No images? Click here
Primary Care Bulletin - today's round-up
13 May 2021
Dear colleagues,
Thank you again for your continued support as we navigate a busy and increasingly complex landscape.
Guidance on the phased easing of COVID-19 restrictions continues to be issued by government, in line with the Coronavirus roadmap out of lockdown, with services following and adapting accordingly.
As such, ahead of government rules on social distancing changing from 17 May, we would like to draw your attention to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) which will be published shortly, and which will update and replace previous guidance. We know you have been asking for this guidance to provide further clarity.
This guidance outlines:
- GP practices must all ensure they are offering face to face appointments
- Patients and clinicians should have a choice of consultation mode. Patients’ input into this choice should be sought and practices should respect preferences for face to face care unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary, for example the presence of COVID symptoms
- All practice receptions should be open to patients, adhering to social distancing and IPC guidance.
- Patients should be treated consistently regardless of mode of access.
This letter contains further detail and support.
Thank you again for all that you are doing.
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
Starting to open to cohort 11 to 38 and 39 year olds to be vaccinated
From today, text messages will be sent to people in cohort 11, starting with 38 and 39 year olds, inviting them to book their vaccination appointments through the National Booking System. Decisions will be made on the phasing for the rest of cohort 11 in due course.
In line with JCVI guidance, the National Booking Service now allows people in this age group, without an underlying health condition, to book into an appointment offering an alternative to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
As an update to the operational note we sent on Friday 7 May, we will also re-contact people that we contacted last week, following the JCVI announcement, who were booked in for their first dose of AstraZeneca, to let them know that they can now re-book into an appointment for an alternative to AstraZeneca.
Changes to National Booking Service (NBS)
Health and social care self-declare booking function re-enabled: As NBS functionality has now changed in line with JCVI guidance on use of AstraZeneca vaccine, the self-declare function that allows frontline eligible health and social care workers to book through the NBS, will be reenabled from today.
Pregnant women: the new NBS functionality will enable pregnant women to book appointments at a site that offers the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine following a series of screening questions. This is in line with JCVI guidance and the Green Book.
Every woman who is pregnant or thinks she might be, should be offered a discussion on the potential risks and benefits of vaccination with a clinician, so that she can make an informed choice about whether to receive it. Pregnant women will be able to have a conversation with a healthcare professional at their vaccination appointment or can speak to their maternity team or GP service.
Community health services and COVID-19
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, community health providers have stepped up and shown their value, flexibility and resilience in the face of unprecedented challenges. This new infographic from the Community Network – which is hosted by the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers – outlines the vital contribution of community providers, particularly during the COVID-19 response, and what support they need to sustainably deliver services and meet new challenges created by the pandemic. A blog has also been published focusing on community providers at the heart of the COVID-19 recovery.
COVID-19 vaccination status
From 17 May, COVID-19 vaccination status will be available for people living in England, for international travel, via the NHS App or by calling 119 to request a letter copy.
Communications materials are available for GP practices and primary care to use on websites and voicemail. More information can be found on the GOV.UK website. Please also see information on how to use the NHS App.
Vaccination certificates and data quality issues regarding vaccinations data
In the LVS bulletin of 7 May, we gave you some information about how to resolve data quality issues around the Covid vaccination. There is advice and FAQs from NHS Digital, and if you need further advice, contact the Vaccines Support Desk on 0300 200 1000 or the Vaccination Data Quality Support Team via email: vaccinedq.issues@nhs.net.
As above, Vaccination Certificates (status) will be launched on 17 May, and from 14 May, patients will not need to contact their GP to access COVID-19 vaccination history as this will be available through the NHS App. This should reduce calls to your practice.
We have also minimised the instances where a data quality issue could prevent a Vaccination Certificate being issued which will minimise the number of patients contacting you about Certificate related data quality problems.
Where patients do still have errors in their COVID-19 vaccination record, it is important that these are corrected and GP practices should either:
- Use Pinnacle to make any amends rather than making changes directly into the patient GP record, for patients vaccinated at a PCN-led site;
- Or for patients vaccinated at a hospital hub, vaccination centre, community pharmacy, or a PCN grouping outside the patient’s own practice, GP practices should use the phone number or email address above to flag the error and get it corrected.
We are working as a matter of urgency to simplify the support model, reducing GP workload further and improving the service for patients. We will give you more details as soon as possible.
If a patient has an issue relating to the Vaccine Certificate process itself, rather than issues relating to vaccines data quality or contact details in their demographic record, please direct them to contact 119.
General practice
Dentistry
Updated social media graphics – dental access
New social media image cards with accompanying post copy can be downloaded from Public Health England’s Campaign Resource Centre. These patient-facing graphics around ‘Dental Practices are open’, ‘Measures are in place for your safety’, ‘Urgent Dental Care’ and ‘Check-ups’ can be used on your social media channels to inform patients. You can also find an A4 ‘What can your NHS dentist do for you?’ poster and easy read supplement.
Primary care
Free online course: Getting Started with Large Scale Change
An online course from NHS England and NHS Improvement is set to run again this summer after attracting over 2,000 enrolments on its first two cohorts. Featuring experts from the field, this free course introduces you to the basics of large scale change and helps you to support your team’s COVID-19 recovery plans and business planning priorities. The course will be running from Monday 14 June 2021 to Sunday 25 July 2021. To join the course please visit the QI Learning Platform. If you have not already registered on the platform, please do so by visiting the QI Learning Platform registration page.
International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and BiPhobia
17 May is International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and BiPhobia. One in four LGBT+ people have witnessed discrimination against LGBT+ people by healthcare staff. One in seven LGBT+ people have avoided care for fear of discrimination because they are LGBT+. Pride in Practice works with GP & dental teams to ensure all LGBT people have access to inclusive healthcare. RCGP eLearning modules, podcasts and screencasts help all members of the general practice team understand the important issues that LGBT+ patients face, and how we can help within the NHS.
Dates for your diary
Tuesday 18 May, 10.30am – 12pm. PHE COVID -19 webinar on implementing the HTWS in care homes PPE guidance
Thursday 20 May, 5pm – 6pm. General Practice Webinar. Please note this is a new link so please register by 12pm on 19 May, even if you have registered for previous webinars.
Monday 24 May, 2pm – 3pm. Lipid Management-Delivering on National CVD priorities using a population health management approach
Tuesday 25 May, 1pm – 1.30pm. Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) in suspected bowel cancer
Thursday 27 May, 7pm – 8.30pm. GP CPCS – next steps in promoting the service. As part of our ongoing comms activity to support the implementation of the GP referral pathway to the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service, we are hosting a webinar with the RCGP.
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:
- Thursday 27 May, 4pm – 5pm
- Wednesday 9 June, 11.30am – 12.30pm
- Tuesday 15 June, 5pm – 6pm
Anticipatory Care: Clinical and Professional Reference Group. These webinars are aimed at any colleagues working in health and care, who are looking to either start delivering Anticipatory Care or would like to enhance their existing models.
- 20 May 11:00-12:30. An Introduction to Anticipatory Care: Insights into proactive, personalised care
- 26 May 11:00-12:30.Anticipatory Care-Population Health Management and Risk Stratification
- 2 June 11:00-12:30. Anticipatory Care-Data Sharing and Digital Tools for MDTs
- 9 June 11:00-12:30. Anticipatory Care-Personalised Care within Anticipatory Care
- 16 June 11:00-12:30. Anticipatory Care-Evaluation and Impact
Link of the day
