No images? Click here
Primary Care Bulletin - today's round-up
22 April 2021
Dear colleagues,
Protecting care home residents and staff
As a result of a fantastic team effort, we have completed 56.65% of second vaccinations in care home residents. It has been a great commitment by the roving teams to the most vulnerable members of our community and a recent report from the Covid-19 Actuaries Response Group suggests that vaccinating just 20 care home residents saves one life. However, the job is not done yet. We are asking all care home clinical leads to work with their CCGs to support efforts to vaccinate staff in homes which have yet to achieve 80% of staff vaccinated. Many staff have benefitted from trusted conversations with local professionals, so please remember to offer the vaccination to staff, when visiting a care home for resident vaccinations. The national booking centre has also now reopened to enable care home staff to book online.
The SAGE social care working subgroup has determined that in order to maximise protection of future care home outbreaks, at least 90% of residents and 80% of staff is required in every Care Home. The vaccination rate for residents has remained consistently above 90% however, there is variation between homes and some regions have yet to achieve the 80% target. Once again thanks to all the roving teams and the huge efforts to reach out to every care home across the country. Let’s do all we can support our health and social care colleagues to get fully vaccinated too.
Supporting the mental health of new mums
Today’s survey from NCT is a timely reminder of the importance of six week health checks for new mothers and the importance of having conversations about mental as well as physical health. Both NICE and RCGP have some guidance on these checks which were introduced as part of the GP contract last year.
Updates to Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme claims form portal
The Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) provides reimbursement for the employment of additional roles in PCNs to create bespoke multi-disciplinary teams. Funding allocations have almost doubled this year to provide for the equivalent of 12-13 FTE for each PCN.
From 1 April 2021, all monthly claims forms are to be processed through the online claims portal. The portal has been updated so that PCNs can link multiple PCNs to their account and upload documentation to support claims and CCGs can link multiple CCGs to their account and download the raw data of all their claims.
We encourage all PCNs to take full advantage of their funding, recruiting as soon as possible and focusing on this as a key priority to support both the delivery of care and ultimately improving our working lives. Supporting materials are available on FutureNHS. For further support email england.primarycareworkforce@nhs.net.
Nikki and Ed
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 and guidance
PRINCIPLE – new trial
PRINCIPLE, the UK’s national priority clinical trial of COVID-19 treatments for recovery at home, has launched a new trial arm assessing favipiravir. Favipiravir is an antiviral drug licenced in Japan to treat influenza. People aged 50 - 64 with certain underlying health conditions or shortness of breath from COVID-19, or aged over 65, are eligible to join the favipiravir arm within the first 14 days of experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or receiving a positive test. People can join from anywhere in the UK, either online, over the phone or via a healthcare professional. If you think a patient may be interested in joining the study, visit the website.
PHE CVD Prevention Packs to support your ICS with cardiovascular disease prevention
CVD and COVID-19 disproportionately affect the most disadvantaged individuals and communities so as we recover from COVID-19, CVD prevention has never been more important. These PHE CVD Prevention Packs are a practical resource to support you in prioritising CVD prevention in your recovery plans.
Recently published jointly by the National Cardiovascular Intelligence Network (NCVIN) and Local Knowledge and Intelligence Service (LKIS), these packs estimate the progress of local health economies towards the PHE CVD prevention, diagnosis and treatment ambitions for hypertension and atrial fibrillation (AF).
The packs provide data by CCG and by practice in your STP. They also estimate the number of additional patients who need to be treated and diagnosed to meet the national ambitions. Support in using the packs is also available through the NCVIN by emailing ncvin@phe.gov.uk.
General practice
Patients preparing for travel in the UK (correction)
In Tuesday’s issue we stated that ‘GP practices can refer to the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service for minor illness and urgent repeats’, if a patient requires a prescription whilst on holiday in the UK. To clarify, referrals from practices to the CPCS can only be used for minor illnesses. If a patient contacts the practice for an urgent repeat prescription, then the script can be referred to the pharmacy via EPS.
Improving General Practice appointment data (GPAD) webinars and demos
Guidance for practices on standard national general practice appointment categories has been published to support the mapping of local appointment slots to these new categories. This follows from guidance published in August 2020 jointly with NHS England and NHS Improvement and the British Medical Association General Practitioners Committee, which introduced an agreed definition of a general practice appointment.
NHS Digital are hosting several webinars to supplement this guidance and the categorisation. There are also some short demos that cover how best to carry out the national mapping exercise:
- EMIS WEB users: GP Appointments Data (GPAD) - HowbeckHow2
- TPP SystmOne users: GPAD Mapping - TPP Demo
Covid Vaccination Enhanced Service – General Practice
We have updated the general practice enhanced service for the COVID-19 vaccination programme 2020/21 to provide further clarity that cover under the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice (CSNGP) is not restricted to a GP practice’s registered patients so would apply to the provision of any NHS COVID-19 vaccinations by a GP practice to a person, including where they are not on the registered list of that GP practice. The revised ES can be found online.
20/21 flu programme
The annual flu reimbursement letter was updated on 1 April. A copy of the latest version can be found online. The letter confirmed that those aged 50-64 year old will be included in the 21/22 flu programme. The letter also confirmed the inclusion of a QIVr vaccine (Supemtek).
Community pharmacies and General Practice should ensure that they order enough vaccine to achieve or exceed the same level of uptake as the 2020/21 season. They may wish to consider ordering additional vaccine if required to support the vaccination of the 50-64 year old cohort. Community pharmacy are expected to play a strong role in vaccinating the 50 to 64 year old cohorts to ensure the availability of general practice capacity to continue their focus on flu and COVID-19 vaccination of the most vulnerable clinical cohorts.
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.
Dementia and Older People’s Mental Health - Guidance for Primary Care Networks and Care Homes
Enhanced Health in Care Homes (EHCH) is a proactive, integrated model of care which supports people who live in care homes. Every care home is now supported by a multidisciplinary team (MDT) in their aligned PCN. It is crucial for all members of the MDT to understand dementia and mental health conditions due to the prevalence of both disorders in care home populations. This guide is for members of staff working in care homes and primary care, including PCN care home clinical leads.
Experience of care week
Experience of Care Week is an international initiative, which runs from 26 - 30 April, to celebrate the work that is happening across health and social care to keep improving experiences of care for patients, families, carers and staff.
We want to hear about and promote all about the amazing work being done in all areas of the health sector. Please share any details of any events, news stories or webinars happening within that week which cover any aspect of patient experience with Lesley Goodburn Experience of Care Lead lesley.goodburn1@nhs.net to raise the profile of your work.
New permitted development: Class MA
Changes to the Town and Country Planning (Permitted Development) Order 2015 came into force this 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. These changes follow changes to the Use Class Order in September 2020, which reclassified non-residential healthcare buildings from D1 to E(e) use.
An NHS information note to commissioners and providers can be found here.
Dates for your diary
Tuesday 27 April 2021, 12pm – 1pm. Health Honours Awareness session. This online session, hosted by the Cabinet Office, is specifically aimed at those wanting to nominate someone working in the health sector for a Queen’s Honour. During the session you will find out how the honours system operates and get top tips on what to include in your nomination.
Wednesday 28 April, 5.30pm – 7pm. Primary care networks webinar: A focus on additional roles reimbursement scheme and recruitment
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
Link of the day
