Primary Care Bulletin - this week's round-up

20 December 2021

Dear colleagues,

Today we have opened the national booking service for 12-15 year-olds to get their second COVID-19 jab, as part of the national mission to get people protected against the new Omicron variant. This follows a bumper weekend of jabs, with more than 1.5 million boosters recorded as part of a record-busting total of nearly 1.7 million jabs delivered across England over Saturday and Sunday.

Please contact all your eligible patients by tomorrow if they are yet to receive a booster vaccine. We will also be contacting all those who have an appointment booked on NBS in January to encourage them to move their appointment forward.

We have already asked CCGs to release staff (in this system letter) to support call/ recall and wider admin needs for sites, please also draw on this expert resource.

We know this is an incredibly busy time for all of you and we would like to remind all primary care contractors (General Practice, Community Pharmacy, Dental Practices and Optometry Services) of the requirement and importance of reporting COVID-19 outbreaks to ensure that the NHS has adequate system resilience to ensure continuity of primary care services and to enable commissioners to provide timely support to their contractors. An outbreak is defined two or more confirmed cased of COVID-19 among individuals associated within a specific setting.

Primary care providers should inform their commissioner as soon as they consider that delivery of the full contracted service may be compromised by staff absence due to the outbreak. The commissioner will work with the contractor to put business continuity arrangements in place and to maintain access to services for patients. The provider will need to update information on patient accessible websites and the impacted NHS 111 Directory of Services profiles will need to be updated.

The commissioner must inform the Regional Incident Coordination Centre without delay. The Regional Team must notify the National Incident Coordination Centre.

Call for student nurses, medical students and doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals who have retired to support the vaccination programme

In an open letter the Chief Nursing, Pharmaceutical and Allied Health Professions Officers for England and the NHS National Medical Director thank healthcare professionals, former staff, students and volunteers for their continued hard work as the COVID-19 Vaccination programme reaches its one-year anniversary.

The letter also calls for former staff, students and volunteers to support the delivery of COVID-19 booster vaccinations to protect the nation against the Omicron variant and asks those already working in the NHS to be ready to respond to requests for temporary redeployment to vaccination services, or to backfill the other urgent and emergency services.

Former staff, students and volunteers are urged to go to www.england.nhs.uk/joinvaccineteam to find out how they can help.

Infection Prevention Control (IPC) in Primary Care  

The latest IPC guidance supersedes the previous UK IPC COVID-19 guidance for maintaining services within health and care settings to allow organisations to assess and manage the ongoing delivery of service provision throughout the winter period 2021 to 2022.

This guidance considers SARS-CoV-2 (including variants of concern) and other seasonal respiratory infections, including influenza and RSV. The use of local and national prevalence and incidence data during the winter months should be used to guide local service delivery. Read the guidance in full.

For clarification PPE (gloves and aprons/gowns) must be worn when in direct physical contact with patients with suspected or confirmed respiratory infection, and during environmental and equipment decontamination. PPE is not required undertaking administrative tasks.

Gloves and aprons/gowns are not required if there is no direct contact with the patient or if respiratory infection is not suspected.

Research from wave 1 of the pandemic shows that following the guidance resulted in the prevention of 760 in-hospital COVID-19 infections per day so it’s critical we continue to follow the guidelines.   

Stay safe,

Nikki and Ali

COVID-19 updates

Letter to patients: Important information about new treatments for coronavirus

This letter from Professor Stephen Powis, National Medical Director for NHS England and NHS Improvement, outlines the new COVID-19 treatments for patients who are at highest risk of becoming seriously ill.

Myocarditis and pericarditis after COVID-19 vaccination: clinical management guidance for healthcare professionals

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), in partnership with the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), has produced clinical guidance to support the detection and management of clinical cases of myocarditis and pericarditis associated with coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination.

Covid medicine delivery units go live for highest risk non-hospitalised patients

The service for providing neutralising monoclonal antibodies (nMABs) and antiviral treatments to non-hospitalised patients at the highest risk of severe disease and hospitalisation from COVID-19 began operating on 16 December.

The updated UK policy for non-hospitalised patients who are PCR positive was also published to include the new nMAB sotrovimab (Xevudy), which will be available for use as a first line treatment from today (20 December). This alternative nMAB option is important, particularly in areas where Omicron has become the prevalent variant.

Potentially eligible patients, defined by a DHSC commissioned independent advisory group and approved by UK four nations, will be made aware of how they can access the treatments. This new nMAB is also included in an updated policy for some groups of hospitalised patients effective from 20 December.

Prioritising people with a learning disability, autism or both for their COVID-19 booste

Many thanks to colleagues in general practice for the great work you are doing to roll out COVID-19 booster vaccinations. Please do continue to prioritise people with a learning disability, autism or both, including high risk 12-15 year old children so they can continue to access COVID-19 vaccinations via local PCN arrangements with any reasonable adjustments that may be required.

Uptake of the booster amongst people with a learning disability is considerably lower than that amongst the general population, so anything you can do to support improvement around this would be much appreciated.

COVID-19 Vaccination Programme – workspace

General practice

Extension of the suspension of Friends and Family Test returns

The temporary suspension of the requirement that practices report to commissioners about the Friends and Family Test (FFT) returns has been extended until 31 March 2022 under The National Health Service (Amendments Relating to the Provision of Primary Care Services During a Pandemic etc.) Regulations 2020.

Referrals through GP CPCS

We are aware that some GP practices are informally directing patients to community pharmacies in order to prioritise delivery of COVID booster vaccinations rather than make a referral to CPCS for the minor illness symptoms covered by the service. The CPCS provides direct access to a pharmacist clinical consultation and will enable the pharmacy team to prioritise the work of the pharmacist to be free to see the patient that day or at another appropriate time agreed directly with the patient. This is a very busy time for both community pharmacy and general practice, and we recognise that everyone is trying to do their very best for patients.

However, informal referrals into community pharmacy may result in some patients not accessing the care they need and prevents pharmacy teams from identifying patients that need to directly speak to the pharmacist at this very busy time. We would like to remind GP practices that referrals to community pharmacy for minor illness should be made to CPCS via the locally agreed electronic referral route.

Offering joint seasonal flu vaccination appointments to pregnant women with preschool aged children

Pregnant women who have children of preschool age (2 and 3 year olds) may prefer to get their seasonal flu vaccine at their general practice. Where pregnant women have preschool aged children, practices are asked to consider, where possible, offering a joint appointment to vaccinate both the woman and their pre-school aged child at the same time, to provide a convenient option for this group of patients.

General practice - latest updates

Community pharmacy

Resources for mandated health campaigns for 2021/2022 delayed

Delivery of the weight management health campaign resource packs have been delayed therefore this campaign will not commence on 4 January 2022. A further update will be provided once the new delivery date is confirmed by the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities. Thank you for your continued support.

Optometry

NHS General Ophthalmic Services CET training resource now available

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) Provider Assurance Ophthalmic Services team has released a new training resource for NHS General Ophthalmic Services (GOS) contractors in England. You can access the resource Making accurate General Ophthalmic Services (GOS) claims online.

Once completed, the training resource will provide one point towards your Continuing Education and Training (CET). It is available to access now and closes at 5pm on Friday 31 December 2021. For further information, please visit the NHSBSA website or contact the NHSBSA Provider Assurance Ophthalmic team at nhsbsa.paos@nhs.net.

Primary care

Supporting colleagues affected by Long Covid

As of 18 May 2021, estimates by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) suggest that approximately 122,000 healthcare workers and 31,000 social care workers are self-reporting symptoms of Long Covid. We have a range of support offers and services available to NHS colleagues to support with their health and wellbeing, including support for Long Covid symptoms.

Winter workforce preparedness: Line manager guidance to support staff

As winter approaches, line managers play a crucial role across the NHS. This page provides practical guidance on the holistic approach we are taking to ensure our workforce is well supported and our services are as resilient as possible.

Get involved

Primary care staff survey pilot - register your interest

The deadline to register your interest in taking part in the pilot primary care staff survey (PCSS) has been extended to 31 December. We are looking for a small number of PCNs, including both clinical and non-clinical staff, to take part in the pilot which will begin in February 2022. PCNs who take part will have the chance to shape the PCSS and will also receive a report of their own findings about staff experience. 

PCNs will not be required to do anything at this stage, other than register their interest by emailing the workforce team before 31 December 2021. Participants will be supported throughout the process to make it as simple as possible and will be invited to a webinar in mid-January to explain the pilot in more detail.

Key dates and reminders

31 December 2021 – Workforce data – reminder to practices and PCNs

NHS Digital will extract the latest general practice and PCN workforce data from the National Workforce Reporting Service (NWRS) at the end of the month. Practices and PCNs should log into their Strategic Data Collections Service (SDCS) account before Friday 31 December to check their workforce details and update as necessary. This information is crucial for planning new workforce supply and support to primary care teams.

Upcoming events and webinars

January – March 2022 (multiple dates). CPCS workshops with RPS & RCGP

13 January, 5pm – 6pm. General Practice webinar

18 January, 10am – 11.30am. Personal health budget community of practice

19 January,  1.30pm – 2.30pm. Social Prescribing Link Worker Learning and Development Webinar Series: Tackling Health Inequalities