on placement. The agreement covers all titles in the Oxford Medical Handbooks series as well as Oxford Handbooks in Nursing and the ‘Emergencies In…’ series. It also includes several key textbooks including the Oxford Textbook of Medicine.
The handbooks can now be accessed 24/7 by NHS healthcare staff via the HEE/OUP site using their NHS OpenAthens account. Contact the team at kfh.england@hee.nhs.uk.
Support in developing local anticipatory care models
HEE is offering support to local projects that deliver innovation and education in developing local anticipatory care models. Primary Care Networks and Integrated Care Systems are invited to submit an expression of interest in joining the National CLEAR Programme for Anticipatory Care. For more information about this project contact clear.team@hee.nhs.uk.
Changes to town planning permitted development rights
Changes to the Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development) Order 2015 came into force last week. New Permitted Development Right Class MA permits the conversion of all non-residential healthcare buildings of 1,500sqm or less to into residential accommodation without the need for planning permission.
Local Authorities are required to confirm the proposals will not ‘have an impact on local service provision’ and should liaise with local healthcare commissioners to ascertain the same. These changes may help local NHS systems deliver estates transformation plans, and follow alterations to the Use Class Order in September 2020 which reclassified non-residential healthcare buildings from D1 to E(e) use. An NHS advice note to commissioners and providers can be found here.
Dates for your diary
Wednesday 28 April, 5.30pm – 7pm. Primary care networks webinar: A focus on additional roles reimbursement scheme and recruitment
Wednesday 28 April, 1.30-2.30p. Health inequalities and the role of social prescribing.
Join us for a webinar focusing on the topic of health inequalities and the practical approaches social prescribing link workers can take in reducing health inequalities by working proactively with people and communities.
Thursday 29 April, 1pm – 2pm. Implementing the planning guidance on health inequalities
Thursday 6 May, 5pm – 6pm. General Practice webinar. If you have previously booked to join this regular webinar, there is no need to book on again.
Wednesday 12 May, 1pm – 2pm. New types of cancer treatments and their effects
Thursday 13 May, 1pm – 2.45pm. Civility and Respect event
Thursday 25 May, 1pm – 1.30pm. Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) in suspected bowel cancer
GP Appointment Data: GP practice briefing. These sessions hosted by NHS Digital will introduce recently issued national categorisation guidance and show practices how to carry out mapping to the new national standard categories. There are several dates available:
- Wednesday 28 April, 5pm – 6pm
- Tuesday 11 May, 8am – 9am
- Thursday 27 May, 4pm – 5pm
- Wednesday 9 June, 11.30am – 12.30pm
- Tuesday 15 June, 5pm – 6pm
Link of the day
