No images? Click here Primary Care Bulletin - this week's round-up 18 November 2021 Dear colleagues, This week is Self Care Week, which marks an important opportunity for you to take a moment to stop and to look after yourself. It’s been an extremely busy time for primary care, and we have a range of health and wellbeing support, offers and guidance to help you stay well. These include:
Access this support and find out more on our health and wellbeing section of FutureNHS. You can also find posters and other resources to promote these offers to your teams and colleagues. Our People team are also hosting a collaborative online event on 25 November at 12pm where you can hear about these offers in detail. Nikki and Ed Dr Nikki Kanani Ed Waller COVID-19 updates Update to JCVI advice on vaccinations: booster and second dose On Monday, JCVI recommended extending Covid-19 booster jabs to those aged 40-49, and second doses to those aged 16-17 from 12 weeks after their first. NHS England and NHS Improvement wrote to vaccine sites on the same day setting out next steps. The NHS will contact people in these age groups directly to let them know when they can get their booster or second dose, and, from next week, will open up the National Booking Service, 119 and its online vaccine walk-in finder to enable them to make their own bookings. Please do read this and share across your teams. Vaccination of under-18s deferral period extended for those recovering from COVID-1 Previously the Green Book advised that vaccination should be deferred until clinical recovery from COVID-19 infection to around four weeks after onset of symptoms or four weeks from the first confirmed positive specimen in those who are asymptomatic. It also recognised that vaccination of individuals who may be infected but asymptomatic or incubating COVID-19 infection is unlikely to have a detrimental effect on the illness. As a precautionary measure after review of the latest clinical data by JCVI, UKHSA have updated the Green Book to amend this deferral period to 12 weeks for those under 18. At the point of care prior to vaccination, local teams should ask all individuals under 18 not at higher risk whether they have had a lab-confirmed (PCR) COVID infection in the last 12 weeks. This will be updated in the pre-screening questions in the Point of Care Systems in due course. Lagevrio (molnupiravir) antiviral treatment for COVID-19 In the last edition of this bulletin, we incorrectly referred to Lagevrio (molnupiravir) as an ‘antibody’ treatment for COVID-19, when it is an antiviral. The MHRA announced on 4 November that the antiviral is safe and effective at reducing the risk of hospitalisation and death in people with mild to moderate COVID-19 who are at increased risk of developing severe disease, and is most effective when taken during the early stages of infection. It will be deployed as part of the UK PANORAMIC study, which is likely to commence in December. GP practices are welcome to take part in the study and further details will be available in due course. General practice New platform showing GP2GP integrations The GP Registrations Data Platform can be used to view integration times for practices receiving GP2GP transfers. The platform provides monthly data about the number of transfers your practice received, how many were integrated within three days, eight days and those that were not integrated within eight days. This information can be used to help you keep track of your integrations and identify areas to investigate further. Transfers that are not integrated within eight days trigger the paper process, so avoiding this will help reduce the administrative burden on your practice. National flu programme recall for two and three-year-olds From Friday 19 November, a second round of communications will be sent from the national call and recall system to all parents/guardians of eligible children yet to be vaccinated advising them to contact their GP practice to book a flu vaccination appointment. Most parents will receive SMS and email, or a letter and email where a valid mobile phone number is not available. This is in addition to local arrangements, so GP practices should continue with their usual call and recall activity for eligible children. GP practices should ensure they have ordered sufficient vaccine to vaccinate 2 and 3 year olds with the aim of exceeding the 70% uptake target and achieving at least the levels of uptake achieved in 2020/2021. Vaccine can be ordered through Immform. Study on job crafting and flexible working in general practice The Institute for Employment Studies (IES) is seeking six GP practices to take part in research to explore the crafting of GP roles, the use of flexible working practices and the impact that these have on supporting health and wellbeing, building multi-disciplinary team working and improving patient care. Participating practices will need to support their teams to participate in a series of short, confidential interviews of up to 45 min each which will explore the way that job roles and working time is organised, how the roles might have been crafted and adjusted, and any innovations which have been introduced locally. Interviews will be conducted virtually and can be scheduled flexibly during the day. To register your interest or to find out more, please email stephen.bevan@employment-studies.co.uk. Promoting equitable uptake of physical health checks for people with severe mental illness The event will be opened by Amanda Pritchard and chaired by Marie Gabriel (Chair, RHO). The panel will discuss the importance of delivering physical health checks and solutions to support equitable uptake of the checks. Find out more and register. Improving access to GP IT systems webinar We heard through the GP bureaucracy review that using multiple passwords and log-ons to access IT systems can create admin and time burden for GPs and their staff. NHS Digital have been working with NHS England and NHS Improvement to improve and streamline how you sign in. We want you to have simple, secure and speedy access to the information and data that matters to you, whenever and wherever it’s needed. NHS Digital are hosting a webinar on 7 December that will cover the support and technology that is available to you now and the roadmap for future updates and improvements that will be made available. This event is aimed at GPs, health care professionals and administrative staff. Please register you interest. Community pharmacy NHS Profile Manager to replace DoS Updater and NHS website editor in early 2022 The NHS Profile Manager tool development is being led by NHSX and NHS Digital, with input from NHS England and NHS Improvement, and PSNC. Further communications will follow in 2022 as the NHS Profile Manager launch date approaches. Learn more, including suggested actions ahead of the change by reading the November briefing note. NHS Digital Weight Management programme: pharmacy referral As part of the Pharmacy Quality Scheme, community pharmacies are raising awareness of the impact weight can have on health. As well as weight management training and targeted conversations with people about healthy weight, pharmacists will also be referring into the new NHS Digital Weight Management programme (or Local Authority-funded tier 2 weight management services). The programme offers free online access to a 12-week behavioural and lifestyle plan. With three levels of support and a choice of providers, it is supporting people to manage their weight and improve longer term health outcomes. The programme is available to adults with a diagnosis of diabetes and/or hypertension plus a BMI of 30 or above (or a BMI of 27.5 or above for people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds). Support for Transforming and Integrating Community Pharmacy Clinical Services The Pharmacy Integration programme is supporting further integration of community pharmacy into general practice, primary care networks, community services and secondary care. To support access for patients throughout winter, the programme will fund for rapid implementation support of GP CPCS across England. In addition, we will create Regional Senior Pharmacy Integration roles that sit under the Regional Chief Pharmacists, drawing on the experience of other senior clinical pharmacy roles at regional level, supporting implementation and delivery of new services through clinical engagement. As we transition to ICSs, the programme will fund community pharmacy integration leads for two years, from 2022/23, who will lead the implementation of community pharmacy clinical services locally. Improvements to the MYS portal Want to have your say and help improve the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal? Now is your chance to let us know how we can help MYS work better for you. From Wednesday 17 November until Tuesday 7 December 2021, the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) will be carrying out a short survey to gather user feedback about how you navigate the MYS portal. All responses will help ensure that the MYS platform continues to evolve and meet users' needs. The survey will close at 11.59pm on 7 December. Primary care Accessing centrally held ARRS funding Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) can now access the centrally held additional funds for the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS). The initial funding was released to CCGs at the beginning of the year with the balance being held centrally by NHS England and NHS Improvement. Where PCNs have fully utilised their initial allocation, their CCGs can submit a claim to access and drawdown on the centrally held balances. Access to this additional funding is contingent on compliance with the 2021/22 Network Contract Direct Enhanced Service (DES). Further guidance on the process is available on FutureNHS. Flu vaccination for care home staff Care home staff are eligible for the NHS seasonal influenza vaccination and where this is administered by either a community pharmacy or general practice the associated Item of Service payment will be payable. Community pharmacy and general practice are encouraged to offer flu vaccinations to care home staff to support maximum uptake when attending care homes to vaccinate residents or by arranging a specific clinic. DHSC has procured a supply of influenza vaccination that may be accessed to support vaccination of care home staff and this can be obtained by primary care providers following the information set out in this guidance. Where general practice vaccinate care home staff that are not registered with the practice, the vaccination should be recorded under the Immediately Necessary Treatment status as per this guidance. New clinics for children and young people living with complications associated with severe obesity Children and young people living with complications associated with severe obesity will be seen in 15 new clinics set up across England. Every region will have at least one clinic which aims to identify the factors involved in the development of severe obesity, treat complications and develop an individualised holistic plan that considers biopsychosocial needs. This may include interventions such as family-based therapy, behavioural coaching, dietary planning, and mental health treatment. The clinics will be led by a multi-disciplinary team including pediatricians, dieticians, psychologists, specialist nurses, social workers and youth workers. Same Day Emergency Care service GPs, community response teams, NHS 111 and ambulances can directly refer patients to a Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) service where appropriate. This enables patients to spend hours, rather than days, in hospital, improving their experience and benefitting patient flow. To explain the role of SDEC, where it fits within the urgent and emergency care system and the benefits it provides for both staff and patients, the national Hospitals team have commissioned a short, explainer-style animation. Machine Learning challenge open for entries from primary care Does anyone working in your team have a Machine Learning model which could help the NHS recover from the pandemic? AnalystX, in partnership with NHS England and NHS Improvement, the Health Economics Unit and NHSX, is looking for teams from across primary care to enter their machine learning challenge and win the opportunity to have their model turned into a working app. As well as coding and maths skills, the judging panel will be looking for an aptitude for formulating questions and problems. Deadline for entries is 31 December 2021. Find out more and enter. NHS Volunteer Recruitment Portal survey We have commissioned a piece of research to look into how the NHS recruits its volunteers and whether there may be a need and benefit to having a single place for NHS volunteer opportunities to be advertised. If you recruit volunteers for the NHS we would love to hear your views via our survey to help us understand how to improve NHS volunteer recruitment. We are keen to engage with as many people as possible to help us to understand the volunteer recruitment process and understand the needs of people who recruit for volunteers to help inform future decisions and possible new opportunities in this area. This survey is open until 24 November. RCGP weight management survey Helping people to achieve or maintain a healthier weight is complex yet crucially important as almost two-thirds (63%) of adults in England are living with overweight or obesity. The RCGP is working with DHSC to better understand the weight management landscape in primary care, including how the wider primary care team supports patients on their weight management journey. To inform future policy, the RCGP wants to hear about your experience supporting patients to access weight management services. Anonymously share your thoughts in under five minutes by 23 November. Key dates 19 November - Core20PLUS5 survey closes 30 November - Practice workforce data submission deadline Upcoming events and webinars Compassionate and positive cultures in the NHS: a series
19 November, 2pm – 4.30pm. English Surveillance Programme for Antimicrobial Utilisation and Resistance (ESPAUR) Report 2020 to 2021 webinar 24 November, 1.30pm – 2.30pm. Social Prescribing Link Worker webinar series: NHSX-Supporting people at home via tech enabled care 25 November, 10am – 4pm. Start With People conference 25 November, 12pm – 1.30pm. National health and wellbeing offers to our primary care staff 30 November, 9.30am – 4pm. 10 steps to working with people and communities (training) 2 December, 11:30am – 1pm. Healthy weight coach e-learning programme launch 2 December, 1pm – 2pm. Involving people with musculoskeletal conditions in shaping local services 2 December, 3pm – 4.30pm. Under16 (U16) Cancer Patient Experience Survey data webinar 3 December, 2pm – 3pm. Promoting equitable uptake of physical health checks for people with severe mental illness 7 December, 5pm – 6pm. Improving access to GP IT systems webinar Link of the Week |