Month: September 2023
Access to medication for end of life care from community pharmacies (spreadsheet updated)
Please note that the contact details spreadsheet has now been updated please discard any list that may have been downloaded.
Antenatal vaccinations during the autumn vaccine programme
To ensure as many people as possible are vaccinated by the end of October, our letter asks that vaccinations for flu, COVID-19 and pertussis are offered at the same time.
GP Improvement Programme – Intermediate support offer to help practices implement ‘modern general practice’.
Please note that there are still opportunities for practices to benefit from the GP Improvement Programme Intermediate Support Offer later this year.
Winter vaccinations communications materials
Please find the NEL Covid-19 and flu communications toolkit and links to materials.
Change to Newham foot health service
From 29 September, the Newham Foot Health service will no longer be operating from its Stratford base in Ferns Road. Going forward, the service will be provided from its two other sites.
COVID-19 testing policy update – changes to order and supply
The ordering and supply of Lateral Flow Devices, will transition from UK Health Security Agency o NHS England.
Ensuring blood and organ donation decisions are recorded
For practices using an old patient registration form, it is important not to include questions about blood and organ donation preferences in it.
Launching 2023 NEL Primary care workforce awards
In collaboration across the NEL ICS Primary care team and NEL training hubs we extend a warm invitation for your participation in the NEL Primary Care Workforce Awards 2023.
Primary care professionals in north east London shortlisted for the General Practice Awards
The General Practice Awards recognises the hard work of GPs, nurses, pharmacists, practice managers and professionals who are making real change to their local area. This year, north east London has been shortlisted in an impressive five categories.
QOF Cholesterol Control and Lipid Management guidance
Practices should be aware: At the point data is collected to assess QOF achievement, patients will need to have a prescription for a statin/lipid lowering therapy on their records (CHOL001) and have a non-HDLC or LDLC reading at or below targets within the 12-month QOF Period (CHOL002).
Sexual safety in healthcare – organisational charter
While individual employers need to have measures in place for staff to report their experiences and ensure that support is available, NHSE are also taking action with partners nationally to ensure the NHS is a safe environment for all patients and staff.
UKHSA – Urgent public health message – outbreak of food botulism in France involving a number of British nationals
The outbreak has been linked to consumption of home-prepared sardines served by a restaurant in Bordeaux, France.
BHRUT – Advice and guidance telephone line for Neurology reminder
The advice and guidance service is provided by a Registrar and supervised by a Consultant. This daily line will be in addition to the 24/7 on call consultant via switchboard.
BHRUT – Royal College of Pathologists – Simple laboratory user survey
The core of the survey is just one screen of simple questions with tick-box answers. It is designed primarily to deliver a numeric Key Performance Indicator to assist commissioners and others to judge the quality of their service, and how it changes over time.
bite-sized’ health and social care staff online diabetes training
Based on feedback from diabetes health care professionals we are offering free, ‘bite-sized’ health and social care staff online diabetes training which can be accessed at any time.
RAAC and the primary care estate
Privately owned primary care estate is not part of the national programme. NHSE has issued RAAC guidance to private landlords.
Important Safety Notice: Access to medication for end of life care from community pharmacies
We want to ensure that patients at the end of life are able to access the right end of life care (EoLC) medication when they need it.
Request for information from practices not delivering the COVID-19 vaccination programme
Practices that are not delivering the COVID-19 vaccination service under the current enhanced service specification are reminded to share lists of eligible patients with their local commissioner.
Updated PGD for Smallpox v03.00
NHS England and NHS Improvement London Region has published an updated PGD on its website.
Shingles vaccination programme toolkit for GPs
A toolkit that NHSE has created that details the changes coming in and other relevant information and materials, to encourage high uptake of eligible patients.
Legionella cases in Westminster
Urgent environmental investigations are in progress to identify a potential source. In addition, it is important that any other cases are identified, treated and reported promptly.
Innovation to increase equality in MMR campaigns
View a recording of this webinar.
Shaping end of life and palliative care across north east London
Please share this information on your practice website, with your staff and patients in your borough.
Guidance on GP direct access to cancer diagnostic services
GP teams across England can ‘directly request CT scans, ultrasounds, or brain MRIs’ for patients with ‘concerning symptoms’.
Junior Doctors and Consultants Strike at same time – September and October
Junior doctors and consultants in England will jointly undertake four days of strike action in September and October. For the first time in the history of the NHS, there will be four days in which junior doctors and consultants coordinate industrial action. This is in addition to other days on which just juniors or just consultants will be on strike.
Junior doctors will strike on 20, 21, 22 September, and 2, 3, 4 October. Consultants will strike on 19 and 20 September and 2, 3 and 4 October.
Industrial action by junior doctors from 11 – 15 August saw 61,200 rescheduled acute inpatient and outpatient appointments and procedures in England.
The number of staff absent from work due to strikes peaked on 11 August with 23,682. The cumulative total of acute rescheduled inpatient and outpatient appointments and procedures over eight months of industrial action across the NHS now stands at 839,327.
As a system we have put in additional capacity to support front door, emergency care, GP hubs, and community services working with our partners.
We are aware of the sustained additional daily demands that are made upon general practice and that this is likely to be exacerbated by the further industrial action.
We would like to take the opportunity to reiterate the following points to use as a guide to help with your local planning.
As you do throughout the year, report by exception to your local primary care team any practice issues which may impact your ability to run as normal e.g. workforce issues such as sickness.
Continue to make your 111 slots available ensuring there is late morning and afternoon utilisation.
Prioritise calls coming from paramedics when they are on site with patients (or the cover in place for that day).
Checking on care homes and home care providers and proactively managing high risk patients on the days leading up to and after the strike action time.
Supporting same day access by making available any un-utilised appointments within your Enhanced Access sites (which are ordinarily used for routine care).
Please be aware / inform your teams of possible additional request for home visits from patients.
Please encourage your teams to use appropriate pathways when emergency care is needed to improve our patients experience if possible.
Aim to switch as many appointments as possible to “Book on the day” (this needs to be done in advance)
Your actions so far have had an impact in mitigating the risks from strike days. We also appreciate the significant impact these added pressures have had on you and your teams so please let us know if there is anything else we can do to support you.
We will update about the upcoming strike days in the coming weeks.
Update to requirement for recording of flu vaccination events by PCN groupings
A PCN grouping’s constituent practices will now be able to elect to record flu only vaccination events in either their GP IT clinical system or their PCN grouping’s point of care system
Aquatic Activity and Swimming for Health programme
New session promotes health benefits of aquatics and swimming.
Updated PGD for HPV GBMSM v04.00a
Practices should ensure that any registered healthcare professional who is due to administer vaccinations under this PGD should be made aware of this updated version.
NHS App – Resources to support increased usage
A range of resources have been developed to support practices increase patient uptake of the NHS App for repeat prescriptions, including posters, leaflets, patient videos, sms campaigns, process change ideas, how to track usage.
BHRUT – Coffee, Cancer and Conversation meet-up
An informal chat with an advanced care planning nurse.
EPRR annual conference – 30 October
This year’s conference will hold an overarching theme of the lessons and learning.
UCL Partners CVD Academy
UCL Partners launches CVD Academy to tackle premature deaths related to cardiovascular disease