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Primary Care Bulletin
29 July 2022
Dear colleagues,
We recently wrote to general practice staff to provide an update on the automatic switch on of prospective access on 1 November 2022. It detailed the actions NHS England are taking to support GPs, primary care networks and their teams to safely prepare for the change over the coming months.
This includes an updated RCGP GP Online Services toolkit, a series of videos covering key topics, details of the learning from the early adopter sites, and essential communication materials for general practice to use to inform their patients. A
comprehensive GP practice readiness checklist has also been produced to ensure practices can confidently complete a range of necessary actions that include staff training and a review of relevant policies and processes.
Ursula and Nikki
Dr Ursula Montgomery
GP and Interim Director for Primary Care
NHS England
Dr Nikki Kanani
GP and Medical Director for Primary Care,
Deputy SRO, COVID-19 Vaccination Deployment Programme
NHS England
Key updates including COVID-19
The NHS plan for improving long COVID services
NHS England has published the NHS plan for improving long COVID services. The plan provides an update on progress on the 10 actions set out in June 2021 and outlines the framework for deploying the £90m committed by the NHS for long COVID services during the 2022/23 financial year.
Developed with expert insights from those with lived experience of long COVID, clinicians and partners across the health and care system, the plan builds on the significant progress made over the past two years and details further action to ensure that support is there for everyone who needs it, and patients requiring specialist assessment and treatment can access care in a timely way. Read more about the NHS plan for improving long COVID services online.
Parents or guardians of children aged 5-11 years can now obtain a digital NHS COVID Pass
Parents and guardians can now request a digital NHS COVID Pass for travel for children aged 5 to 11. This provides a record of the child’s vaccinations and proof of a positive COVID-19 NHS PCR test in the past 180 days. Travel letters for 5-11 year olds who have received a full primary course of a COVID-19 vaccination, as well as recovery letters showing proof of a positive COVID-19 NHS PCR test in the past 180 days for this age group, are already available.
Digital passes can be requested by parents or legal guardians via the NHS website. They will need to have access to either the mobile phone number or email address on the child’s GP record as it is not available via GP practices. Further details can be found on the GOV.UK guidance pages.
Updates to COVID Oximetry @home guidance
An updated version of the NHS COVID Oximetry @ Home Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been published, which is now called the COVID Oximetry @home guidance note. This document sets out principles to support the use of pulse oximetry in remote monitoring of patients with confirmed or possible COVID-19 and has been updated to reflect changes in how COVID-19 is managed within the NHS.
General practice
Changes to GP Contract Regulations
On 11 July 2022, the following changes to the GMS and PMS Contract Regulations and APMS Directions came into force:
- the requirement for GP practices to always print and send copies of the electronic record of deceased patients to Primary Care Support England (PCSE) has been removed
- the requirement for GP practices to respond to valid COVID-19 exemption confirmation requests has now been tied to either legislative requirements for individuals to be vaccinated or prove they are exempt for clinical reasons, or guidance in place to that effect.
The recently published GP contract variations reflect these changes.
New GMS, PMS and APMS contract variations published
We have published contract variation notices for General Medical Services (GMS), Personal Medical Services (PMS) and Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) contracts. The variation notices incorporate changes made to the contract Regulations and Directions in April 2022 and July 2022. Commissioners are required to send these updates to GP practices to formally notify them of changes to their contracts.
In addition, updated standard GMS, PMS and APMS contracts will be published in due course and will reflect the introduction of
Integrated Care Boards (ICBs). During the period before publication, ICBs wishing to refresh existing contracts should await publication of the new standard contract documentation. ICBs needing to enter into new contracts should adapt the existing standard contract accordingly and seek advice if necessary.
Administrative triage using digital tools eLearning now available
A new eLearning module has been developed to support general practice administrative staff in sorting, signposting and delivering administrative triage using digital tools, with the aim of supporting an inclusive approach to managing demand and workload. The module has been developed in partnership with HEE elfh and the Practice Managers Association. There are five sessions covering:
- introducing administrative triage
- designing a practice workflow and setting up a triage list
- promoting the service to patients
- confidently taking patients, or their nominated carer, through an online consultation request over the telephone or in person
- sorting patient requests and signposting to the right place, service, or clinician for clinical triage.
Lung cancer campaign
On Monday 1 August, NHS England is re-running the lung cancer phase of the ‘Help Us, Help You’ campaign, until October. The aim of this campaign is to raise awareness of the key symptom of lung cancer – a cough that lasts for three weeks or more, and to encourage those who have this symptom to contact their GP practice.
The campaign targets adults over the age of 60, who are more at risk of lung cancer, and particularly those from C2DE socio-economic groups. The campaign also targets friends and family members to encourage loved ones to contact their GP practice if they are experiencing the key symptom of lung cancer.
The campaign will run in England across TV, catch up TV services, radio, PR, press, partnerships, social media and search. Activity will also include multicultural and accessibility communications. Resources will be added to the Campaign Resource Centre from w/c 1 August.
Digital Firearms Marker
To make firearms licensing safer and the system quicker for GPs, NHS Digital have worked with Home Office and other stakeholders to develop a new digital marker process to monitor the health of firearms holders. The rollout of the new digital marker process began in July 2022. The rollout has been temporarily suspended on EMIS systems while we work with them on a technical issue. The digital marker is still available on TPP systems. The pre-existing manual process remains available for use in the interim when a firearms application is received. A further update about the rollout will be provided in August. Further information on the process is available on the BMA website.
Primary care
Workforce data – 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. It is critical that the information you submit to NHS Digital about your staff is accurate and reflects any staffing changes.
Improving integration between children and young people’s mental health and primary care
NHS England released £5m in 2022/23 for Primary Care and Mental Health Services to test models of integrated support and new roles (including CYP ARRS), to help children and young people with mental health needs. Visit our FutureNHS Platform which brings together resources and information to support this programme, or email england.cyp-mentalhealth@nhs.net for further information.
Publication of LeDeR annual report and Action from Learning report
The sixth annual Learning from lives and deaths – People with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR) report has been published by King’s College London, with an easy read version.
NHS England has also published the fourth annual LeDeR Action from Learning report and easy read version, which describes some of the work being undertaken across the country by the NHS to reduce health inequalities and premature mortality amongst people with a learning disability. There is also a supporting resources document. Since January 2022, adults who have a diagnosis of autism without a learning disability are eligible for a LeDeR review. This leaflet for families explains this recent change.
Decision support tools published
NHS England has 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.
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 in future clinical DST development, please share your feedback by completing this short questionnaire. Feedback closes on 31 December 2022.
Get involved
NHS Health Check user research
The NHS Transformation Directorate, in conjunction with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), would like to engage with providers currently delivering NHS Health Checks to take part in a user research session to help shape the future direction of NHS Health Checks. The session will explore your current experiences of delivering the Health Check and gain feedback on some potential changes to how the Health Check could be delivered in future.
We would like to speak to members of general practice or community pharmacy who are actively involved in delivering or administrating NHS Health Checks. The session involves a 45-minute video call interview with an NHS Transformation Directorate researcher on 29 July, 4 August, or 5 August.
Recruiting Core20PLUS Ambassadors
As part of the Core20PLUS5 approach, the National Healthcare Inequalities Improvement Programme is seeking Ambassadors to promote the importance of reducing healthcare inequalities. The Core20PLUS Ambassadors programme is a one-year voluntary opportunity for NHS staff with a record of improving healthcare inequalities. You will form a community of practice, increase your impact, and influence and develop your knowledge of and leadership in the healthcare inequalities field. Applications Close 30 September 2022.
Applications are open for the Mary Seacole leadership development programme
The Mary Seacole programme is a six-month programme made for first time leaders in both clinical and non-clinical roles in health and care. It’s for you if you are in a formal position of leadership with responsibilities for people and services and are able to relate what you learn to your work.
Upcoming events and webinars
Various dates, July – December. Public Participation Online Learning Programme
3 August, 1pm – 2.30pm. Making the most of community assets to deliver proactive social prescribing
17 August, 1pm – 2.30pm. Social prescribing: focusing on strengths and asset-based approaches
23 August, 11am – 12.30pm. Online tools for engagement
24 August, 11am – 12pm. Peer Leadership: Our approach to enabling coproduction
30 August, 3pm – 4pm. Introducing the health inclusion tool
Link of the week
