Primary Care Bulletin - 28 October 2022 (Issue 211)

Primary Care Bulletin

28 October 2022

Dear colleagues,

Please join us next Thursday (3 November 2022) at 5pm for the next of our regular General Practice webinars. This month we will be talking about the new ARRS Digital and Transformation Lead roles – as part of this presentation, two colleagues working in similar roles already will join to give their perspectives on ways to support digital transformation at PCN level.

We’ll also be covering a range of other topics, including best practice for creating highly usable and accessible websites for patients. Make sure you register by 12pm on Wednesday 2nd November 2022 to attend. If you are unable to make it, you can watch the recording and previous webinars on our Future NHS page.

It’s especially important that all eligible primary care staff receive their flu and COVID-19 vaccines this year. Not only will this help protect our workforce, but it will also help protect our patients and services. You may be able to book your COVID-19 vaccine through your employer, or by using the National Booking Service, calling 119, or through the online vaccination walk-in finder.

To help support conversations about, and promotion of the staff facing winter vaccines campaign within your networks, please use the campaign resources available.

Ursula and Kiren

Dr Ursula Montgomery
GP and Interim Director for Primary Care,
NHS England

Dr Kiren Collison
GP and Interim Medical Director for Primary Care, NHS England

Click here to access confidential coaching

General practice

Support eligible patients to get a medical exemption certificate

Patients with certain medical conditions are only entitled to free NHS prescriptions if they have a medical exemption certificate. General practice teams should support eligible patients to apply for the certificate by providing the application, form FP92A, and completing the doctor’s statement. Read more about medical exemption certificates.

Get Veteran Friendly Accredited this Remembrance Day

With Remembrance Day soon approaching, we encourage GP practice staff to apply for the RCGP’s Veteran Friendly accreditation to best support veterans.

More than half of veterans (52%) have a long-term illness or disability, yet research suggests many may be reluctant to seek support for their issues, particularly if they feel they may not be understood. With an estimated two million veterans in the UK, the average general practice sees a veteran patient every day. Being able to identify and support veteran patients is crucial to ensuring best outcomes, as they may face different health challenges to the general population.

General practice - latest updates

Community pharmacy

Ask Your Pharmacist Week 2022 (31 Oct – 7 Nov) – campaign materials

Ask Your Pharmacist Week is an annual public awareness campaign for community pharmacy run by the NPA. This year, the theme is ‘now at your local pharmacy’, highlighting the new NHS services that have been introduced in community pharmacy over the past 2-3 years and the recent evolution of pharmacy practice. Please use the assets available to support the day on your own social media channels.

Primary care

Training courses for professionals who care for children and young people with asthma

Training courses for healthcare and non-healthcare professionals, including GPs and practice nurses, who care for children and young people with asthma, are now available.

Currently, the UK has some of highest death rates in Europe for childhood asthma and outcomes are worse for those living in the most deprived areas. We are committed to improving outcomes for children and published the national bundle of care for children and young people with asthma to support asthma care.

The training is divided into four tiers – each describes the level of care a professional is expected to deliver. This training provides a clear structure for both health and non-healthcare professionals to understand what knowledge they need and where to access training.

Have your say – help shape the professional strategy for nursing and midwifery

The Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for England is developing a new professional strategy that will set out the direction of travel and ambitions for the professions over the next three to five years. The strategy will cover both nursing and midwifery and the CNO will be supported in its development by the Chief Midwifery Officer for England.

It is vital that the new strategy is developed with, and by, the professions to reflect their experiences and aspirations and we are keen to hear from all registered nurses, midwives and nursing associates in England, across all sectors. Please complete this short survey to share your views.

Going Further this Winter Announcement – importance of care plan reviews in dementia

On 18 October we wrote to system leaders about going further with winter resilience plans. This letter from Amanda Pritchard announced new measures that will support people with dementia, including reducing avoidable admissions through rapid response teams and identifying and supporting high frequency users through proactive personalised care.

The colder months can worsen symptoms of dementia and increase risk of hospital admissions. Evidence indicates that people with dementia occupy 25% of acute hospital beds, stay in hospital twice as long and were admitted for infections treatable in the community.

Integrated and personalised care are key to preventing unwarranted hospital admissions. All those caring for people with dementia including GP teams, PCNs, Anticipatory Care, Frailty, EHCH, palliative and end of life care (PEoLC), and Community, are encouraged to review care plans to enable appropriate support using appropriate guidance.

New infographic on Direct-Acting Oral Anticoagulants (DOAC) acceleration

We have developed a new infographic in support of the national initiative to expand the use of DOACs, accelerating treatment and improving AF-related outcomes in England. Reflecting updated NICE guidance, the national agreements concluded last year create an opportunity to prevent thousands of potentially fatal stroke events.

Further to the commissioning recommendations that were published earlier this year, the infographic provides a summary of the opportunity to improve patient care and outcomes and the funding in place to support best practice.

Growing Occupational Health and Wellbeing Together

The Growing Occupational Health and Wellbeing (OHWB) Together strategy provides a long-term roadmap to improve the health and wellbeing of our NHS people, based on the four strategic drivers People, Services, Practice and Identity.

Information and resources will evolve over the five years of implementing the strategy, so we encourage you to join the workspace, download the strategy, and keep visiting the Futures site as we grow.

NHS England are committed to collaboration being at the heart of Growing OHWB Together, so please get in touch with us by emailing growing.ohwb@nhs.net.

BLOG: NHS App repeat prescriptions

Rupesh Thakkar is a Chief Pharmacist for a primary care network in Solihull. He also supports the Implementation team in NHS England’s Transformation directorate. In his blog, he describes how the repeat prescriptions feature of the NHS App helped to ease the pressure in his primary care network pharmacy team. He explains the benefits of this service to staff and patients, and how his team grew awareness and increased usage in his area.

Upcoming events and webinars

Various dates, November – December. Public participation online learning programme

Various dates, November. NHS Jobs engagement events and training sessions

1 and 29 November, 12.30pm – 2pm. Safe, Reliable Processes I and II

1 November, 9.30am – 4pm. 10 Steps to working with people and communities

1 November, 1pm – 2pm. Primary Care Discussions: Medication Safety in Primary Care

2 November, 12.30pm – 1.30pm. Lunch and Learn: Reducing Barriers to Speaking Up

2 November, 12.30pm – 1.30pm. Introduction to the NHS Pension Scheme

2 and 23 November, 12pm – 1pm. Getting ready for patients to have access to their future information

2 November 1.30pm - 2:30pm - A structured approach to managing QOF QI – Managing Resistance

3 November, 1pm – 2pm. RightCare stroke webinar

3 November, 5pm – 6pm. General practice webinar