Urgent: Demonstrations
Dear colleagues
We are shocked and saddened by the violence that has taken place across the UK over the last week.
As a health and care system in north east London we are clear that there is no place for racism and action which seeks to turn on parts of our community and stir up hatred. The deplorable violence and intimidation seen in the last few days we know will have greatly impacted our communities and colleagues. To those affected we offer our support and solidarity, you are valued and you are welcomed. North East London has one of most diverse populations in England. It is this diversity that makes us unique and which we celebrate and embrace.
We have been alerted to a specific concern in Waltham Forest and we are working directly with practices who may be affected. We are also working in partnership with the Police and local councils to ensure we are prepared in the event of any escalation at a local level. Our priority will always be to continue to deliver the health and care our patients and residents will rely on and to do that in a way that is safe.
Your staff deserve to be able to work safely, and we will of course continue to keep you informed if we are made aware of any specific information that is likely to affect your staff and patients. Where the council and police are aware of any planned action, they are supporting services and communities in those areas.
We encourage and support you to take practical steps as the situation evolves, depending on the individual location of your practices and their proximity to any incidents that take place and to notify patients of any changes to service delivery.
This may include changing consultations and other contact to remote only, with staff working from home. For General Practice colleagues, urgent prescriptions should be sent electronically to an agreed pharmacy of the patient’s choice. Community Pharmacies should remain open unless agreed with the ICB’s DOPs team but may wish to modify walk-in services and switch to remote consultations where appropriate.
If there are any urgent requests for an appointment for any primary care service, please ensure patients are triaged to assess the level of risk and agree the safety of whether the patient can be seen remotely or rebooked for the next day. Telephone lines must remain on and manned until 6:30pm, or your agreed contractual opening hours, but can be diverted so that staff are able to work from a place of safety.
Extended Access Hubs may also be impacted and providers can change their delivery model to remote/virtual only, in line with the above advice to GP practices. Telephone lines should be manned during usual operating hours and there should be the ability for virtual consults to take place.
Please remain vigilant and look out for one another. Consider making risk assessments where needed and take appropriate action, and refer to your lone working policy.
Do report any incidents of abuse or violence to the appropriate authorities immediately. If there are any issues or incidents, practices should report this via the Central Incident email nelondonicb.incident@nhs.net and to your Place Primary Care Team. The ICB’s on-call colleagues will be available out of hours in the event of any emergency operational action being required during this period.
We are aware that some practices have also been approached by journalists and members of the press. If you receive any media enquiries, or requests for interview, please do feel free to contact our communications team for advice and support. (necsu.media@nhs.net or nelondonicb.nelcommunications@nhs.net)
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch
Best wishes
Ben and Sarah
Dr Ben Molyneux Sarah See
Associate Medical Director Managing Director of Primary Care
NHS North East London NHS North East London