Primary Care Bulletin

21 July 2022

Dear colleagues,

On Tuesday, we announced the first stage of dental contract reform, representing the first significant change to the dental contract since its introduction in 2006. It follows 12 months of engagement with frontline dental teams, the public, patients and other stakeholders after NHS England was asked by the Government to lead on the next stage of dental system reform in March 2021.

The changes begin to address many of the challenges voiced by frontline dental teams and will make a real difference to patients. With a shift in the emphasis of financial reward and a reorientation of clinical activity to those patients that need it most, we are focused on improving access to NHS dental care and support for our valued dental teams.

This is a positive step forward, however we recognise there is much more work to do, and following this announcement our teams will start to engage rapidly with colleagues across the sector to consider the next phase of reform, agreeing further priorities for action.

Further information is available in the latest NHS dentistry and oral health update and senior dental colleagues will be hosting a Dental Reform Webinar on the 27 July to talk through the changes in more detail.

Ursula, Sara and Ali

General practice

Revised annual flu letter and revised flu reimbursement letter now published

Following the Government announcement that the flu vaccine will be now extended to 50 to 64 year olds that aren’t in a clinical at risk group and to secondary school children, focusing on years, 7, 8 and 9, amendments to the annual flu letter and flu vaccine reimbursement letter have now been published. This includes operational guidance including vaccine ordering. Thank you again for all your continued efforts across the vaccination programme.

General Practice Improvement Leads (GPIL) programme

Applications are now open for the funded GPIL programme, which will start in September 2022. The GPIL programme is a nationally accredited personal development programme for those working in general practice, including, but not limited to, GPs, practice managers, nurses, reception managers and senior administrators. Participants gain new perspectives, skills and confidence in using quality improvement tools and techniques (improvement science) for service redesign and leading colleagues and teams through change.

The programme will be held virtually and places are offered on a first come, first served basis to those eligible. The last day for applications is 26 August 2022.

Training Course: Physical health care for people with severe mental illness

A half-day interactive course for primary care staff which looks at ways to improve the physical health of patients with severe mental illness will take place on 9 August, 1.15pm – 5pm.

The course is for primary care staff providing annual health checks to service users with complex mental and physical health needs. It covers how physical health monitoring brings better outcomes for service users with serious mental illness and considers co-morbidities, whereby mental health problems among people with physical illnesses are costly for both out health system and wider society.

Your NHS Pensions newsletter – important information for practice managers and teams

The NHS Business Services Authority have a monthly newsletter to discuss all things relating to NHS pensions. July’s NHS Pensions Update is now out, with a focus on Pensions Online (POL) downtime, new assets for employers to promote the NHS Pensions member events, the Administration Foundation Course and more.

All editions of the NHS Pensions Update can be found in the Employer Newsletter section of the website. Please email nhsbsa.stakeholderengagement@nhs.net to be added to the distribution list or to add a member of staff.

Community pharmacy

NHS Community Pharmacy Smoking Cessation webinar - recording available

A recording and slides from our recent NHS Community Pharmacy Smoking Cessation Service webinar are now available to watch online.

The national implementation of the Smoking Cessation Service is part of the Long Term Plan to make England a smoke free society, engaging with partners including The British Thoracic Society, The Office of Health Improvement and Disparities, acute trusts and local pharmaceutical committees (LPCs) around the country to drive awareness and encourage registrations where appropriate. For more information contact your LPC or the implementation team on mlcsu.scs@nhs.uk.

The new NHS Profile Manager designed with users at the centre

With the launch of NHS Profile Manager, this blog discusses the user-centred design approach used in the development of the new product, which is currently being used by Pharmacies across England.

Remember to register for the new NHS Profile Manager with your personal NHSmail address if you haven’t already, and for each profile, please check that your opening times and contact information are up to date.

Dentistry

2021/22 year-end reconciliation – update your email address in Compass

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) Provider Assurance Dental team will soon be delivering the year-end reconciliation for the 2021/22 financial year. Year-end letters will be published in Compass week commencing 25 July and will be available no later than Thursday 28 July 2022. 

The NHSBSA will notify you by email to confirm when letters are ready to view. Emails will be sent to the business owner email address as recorded in Compass, so please ensure this is up to date.  

If you require your business owner email address to be updated, or have any questions regarding your year-end reconciliation, please contact the NHSBSA on nhsbsa.dentalcases@nhs.net. For any enquiries regarding prototype contracts please contact nhsbsa.dentalcontractreform@nhs.net.

Primary care

Looking After You Too: bespoke coaching for ethnic minority colleagues  
The Looking After You Too coaching service has been expanded to coaching for staff from ethnic minority backgrounds. This free, one-to-one wellbeing support offer will be provided by trained coaches from ethnically diverse backgrounds. Each session provides a confidential, judgement-free, safe space where coaches can help users to develop practical strategies for issues such as finding a work-life balance, stress management and managing difficult conversations.

Primary Care – Quality Improvement Facilitation Development Programme

There’s still time to apply for the Primary Care – Quality Improvement Facilitation Development Programme. This exciting opportunity is for all those working in and around Primary Care, who want to build on their existing knowledge and experience of quality improvement.

This funded programme will support those attending to enhance their ability to be effective facilitators and leaders of change in their own workplace and local systems. The closing date is midnight 12 August 2022.

Regional Leadership for Personalised Care Programmes 

Following the success of previous cohorts, we are pleased to announce that recruitment is now open for this year’s Leadership for Personalised Care programme. So far, over 700 leaders have graduated from the programme, which takes place virtually over three days, starting in September 2022.   

The Leadership for Personalised Care programme is designed for groups of two or more from one place who want to learn new skills and work together to drive forward personalised care. The programme will help you focus on what really matters and develop your ability to lead change and influence others to make a positive difference. Applications close on Tuesday 16 August. Please email the team at england.leadership@nhs.net with any questions. 

Decision support tools published

We have published a suite of eight decision support tools covering varying conditions along with guidance on how to use them and evaluating the impact.

Decision support tools (DSTs), also called patient decision aids support shared decision making (SDM) by making treatment, care and support options explicit, providing evidence-based information about the associated benefits and risks, and helping patients to consider what matters most to them in relation to the possible outcomes, including doing nothing.

These DSTs have been developed in accordance with NICE standards framework for shared decision making support tools, including patient decision aids. NHS England will continue to build on this suite of DSTs and publish as they become available. To help NHS England in future clinical DST development, please share your feedback by completing this short questionnaire. Feedback closes on 31 December 2022.

Support  for AHP colleagues

Allied Health Professions (AHPs) are the third largest workforce in the NHS. As with all health professionals, AHPs are expected to continually develop and to maintain their qualifications, competencies and capabilities while improving patient care and safety. 

NHS Knowledge and Library Services are on hand to help with relevant information, tools and techniques to make sure any AHP can get exactly what they need for professional development and in their day to day work or research. 

This short animation describes just what kind of support is on offer to AHPs right throughout their career. Please do share this with your colleagues who may find this useful.

New short film shows primary care ‘Healthy Hearts’ group intervention for people at high-risk of heart failure

A new film has been launched showing how people at high-risk of heart failure in Bristol were given access to a Healthy Hearts group to help them stay well.

Bristol Inner City Primary Care Network used a Population Health Management (PHM) approach to identify Linnett Watkis and 100 other similar citizens at risk of heart failure using the ICS’ linked datasets. They received support from specialists across the Primary Care Network including a nurse, a dietician, a physiotherapist, a social prescriber and a local community group.  Read more about it on the PHM Academy, you can join the PHM Academy if you’re not already a member.

Upcoming events and webinars

Various dates, July - October. Demand and Capacity webinar series

This Demand and Capacity interactive learning series can help you gather the right data to gain a clear understanding of your population demand, your resource capacity and how we can work toward matching the two.

Various dates, July - December. Public Participation Online Learning Programme

21 July, 2pm - 3pm. An introduction to working with people and communities  

26 July, 12pm - 1pm. Safeguarding awareness session: Getting ready for patients to have access to their future data

27 July, 10.30am - 12pm. Recruiting patient and public voice (PPV) partners

27 July, 6pm - 7pm. Dental Reform Webinar

28 July, 11am - 12pm. Fleetwood: connecting professional stakeholders to support the growth of the community 

3 August, 1.30pm - 3pm. QOF Quality Improvement (QI) Webinar Series

4 August, 5pm - 6pm. General Practice Webinar

10 August, 2pm - 3pm. How to effectively engage online with marginalised communities

11 August, 12pm - 1pm. Safeguarding awareness session: Getting ready for patients to have access to their future data

17 August, 11am - 12pm. An introduction to working with people and communities

Link of the week

The Population Health Management approach in ICSs pays homage to work of Florence Nightingale