Primary Care Bulletin

15 July 2022

Dear colleagues,

On Tuesday the four National Health Services of the UK, including NHS England, were awarded the George Cross from Her Majesty the Queen, in recognition of over 74 years of service and for the exceptional efforts of NHS staff across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is only the third time the George Cross has been awarded to a collective body, rather than an individual.

Our Chief Executive, Amanda Pritchard, was in attendance with May Parsons, the nurse who delivered the world’s first Covid vaccination to grandmother Margaret Keenan, to collect the award on behalf of all NHS England staff.

This is a momentous achievement, and a well-deserved recognition, of all the hard work everyone in our national health service has put in over the past couple of years. Working together, we have demonstrated our passion and dedication in keeping our patients safe. Primary care has continued to be the front door of the NHS and we can’t stress enough how valued and appreciated you all are. We remain in awe at your continued resilience – thank you, every single one of you.

Nikki and Ursula

Key updates including COVID-19

All over-50s to be offered COVID-19 booster and flu jab this autumn

In a letter published today (15 July), everyone aged 50 and over will be among those offered a COVID-19 booster and a flu jab this autumn under plans to increase protection against respiratory viruses ahead of winter. On COVID-19 boosters, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has now published its final recommendations for this autumn’s programme.

Control of Patient Information (COPI) notices have expired

The COPI notices expired on 30 June 2022. You can still use data for COVID-19 purposes where there is a legal basis. We have published guidance for organisations on processing confidential patient information now that COPI notices have expired.

General practice

Statutory medical examiner system

NHS England has written to NHS trusts, GP practices and Integrated Care Boards explaining what is required to prepare for the statutory medical examiner system. Ministers recently announced their intention to work towards this commencing from April 2023, recognising the need for all relevant government departments to be ready and aligned to enable successful implementation.

What you need to know before certifying fit notes

There is guidance and training available to support the new rules about who can certify fit notes. Employers and healthcare professionals should read the guidance that provides a summary of the knowledge, skills, and experience that healthcare professionals eligible to sign fit notes are expected to have before undertaking this task. Healthcare professionals eligible to certify fit notes should also complete the e-learning training programme which is freely accessible here.

New Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Bowel Cancer Guide for GPs

Primary care may see more people coming forward with the signs and symptoms of bowel cancer in response to the efforts of the late Dame Deborah James to raise public awareness. There may also be more queries from patients about the Bowel Cancer Screening Programmes.

To help primary care prepare for a possible increase in patient presentations, CRUK has produced a new Bowel Cancer Resource Guide that signposts the free resources and clinical guidance available to support health professionals with the recognition, referral, and management of suspected bowel cancer, and to answer screening-related questions. Visit CRUK’s Health Professional Hub to download the guide.

Clarification: NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme Surveillance - inclusion of people with Lynch syndrome

There was an error in the message that was shared in the bulletin on 23 June 2022 about the inclusion of people with Lynch syndrome in the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme. To clarify: people with Lynch syndrome will be included within the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme for surveillance from April 2023. However, people with Lynch like syndrome will not be included within the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme for surveillance from April 2023.

Survey: Allowing patients to update their address online

NHS Digital is continuing to explore the possibility of patients updating their address online and it being synced with GP systems. To help with this project, we would like GP staff who either do, or know, about the current process of patients updating their address to please complete this five minute survey.

General practice - latest updates

Community pharmacy

Community Pharmacy Assurance Framework (CPAF) screening questionnaire

Pharmacy contractors should have received confirmation from NHSBSA that the CPAF screening questionnaire will go live on 18 July 2022 and will be available for completion until midnight on 31 August. 

Users of the NHSBSA’s Manage Your Service (MYS) portal will be able to complete this year’s CPAF by logging in. Contractors who are not yet signed up to MYS will be able to complete the questionnaire online and will receive email details on how to do this. Completion of the screening questionnaire is compulsory, and the results of the questionnaire will form the basis of which contractors will be asked to complete the full CPAF survey and may be visited later in the year. 

Primary care

Primary Care and General Practice Nursing Career and Core Capabilities Framework

This recent framework, published by Skills for Health, provides a standard and greater clarity on the scope of practice for nurses working within primary care and general practice settings. As more care is being managed and delivered in the primary care setting there are opportunities for a wider range of nursing knowledge, skills and attributes including nursing associate, mental health, learning disabilities and children’s nursing.

Healthier Futures Action Fund now open

A new Healthier Futures Action Fund from Greener NHS is now open for applications. The fund aims to support individuals and teams within NHS organisations to kick-start innovative initiatives or ideas that will improve health and patient care, reduce inequalities, and deliver value, while supporting a more sustainable health service. The fund is open to individuals and teams within the NHS, clinical and non-clinical, for bids with a suggested range of between £3,000-£15,000. 

New online eating disorder learning available for primary care clinicians

Eating disorders are common and can be extremely serious. Early identification and support are key to better outcomes and primary care staff have a key role to play. HEE has therefore worked in partnership with experts by experience, NHS England and the charity Beat to launch online all-ages eating disorder learning for primary care staff, comprising of two sessions that take approximately 30-40 minutes to complete each and includes a video role-play demonstration. To find out more and access the training please visit the eating disorders eLearning programme webpage.

NHS Open Space – flexible access for primary care sites

NHS Open Space, a service that enables flexible booking of NHS space, has welcomed new primary care sites to their booking platform. Health, wellbeing, and community services can choose from 1,100+ rooms across 200 sites nationwide with spaces ranging from examination rooms to offices, to group activity spaces. This flexibility means that we can maximise use of NHS space so that patients can access a wider range of services from their local health hubs. Explore the new spaces here. You can also access a range of user guides and videos, including a pre-recorded training session.

Why think Same Day Emergency Care? A guide for primary and community care clinicians

We want to ensure access to Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) services is available system-wide, whether that is in a hospital setting or within the community. To support this, we have created one-page action cards to help primary care clinicians refer directly into SDEC. These visual guides, designed to act as an aide memoire, provide useful information and practical advice to help clinicians consider SDEC first.

Upcoming events and webinars

Various dates, July. Public participation online learning sessions about working with people and communities.  

15 July, 9.30am - 5.30pm. Health & Climate conference 

18 July, 12pm – 1.15pm. Managing Heart Failure @home early adopters launch event. Aimed at frontline teams supporting people living with heart failure, those working in ICSs, or at system level as part of cardiac networks or regional heart failure networks.

20 July, 10am – 11.30am. Respiratory webinar; Core20PLUS5 - reducing healthcare inequalities

20 July, 1pm – 2.30pm. Implementing the Proactive Social Prescribing Service Specification

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

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

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

Link of the week

Heatwave: how to cope in hot weather