Primary Care Bulletin - this week's round-up

21 October 2021

Dear colleagues,

COVID-19 antivirals to be investigated in national clinical study

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have announced that they have signed agreements for the supply of 730,000 courses of treatment of COVID-19 antivirals. Should these antivirals receive approvals from regulators, DHSC has indicated they will initially be used through a national clinical study. DHSC are funding the study, which will involve thousands of patients, in order to understand how effective these treatments are in a predominantly vaccinated population. Further details, including how patients and clinicians can access antivirals through the study, will be set out in due course. Any subsequent rollout of antivirals would be planned carefully with relevant stakeholder bodies.

Nikki and Ed

COVID-19 updates

COVID-19 vaccination deployment next steps for 12 – 15-year-old vaccination

This letter asks integrated care system and sustainability and transformation partnership leaders to take immediate action to stand up an out of school offer, maximising capacity for 12 to 15s over the October half term and beyond, as quickly as possible.

Easy read invitation letters for COVID-19 booster and flu vaccinations for people with a learning disability

Where the scheduling, capacity and availability of vaccines allows we would encourage the offer ​of administration of COVID-19 boosters and flu vaccines at the same time for people with a learning disability and autistic people in an at-risk group.

We recognise ​however that scheduling for COVID-19 boosters for many individuals may not be due for some months yet, and for those people we would request that any flu offer is not delayed as a consequence. We have produced an editable easy read COVID-19 booster invitation letter and editable easy read flu vaccination letter.

COVID-19 Vaccination Programme – workspace

General practice

NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme: age extension information for GPs

From April 2021, NHS England and NHS Improvement started the expansion of the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme with the inclusion of 56-year olds. This was the first phase of the gradual roll out to lower the screening starting age from 60 to 50, which will happen over the next four years.

To ensure that screening providers fully understand when each age cohort will roll out and which patients are eligible for invitations, hubs will send information sheets to all centres once they go live with age extension. This will include information outlining the age ranges and timeframes.

Reminder - automation funding available

There is seed funding available through the digital productivity component of the Unified Tech Fund to support robotic process automation (RPA) in general practice. Evidence from the GP bureaucracy review suggests RPA can help automate low value and repetitive tasks, free up clinical and administrative time to focus on higher value work and improve the efficiency of clinical processes.

The application process is live until 30 November, but bids are encouraged to be submitted as early as possible – funding for successful bids is allocated on a first come, first served basis. If you have any questions, please email digital.productivity@nhsx.nhs.uk.

General practice - latest updates

Primary care

Take control over your career – new confidential coaching

If you're thinking about your career and what you want from your current role, investing some time with a coach can be a very helpful thing to do. Looking After Your Career is a coaching service for anyone working in primary care. Experienced coaches will support you to take practical steps over your career direction and to proactively advance it. Conversations may include how to:

• explore future career pathways
• prepare for interviews and opportunities
• develop more meaning or purpose in current roles.

This offer is part of the ‘Looking After You’ coaching series, which includes individual wellbeing support and a service for those who lead and manage teams. Book sessions at a date and time that suits you. Thank you for looking after yourself whilst you continue to look after others.  

Booking booster vaccines through the National Booking Service

NHS frontline workers now have the option to book their COVID-19 booster vaccination through the National Booking Service or by calling 119. Staff who wish to book via the National Booking Service will need to let them know that they’re a frontline healthcare worker as identified by the Green Book.

Colleagues will be asked to show proof of their employment to demonstrate eligibility. This can be either a workplace photo ID, a recent payslip, or a recent letter from their employer (within the past three months for either). Boosters can only be administered six months after completion of the primary vaccine course, and the National Booking Service and walk-in sites will check people’s vaccination history to ensure a booster dose is due.

Support for staff with Long COVID

Long COVID is a term used to describe the symptoms and effects of coronavirus that last longer than four weeks beyond the initial diagnosis. We have pulled together a range of resources for staff who may need help with their recovery. Managers should also help colleagues access appropriate support by sharing information, holding safe and effective wellbeing conversations and signposting to the following:

• online rehab services at Your COVID Recovery
• our comprehensive health and wellbeing offer
• system-wide staff mental health and wellbeing hubs 
• one of the 89 Post-COVID Assessment Clinics via their GP
• onward referral to other support services where available via occupational health teams. 

How trained first responders are supporting NHS ambulance services to deliver lifesaving CPR

A new film from NHS England and NHS Improvement and GoodSAM is highlighting the stories of people who survived a cardiac arrest thanks to the quick-thinking actions of those nearby. It is currently estimated that the survival rate for out of hospital cardiac arrest is less than 9%.

Two of the most important factors influencing survival are the early use of effective CPR and early defibrillation. If you’re a healthcare professional or first aider and you’d like to support, you can sign-up as a trained first responder and help to increase the chances of survival from cardiac arrest.

New Information Standard Notice to be published

The Information Standard Notice (ISN) outlines new common standards for medicine data transfer which will support the transfer of medicines information between healthcare settings. From 1 October 2021, you will need to assess all of your systems that provide electronic transfer of patient medication and allergy/intolerance data to ensure compliance. IT systems used to send and receive medication and allergy/intolerance information must do so using either NHS Digital APIs or APIs created using the specifications.   

Where you identify non-compliant message transfers, contact your supplier about developing new products or updating existing products to enable compliance or consider changing to suppliers offering compliant systems. These requirements must be met by 31 March 2023. Any questions about the ISN and the introduction of the standards can be directed to medicinestandards@nhs.net. Full detail can be found in the Standard’s Requirements Specification. 

Helping patients take control of their cardiovascular health

The Cholesterol Now campaign with HEART UK, the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) and the AHSN Network has now launched during National Cholesterol Month. This platform gives healthcare professionals tools and information on cholesterol management to support patients in taking control of their cardiovascular health with resources such as videos on how to have conversations with patients about cholesterol management, and e-learning modules and webinars available.

Get involved

PPE consultation

A reminder that the Department of Health and Social Care has launched a public consultation on extending free PPE to the health and care sector beyond 31 March 2022. The consultation will close on 31 October 2021. More details are available here.

Blogs, case studies and podcasts

Blog: What does the Health and Care Bill mean for NHS staff?

The latest blog from Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, is around the Health and Care Bill and its impact on removing some of the current bureaucracies that can get in the way of colleagues’ day to day work.

Key dates

• 29 October 2021 – Deadline to sign up to the Enhanced Service for Long Covid
• 31 October 2021 – Deadline to submit workforce planning template for 2022/23 and 23/24

Upcoming events and webinars

27 October,1.30pm - 2.30pm. Learning from the RCGP, observatory on the role of social prescribing and health inequalities

28 October, 12pm - 2pm. Physician Associate Apprenticeship – Employer Engagement Webinar

4 November, 8am – 5pm. Primary care virtual conference

4 November, 7pm – 8pm. Post Covid Syndrome in children