No images? Click here
Primary Care Bulletin - this week's round-up
28 April 2022
Dear colleagues,
Following the publication of the NHS flu vaccine reimbursement guidance in March, the annual Tripartite flu letter setting out further detail for the 2022/23 season has now been published.
An updated SOP was also published on Tuesday, covering symptomatic and asymptomatic staff testing, including for patient facing staff working in primary care. It replaces previous SOPs and FAQs for lateral flow device (LFD) use in NHS trusts and primary care and use of LFD for vaccination sites. It is key that primary care providers continue to undertake local risk assessments to ensure safe systems of work. This transition is further supported by the publication of an IPC Manual for England, which applies to all setting including primary care.
We would like to wish colleagues who have observed Ramadan a peaceful bank holiday weekend as the month comes to a close. Eid Mubarak!
Nikki and Ursula
Dr Nikki Kanani
GP and Medical Director for Primary Care,
Deputy SRO, COVID-19 Vaccination Deployment Programme
NHS England and NHS Improvement
Dr Ursula Montgomery
GP and Interim Director for Primary Care NHS England and NHS Improvement
COVID-19 updates
Reminder: GP practice referrals to COVID Medicines Delivery Units (CMDUs)
We previously wrote a letter to GPs on 31 March about the deployment of COVID-19 treatments for highest risk non-hospitalised patients. Patients who have not been contacted by a CMDU within 24 hours of their positive test result are advised to contact their GP practice or NHS111 for a referral. In these circumstances, practices need to refer these patients to a CMDU via the electronic referral service (eRS) (or local process if one has been agreed) for assessment and treatment.
Please encourage your clinical teams to familiarise themselves with the COVID-19 assessment pathway and Clinical Commissioning Policy for new COVID treatments and ensure your practice teams, including admin and reception staff, are sighted on these communications.
Children aged 5 to 11 years can now obtain an NHS COVID Pass letter for international travel
Children aged 5 to 11 years living in England, Wales or the Isle of Man who have had a full primary course of COVID-19 vaccination can now get an NHS COVID Pass letter for travel.
A person with legal responsibility for the child can request the letter on their behalf either online at nhs.uk or by calling the 119 service (0808 1624 119 for residents of the Isle of Man). The letter is not available via GP practices.
The letter is posted to the address on the child’s NHS record and will show all the COVID-19 vaccinations they have received. Further details can be found on the GOV.UK guidance pages.
Accessing vaccination equalities insights and evaluation
Latest updates in the COVID-19 Vaccine Equalities Connect and Exchange Hub include equalities insights and evaluation from the South East and South West for COVID-19 and flu vaccination.
Equality stories from the South East explores how local systems improved access for different communities, with key learning points. Improving COVID-19 and flu vaccine confidence evaluation report examines the themes, viewpoints and lessons from a regional webinar exploring reasons for hesitancy.
You can download or add your own practice examples, evaluation and studies to the online hub, or visit the behavioural insights database for further practice and insights from NHS and other partners.
General practice
Accelerating patient access to their GP-held records
General practices were previously informed that from April there will be system changes for all practices using TPP and EMIS systems to provide all patients with easy access to their future health records. GPs will be informed of the go-live date (now expected summer 2022) with 2 months' notice and provided with resources to support preparations.
Educational sessions have been held to support staff with this change. Over 40% of practices have already attended at least one webinar, with further places available throughout May and June.
Read further information about the change or contact the team if you have any questions.
Pay Transparency Arrangements
Last year, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care confirmed that the implementation of general practice pay transparency was delayed until 2022. Amendments to the GP Contract Regulations have now come in to force which remove the requirement for individuals within scope of the general practice pay transparency provisions (GMS Regulation 27A, PMS Regulation 21A, AMPS Direction 7A) to make a self-declaration of their 2020/21 NHS earnings by 30 April 2022.
Individuals within scope of the pay transparency provisions should therefore not take any action ahead of 30 April 2022, and commissioners should not seek to enforce this contractual requirement. As previously communicated, commissioners should also continue to not enforce the requirement for individuals within scope of the pay transparency provisions to have declared their 2019/20 NHS earnings by 12 November 2021. These amendments implement the delay that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care confirmed last year and are made with the expectation that this policy will resume at a later date.
Veteran Friendly accreditation leads to better patient outcomes
With a mental health charity for veterans recently warning that the war in Ukraine could ‘re-traumatise’ some ex-Service personnel, NHS England’s Associate Medical Director for Armed Forces and Veterans Health, Dr Jonathan Leach OBE, says that the need for GP practices to become Veteran Friendly Accredited has become ‘more pressing’.
Dr Leach’s call follows a new evaluation from the University of Chester, which shows that the free programme leads to better outcomes for patients and improves practice staff’s understanding of veteran health issues. In fact, 99% of accredited practices recommend it.
Join 1,300+ accredited GP practices and register now.
Updated guidelines for the public health control and management of diptheria
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has updated the guidelines for the public health control and management of diptheria in England. The updated guidelines set out the rationale and recommendations for the control of diptheria in England and are intended for those involved in the public health control of diptheria, including UKHSA Health Protection Teams and NHS staff in England. The guidelines were last updated in 2015 and training on these updated guidelines will be available in due course.
Dentistry
Your Dentistry and Oral Health Update
The latest Your Dentistry and Oral Health Update, published on the 22 April, is available to view online.
Primary care
New resources on Falls and Vision impairment
The National Falls Prevention Coordination Group, (hosted by National Healthcare Public Health, NHS England and NHS Improvement) has developed new resources to help reduce the incidence of falls related to vision-impairment in older people. The aim is to promote the importance of good eye health and vision with health care professionals and increase the uptake of eye examinations by the public.
The resources include a video to support the use of the Royal College of Physicians Bedside Vision tool, a poster and a letter for healthcare professionals, and report from the College of Optometrists on the importance of vision in preventing falls.
Deadline for national data opt-out extended
The mandatory implementation of the National Data Opt-Out (NDOO), has been extended to 31 July 2022. As set out in the Operational Policy Guidance, the opt-out applies to the disclosure of confidential patient information for purposes beyond an individual’s direct care across the health and care system in England, unless an exemption has been granted.
All primary care organisations will be expected to take note of this new deadline and ensure they are taking the relevant steps to prepare to implement the opt-out by this date.
COPI notice (Control of Patient Information) extension
The current COPI notices have been extended until 30 June 2022. After this date, organisations will no longer be required to share confidential patient information under COPI. Instead, they will have to consider on a case by case basis whether the requirements of COPI have been met.
We therefore advise organisations to use this short extension period to prepare and ensure that all processing which relies on the COPI notices is ready to cease or move to an alternative sustainable legal basis. Further guidance will be provided to the health and care system in due course.
NICE virtual events on implementing shared decision making (SDM)
You can now watch sessions from the NICE Implementing SDM virtual event online. Sessions include 'putting NICE guidance into practice' which is targeted at system leaders who want to learn how shared decision making can help achieve strategic aims and ‘helping health professionals put shared decision making into practice’, which shares practical ways you can embed SDM into professional practice. Visit the SDM futures platform for further information or contact the shared decision making team.
New eLearning aims to empower staff to share information
Health Education England elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh) and the NHS Transformation Directorate have launched a new elearning programme on information sharing.
This short, free module will help frontline and admin health and care professionals to understand the key principles for sharing information and how to apply them at work. Designed to build staff confidence in sharing information - it shows what colleagues should do in a wide range of roles and practical scenarios. For more information and to access the module, which takes no longer than 30 minutes, please visit the information sharing programme page.
New long-term condition Proactive Care Frameworks improve workforce capacity and patient care
Findings from a recent UCLPartners evaluation report on the new long-term condition Proactive Care Frameworks pilot have found the Proactive Care Frameworks resource to be a useful way for primary care clinicians to ensure patients received the right care at the right time. Clinicians also believe that the resource will result in improvements to long term condition management. Register for their upcoming webinar to hear more about the evaluation findings during the pilot implementation of Proactive Care Framework.
BLOG: The importance of personalised care and personal health budgets in addressing health inequalities for people within minority groups
This blog from Isaac Samuels, Association of Mental Health Providers and Nikeeta Sohpaul, NHS England and NHS Improvement, highlights a partnership programme sponsored by our Personalised Care Group. Working with NHS and VCSE colleagues, the programme will develop a set of tangible actions that local health and care systems can take to facilitate continuous improvement, illustrating the potential of personalised care and personal health budgets in addressing inequalities in mental health.
Don’t forget to nominate someone for a Digital and Data award
We recently launched the Digital and Data Awards to recognise the achievements of individuals who work within a digital, data, technology or informatics role, either as their appointed role or as part of their clinical or professional role working in health and social care.
It's a great opportunity to shine a spotlight on all of the great people working in informatics in health and social care, it won’t take longer than 30 minutes to complete. The awards close 30 April, so don’t miss this chance to celebrate your colleague’s work – enter now.
Key dates
30 April 2022 – Workforce data submission deadline for practices
Upcoming events and webinars
April – May. Core20PLUS5 - reducing healthcare inequalities series covering the five clinical priority areas outlined within the Core20PLUS5 approach.
April – June. Community Pharmacist Consultation Service training for practices
April – June. Demand and Capacity series designed to help gain a deeper and practical understanding of what demand and capacity are and the consequent issues that occur.
April – July. Public Participation online learning sessions about working with people and communities.
28 April, 7pm – 8pm. Pharmacy team experience with CPCS
5 May, 5pm - 6pm. General practice webinar
6 May, 3pm – 4.30pm. Severe mental illness webinar: Core20PLUS5 - reducing healthcare inequalities
10 May, 12pm - 1pm. Evaluating the pilot implementation of Proactive Care Framework
11 – 12 May. NHS Big Conversation for Improvement
17 May, 10am -11.30am. Making a difference to young people’s lives through personalised care
18 May, 2pm – 3pm. May's Wellbeing Wednesday community event
19 May, 7pm – 9pm. Inclusive Pharmacy Practice: Population Health Management webinar for Community Pharmacy Professionals
30 May, 3pm – 4pm. Partnerships with people and communities in primary care: The art of the possible
Link of the week
