Primary Care Bulletin

25 August 2022

Dear colleagues,

The government has set out plans for COVID-19 testing in periods of low prevalence following advice from UKHSA. We have published a letter which sets out our approach to delivering UKHSA’s advice in relation to staff and patient testing. Routine asymptomatic testing in a number of settings will pause from 31 August and the letter includes a list of scenarios where testing in the NHS should continue after this date. NHS organisations are asked to review their COVID-19 testing protocols in light of this new guidance, and implement changes as required.

As we approach the late August bank holiday weekend, we know many colleagues will still be working hard, but do hope you will have some time to rest and recharge. Thank you for ensuring that messaging on websites, social media channels and answerphones are updated to reflect opening hours over the bank holiday period, so our patients are still able to access help should they need it. Please continue to signpost patients to NHS 111 online for urgent medical help for general practice and dentistry, and the find a pharmacy webpage for patients needing to access community pharmacies over the weekend.

Ursula and Kiren

Key updates including COVID-19

Advanced system outage – latest updates

A phased reconnection of NHS 111 providers to Advanced IT systems has started following the recent cyber incident and is being supported closely by NHS Digital and Advanced teams. This includes London Ambulance Service and South Central Ambulance service successfully re-joining the Adastra platform. More providers will begin the reconnection process this week.

The latest updates continue to be added to our FutureNHS page.

General practice

Update to general practice seasonal influenza enhanced service specifications and collaboration agreement

The 2022/23 general practice seasonal flu enhanced service specifications and influenza collaboration agreement have been republished, due to formatting issues in the versions published last week.

Additionally, we have extended the date practices are required to sign up to CQRS to 30 September 2022. Practices are still asked to confirm by 31 August to their local commissioner that they wish to participate in the enhanced services.

Supporting GP practices in offering patients access to their future health information

In just over two months, patients with online accounts, such as through the NHS App, will be able to read new entries in their health records. This applies to patients whose practices use the TPP and EMIS systems (practices using Vision [Cegedim] clinical system are under discussion).

We recently wrote to general practice staff to detail the need to prepare for this change and the support available, including  an updated RCGP GP Online Services toolkit, videos covering key topics, learning from early adopter sites and communication materials for general practice to use to inform their patients.

A GP practice readiness checklist has also been produced to help practices ensure they have completed all the necessary actions, such as staff training and reviewing of relevant policies and processes.

All staff, including locums, should receive the necessary training with regards to checking and entering information into patient records and familiarise themselves with any change in business processes and GP system functionality. To find out what the changes mean for you and what you need to do next, register for one of the upcoming awareness webinars.

Improvement to suspended patient records

GP practices are now able to receive suspended patient health records electronically with electronic health records (EHRs) arriving via GP2GP. Practices will still receive a Lloyd George envelope from PCSE.

Practices still need to print electronic records, in line with the usual process, for patients who de-register from their practice list and do not register elsewhere. Changes later in the year will mean that these suspended patient records will be held in a national electronic records repository.

Once a patient is registered, GP2GP will transfer from your patient’s previous practice - it is important that you integrate/file this record into your system. Practices should have a process in place to integrate/file a new patient’s EHR as soon as it is received (usually within minutes of the patient registration). EHRs received by GP2GP must be manually integrated within eight days. If not, they need to be printed by the sending practice, breaking the digital record’s continuity, and adding administrative burden for both practices.  

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

A recent report ‘Leading the Way: the role and value of nurses in general practice in England’ published by Sonnet Advisory & Impact and Sheffield Hallam University recognised the huge value nurses bring to general practice.

A new survey, which has five questions, has now been developed and is the first part of further research building on this report to look at nursing qualifications and workforce composition in each practice. It can be completed by a Practice Manager, Lead Nurse Manager or another person on behalf of the practice. We would really appreciate your input into this valuable research. Please note, you may need to gather some information prior to beginning the survey.

Workforce data – monthly reminder to PCNs and Practices

NHS Digital extract the latest general practice and PCN workforce data from the National Workforce Reporting Service (NWRS) at the end of each month. Practices and PCNs should log into their Strategic Data Collections Service (SDCS) account at least monthly to check and update their workforce details as necessary. The information gathered from the NWRS is crucial for planning new workforce supply, providing support to primary care teams and understanding staff capacity in general practice and so it is critical that the information you submit to NHS Digital about your staff is accurate and reflects any staffing changes.

Community pharmacy

Join the conversation on pharmacy professional leadership

The UK chief pharmaceutical officers would like to invite you to take part in the independent UK Commission for Pharmacy Professional Leadership’s Call for Evidence. Please share your views in this online survey by 16 September 2022. Findings from the survey will inform the Commission’s work as it develops recommendations for the future of pharmacy professional leadership in the UK.

Primary care

Primary Care Clinical Panel: Bringing your expertise to CVDPREVENT

CVDPREVENT is a national primary care audit, which aims to understand how effectively wider primary care teams are managing cardiovascular disease through prevention. A new Primary Care Clinical Panel for CVDPREVENT has been created to help scope and define new indicators, as well as assess the suitability of new suggestions for their impact on CVD prevention initiatives.

If you have a special interest in kidney disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, or hypertension, and are looking to make an impact towards primary care CVD prevention national ambitions, find out how you can get involved.

Applications open for competition to support pioneering clinical innovations

SBRI Healthcare, in partnership with Greener NHS and the AHSN Network, have launched a new call for innovations to both reduce carbon emissions and drive improvements in care for patients. Applications are now open for the competition, which will provide a total of £1m to support innovative solutions to meet known NHS challenges and areas of opportunity.

Specifically, the innovations will help reduce carbon emissions in those areas of clinical care and patient pathways with a higher impact on the environment. The four challenge areas include decarbonising surgical pathways, reducing waste in surgery and critical care, net zero personalised care, and tools to support the workforce to deliver net zero care.

The closing date to enter the competition is the 5 October 2022.

Upcoming events and webinars

Various dates, August – September. Environment - NHS Net Zero webinar series

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

1 September, 2pm – 3pm. Patient Participation groups and the art of the possible

1 September, 5pm – 6pm. General Practice webinar

2 September, 1pm – 2pm. GPN National Update

5 September, 2pm – 3.30pm. CVD Prevention webinar series: Increasing public education

7 September, 12.30pm – 1:15pm. BMJ Best Practice for primary care

12 September, 12.30pm – 1.30pm. Priorities for Long COVID

14 September, 1pm – 2.30pm. Faith organisations and social prescribing

15 September, 12.30pm – 2pm. Updates from interventional UK research studies into long COVID

21 September, 2pm - 4pm. CVDPREVENT: Using data to drive system change

28 September, 11am – 12.30pm. Super Skills: It's a Kinda Magic - creatively engaging and connecting with people

28 September, 1pm – 2.30pm. Commissioning of social prescribing and community support