Primary Care Bulletin

29 September 2022

Dear colleagues,

We wrote to colleagues on Monday outlining a series of new measures to support general practice and primary care networks (PCNs) , which includes a framework to enable ICS teams to rapidly assess the needs of their practices and PCNs, updates to the additional roles reimbursement scheme, including introducing a general practice assistant role and a digital and transformation lead, and immediate changes to the Network Contract DES, such as retiring/deferring the Investment and Impact Fund (IIF) indicators for 2023/24, and allocating this funding (worth £37m) to PCNs to improve patient access to general practices services.

In other news, from Monday 3 October, referrals from NHS 111 online to CPCS can also be made for minor illness, as well as for an urgent medicine supply. This follows a successful six-month pilot across Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire CCG and the North ICP. Contractors are reminded to check both their commissioned pharmacy IT system and NHS.net to ensure referrals are identified and managed effectively and that the pharmacy team is fully briefed to deliver the service as per the CPCS service specification.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank our regional and delegated primary care commissioning teams, and all primary care professionals and their teams, who urgently worked with short notice to organise and deliver the recent bank holiday cover arrangements. Thank you again for your support for this unprecedented national event.

Ursula and Kiren

General practice

GP Influenza Enhanced Service Specification and Flu guidance

The 2022-23 general practice Enhanced Service Specification for the Seasonal Flu Programmes has been updated to include provision as part of general practice’s Occupational Health responsibility’s to offer eligible frontline patient-facing staff a flu vaccination under the Clinical Negligence Scheme for general practice (CNSGP)

Additional flu guidance has also been published to support commissioners and general practice delivering flu vaccinations for 2023/24 on how to record flu vaccinations, claiming payments and additional collaboration requirements for those practices who wish to collaborate to deliver flu only clinics.

Enhanced Access resources

An updated communications guide and resource pack is now available to support PCNs, general practices and commissioners to signpost patients to evening and weekend appointments from the 1 October under the new Enhanced Access contractual arrangements. The guide includes practical advice on communications with patients, posters and digital assets that can be individualised to explain local arrangements and used on ICB channels or surgery screens, websites and in social media. 

National call and recall for children missing MMR doses

NHS England will be sending communications to parents/guardians of children aged 1 to under 6 years whose record shows they are missing one or both MMR doses, advising them to contact their child’s general practice to book vaccination. This forms part of the GP contract requirement for practices to participate in a national vaccination campaign each year. Practices should check the child’s vaccine status and vaccinate as appropriate. Contact with parents/guardians resulting from this MMR call/recall is also an opportunity to check the status of the child for any other vaccines they require and, if they are eligible, to also offer flu vaccination. 

Opportunistic MenACWY and HPV vaccination in general practice

As higher education students start a new academic year, young people may be advised by their institution to check they are up to date with these vaccinations and wish to be vaccinated. Administration of MenACWY and HPV vaccines are essential services and should be offered on an opportunistic basis, or if requested, to those aged between 14 and 25 years who have missed vaccination under the routine school-aged immunisation programme. The cessation of the MenACWY Freshers Programme in 2020/21 does not remove this requirement, as it was a distinct catch-up programme.

Offering patients access to their future health information

From 1 November 2022, most patients aged 16 and over with an online account (such as through the NHS App or other patient online apps) will automatically be able to view new entries in their GP health record. Feedback from Early Adopters is that it takes four-six weeks to prepare. By preparing now, actions can be spread more manageably over several weeks.

Our GP readiness checklist supports practice staff in preparing for the change, with essential actions and signposting to resources. Practice managers are invited to join webinars for guidance on the actions required. Check to see if you have the correct organisation (global) settings for Online Services by following instructions for TPP/EMIS systems to check/update these settings before November.

GP Webinar – 6 October, 5-6pm

Join Ursula and Kiren at the next GP webinar, where they’ll be providing an update on support for general practice, PCNs and their teams through winter and beyond. We’ll also be bringing you an update on training for GP staff on using digital tools and our citizen access team on offering patients access to their prospective medical record online which will go live on 1 November 2022. Visit our Future NHS page to re-watch previous webinars.

Increase your workforce with Trainee Nurse Associates

Health Education England has announced a national cohort offer of 100 Trainee Nurse Associate (TNA) places for general practice, starting in February 2023. These places are open to any new or existing staff in your Primary Care Network (PCN) or practice.

Employers will receive total funding of £8,000 over two years (£4,000 per year) per Trainee Nursing Associate, an apprenticeship levy funding of up to £15,000 and each PCN will be able to claim 100% of the TNA salary on the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme.  Send your expressions to nationalnursingandmidwiferyteam@hee.nhs.uk by no later than Friday 30 September.

Leading the Way: the role and value of nurses in general practice survey

There’s still time for practice managers, lead nurse managers or anyone on behalf of a practice to complete our nurses in general practice survey, which asks five questions about nursing qualifications and workforce composition in your practice, building on the original Leading the Way: the role and value of nurses in general practice in England report. 

Community pharmacy

Quarterly New Medicines Service Data (NMS) returns not required for Q2 2022/23 

Due to the pandemic, contractors were not required to submit their completed NMS summary data to NHSBSA in 2021/22. NHS England has been reviewing this data requirement and will advise in due course arrangements for later quarters in 22/23.

Reminder to update NHS Profile Manager by Friday 30 September 

Please remember to verify and, where necessary, update your pharmacy opening times and contact information using the NHS Profile Manager by Friday 30 September 2022. Your Terms of Service requires you to update this information at least once each quarter of the financial year, and unexpected changes to opening times as and when these occur. Guidance on how to update your information can be found on the PSNC website, including help with NHSmail and how to solve any sign in or registration issues. 

Mapping post-registration education and training pathway study

Health Education England are piloting a study in the Midlands and East of England, to map training, development, and career progression pathways for pharmacy professionals within community pharmacy, primary care and secondary care (including mental health Trusts). The aim is to understand how pharmacy professionals are deployed, what training they currently have access to and where the gaps are – to inform future investment decisions.  Complete the survey by 21 October 2022.

Dentistry

Your dentistry and oral health update

The latest edition of the bulletin for dental teams is available now, including information on recent contractual changes, flu vaccines for frontline workers and more.

Primary care

Reminder: NHS e-Referral Service and Internet Explorer 

From 7 October 2022, users will not be able to access the NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS) using Internet Explorer. This includes Edge in Internet Explorer mode (sometimes known as ‘Compatibility Mode’).  

If you’re currently using an unsupported setup, you will now see a warning banner at the top of your screen when you access e-RS. If you, or anyone in your team, are seeing this banner, you should contact your local IT helpdesk as soon as possible. Further information, and guidance for IT teams, is available on the NHS Digital website. If you have further questions, you can email enquiries.ers@nhs.net. 

Carers and personal assistants can get their COVID-19 and flu vaccines ahead of the winter

Both the COVID-19 and flu vaccinations are now available to all carers. The COVID-19 booster can be booked through the National Booking Service, by calling 119, or by attending a vaccination walk-in site. It’s also not too late to get any earlier vaccination doses. A communications toolkit with resources aimed at carers can be found on Future NHS

Applications for the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme

The NHS Clinical Entrepreneur programme, launched in 2016, is a workforce development programme, open to all NHS staff both clinical and non-clinical. The programme is free, lasts 12 months, and consists of mentoring, pitstops, webinars, business planning sessions, networking and CPD accredited learning. Applications are open from the 3 to 30 October 2022, starting late February 2023.

Digital personalised care and support planning health systems support framework service line

Digital personalised care and support planning (PCSP) case management and workflow systems are now available to commission via the Health Systems Support Framework (HSSF). The HSSF provides a route to contract support services from third party suppliers. Suppliers are accredited by NHS England for quality of product, adherence to digital standards and business viability. Personalised care group, PCSP and digital teams will be holding a webinar on 20 October for colleagues within, or who are working with, Integrated Care Boards including PCNs on delivery of personalised care and support planning, or digital systems.

Apprenticeship ‘Levy Gifting’ available to support recruitment of social prescribing link workers and other ARRS roles in primary care

Large employers that pay the apprenticeship levy can now choose to transfer up to 25% of their levy funds each year to other businesses to pay for their apprenticeship training and assessment. This includes NHS providers, local government and private businesses and includes recruiting new staff or upskilling existing ones using the Level 3 Community Health & Wellbeing Worker apprenticeship standard. Employers must pay the apprentice’s salary, this transfer of levy funds can only be used for the costs of the apprenticeship training and the end-point assessment. For further support speak to your regional apprenticeship relationship manager.  

The Phillips Ives Nursing and Midwifery Review – call for evidence closes 9 October

The Phillips Ives Review will provide evidence and inform strategy; ensuring that nurses and midwives are given access to the knowledge, skills and education required for safe, effective digitally enabled practice. Share your ideas, case studies and experiences on the engagement platform by 9 October so that they’re considered.

Upcoming events and webinars

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

Various dates, September – October. Accelerating patient online access: A practice guide to preparing for 1 November 2022

4 October, 9.30am – 4.10pm. Every breath you treat - understanding the impact of air pollution across the life course

4 October, 1pm – 2pm. Primary Care Discussions: Antibiotics in Primary Care

5 October, 1pm – 2pm. Using GIRFT’s best practice pathway and guidance to improve care for children with abdominal pain

6 October, 12pm – 2pm. Primary Care Innovation Network  

6 October, 1pm – 2pm. A realistic approach to pain management in primary care

6 October, 1.30pm – 3pm. QOF QI webinar

6 October, 5pm – 6pm. General Practice webinar

7 October, 1pm – 2pm. GPN National Update: monthly webinar  

12 October, 9am – 5.15pm. NHS Genomics healthcare summit 

12 October, 1pm – 2.30pm. Social Prescribing - Developing your skills and knowledge to support people with cost-of-living pressures

19 October, 11am – 12pm. An introduction to working with people and communities

19 October, 3pm – 4.30pm. Best Practice in Annual Health Checks for People with a Learning Disability

19 October, 730pm – 8.45pm. Working with communities

20 October, 1pm – 2.30pm. Trauma Informed Communications Skills and Setting Limits

20 October, 5pm – 6.30pm. Primary Care health and wellbeing engagement event - Flexibility in Primary Care

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