Primary Care E-bulletin (Issue 101) - 8 December

Click here to view web browser version of this briefing.

Welcome to the latest edition of our e-briefing to support mid and south Essex General Practices. Thank you to all Mid and South Essex CCGs’ member practices for your support and patience through the launch of the COVID-19 mass vaccination programme. More details on that are below.

Previous editions of this bulletin can be found on the MSE healthcare professional website (which you can also access via the button below left). There is a search function at the top-right of the website to help you to find what you’re looking for. And if you think these e-briefings could be improved, please use the ‘send feedback’ button (below right) to share your thoughts.

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In this issue:

• NHS COVID-19 vaccination programme update
• Mental Health Services Guide for healthcare professionals
• Supporting practices to deliver care for patients with hearing loss
• “Java Update Countdown” message appearing on some computers
• GP coaching
• National webinar dates for your diary
• Mid and South Essex Training Hub
• MSE Big Festive Thank You campaign
• Monthly toner graphics price file and holiday season ordering
• NHS England Primary Care COVID-19 Bulletin

Support with day to day issues

NHS COVID-19 vaccination programme update

Delivery at Basildon University Hospital
The latest national guidance published on Friday outlines the vital role the Primary Care COVID-19 Vaccination Programme will have in delivering the vaccine in England and we are grateful for your continued efforts.

Basildon University Hospital and other hub sites across the country are receiving the first batches of the vaccine for delivery to the priority groups confirmed by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and the Chief Medical Officer (CMO).

The JCVI advises that the first priority for COVID-19 vaccination should be the prevention of mortality and maintaining the health and social care systems. As the risk of mortality from COVID-19 increases with age, prioritisation is primarily age-based. The immediate task is thus to vaccinate care home residents and their carers, people over 80 and front-line health and social care workers.

The five CCGs have prepared a local briefing and list of questions that practices may receive from patients to help you address any concerns and enquiries you receive. It was shared via email on 7 December (and also available from the button below) and we are grateful to the primary care colleagues who have already given us feedback on the Q&A.

We will be acting on your comments to produce and share a revised version shortly. We have also agreed with EPUT that they will create a website to host the list alongside signposting to national resources to minimise the number of patient questions you receive. We will offer more details of this as soon as we have them.

In the meantime, please note the location of other local vaccination centres (beyond Basildon Hospital) are not currently in the public domain as plans are still being finalised. If you are asked by the media for comment, please refer them to your CCG’s comms team.

DRAFT Mid and South Essex COVID-19 vaccine rollout briefing / Q&A to be revised

Using SystmOne to book COVID vaccinations at PCN level
As promised in the bulletin on Friday, we are sharing the user guides on:

• how to configure appointment books in SystmOne for the lead practice; and
• how to book patients in from the other PCN member practices.

You can download both guides from the buttons immediately below.

Guide to creating and configuring vaccination appointments in SystmOne
Guide to booking vaccination appointments remotely via SystmOne

Suggested text for GP practice websites

The public can really help the NHS to deliver our vaccination programmes effectively to those who need it most. Taking these simple steps will help us to help you.

The NHS will contact you when it’s the right time to come forward, so please don’t contact us to seek a vaccine before then.
Please act on your invitation when it arrives, and make sure you attend your appointments when you arrange them.
In the meantime, please continue to abide by all the social distancing and hand hygiene guidance, which will still save lives.

The latest information on the COVID-19 vaccination programme is online at
www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/coronavirus-vaccine

and we advise checking there first if you have questions about the safety or effectiveness of COVID vaccines, or your priority to receive vaccination.

IMPORTANT: Register interest in local COVID-19 Vaccination programme

If you or someone you know would like to register interest in supporting the local COVID-19 vaccination programme, please do so via the Essex Primary Care Careers website.

If you have any questions about the Vaccination Programme yourself, please do email [email protected] so the Incident Management Team can log and respond in a coordinated way to the high number of queries coming in.

Mental Health Services Guide for healthcare professionals

The Mid and South Essex Health and Care Partnership website hosts summaries of local mental health services across each locality in mid and south Essex so colleagues in primary care need only to check a single web page for current information. You can access each service guide, along with public-facing resources, via the button below.

Mid and south Essex Mental Health Services Guides by locality

Supporting practices to deliver care for patients with hearing loss

The Royal College of GPs has worked with the UK’s largest hearing loss charity, the RNID, and NHSE/I to develop a toolkit for GPs delivering care to patients with hearing loss. The toolkit supports GPs to consult effectively with deaf patients by offering tips on how to communicate during face to face and remote appointments.

The toolkit also offers guidelines on how to recognise early symptoms of hearing loss and how to refer patients for a hearing assessment. The project aims to encourage deaf patients to access primary care and support General Practices in implementing the latest NICE Guidelines, NHS Accessibility Quality Standard and Guidance across the UK.

Full details of the toolkit are available from the Royal College of GPs website.

“Java Update Countdown” message appearing on some computers

When you access certain online applications from NHS laptops or PCs, you might see the message shown below. AGEM IT are aware of this and are deploying software that addresses the issue.

The installation will happen in the background and should have no impact on anyone using the computer at the time. For any queries, please contact the AGEM IT Service Desk on 0300 123 1020, or agcsu.it
[email protected].

Education and training

GP coaching

The Mid and South Essex Training Hub is delighted to announce that a coaching service for GPs in mid and south Essex has been commissioned. Coaching is a supportive and developmental process enabling an individual to unlock potential and achieve personal and professional goals.

GPs undertake coaching for a variety of reasons. The person receiving coaching can build their self-awareness, enhancing their confidence, relationships and performance. At a practice level this can translate into enhanced leadership skills, improved team working and work satisfaction.

The service is being delivered by the Royal College of General Practitioners, who fully appreciate the current challenges facing the profession. Our experienced coaches are current or recent primary care team members and coaching conversations with them are confidential and non-judgemental.

The coaching package includes:

An initial 30-minute call with you coach to establish your relationship, discuss the coaching process and your goals
Four coaching sessions, each lasting 60 to 90 minutes, via MS Teams, Skype or telephone
Support with tracking and evaluating your process

The offer is open to all GPs working in any capacity within the mid and south Essex system and places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. To express an interest, email [email protected]

National webinar dates for your diary

Wednesday 9 December, 12.30pm-2.30pm: GP parental leave webinar with the BMA (which accompanies their new leaflet on the subject to help trainees and experienced GPs alike plan for maternity or paternity leave).

Thursday 10 December, 10.30am-1.30pm: NHS Volunteer Responder update webinar

Mid and South Essex Training Hub

For the latest initiatives from the Mid and South Essex Health and Care Partnership Training Hub, please visit the Training Hub section of our website.

For information

MSE Big Festive Thank You campaign

After the successful MSE Big Thank You campaign that ran from October, the Mid and South Essex Health and Care Partnership is now launching an “MSE Big Festive Thank You” campaign next Monday, 14 December. We do appreciate this is a hugely busy time in primary care, but wanted to offer a simple way for your practice to share a message of thanks to your own teams and the wider community for coming together to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

One simple way to get involved is by sharing the poster for our “MSE Ring the Bell” initiative. We are asking residents to spread some festive cheer and thank key workers and communities by standing at their doorsteps on Thursday 24 December from 6pm and either ring a bell or light a candle. You can download a PDF version of the poster to promote MSE Ring the Bell here and a jpeg version for use online here.

Full details and a toolkit to promote the Festive Big Thank You, perhaps through your Patient Participation Group, are available from the button below. Thank you for any support you can offer.

MSEBigThankYou Campaign web page

Monthly toner graphics price file and holiday season ordering

The final day that Toner Graphics may be able to ship goods to reach practices before Christmas is 23 December, though 22 December is recommended. You can access December’s snapshot of the more popular products, all of which are lower this month by percentage, from the button below.

For those not familiar with the format of the snapshot, items in yellow are fixed contract prices with discounts on Lexmark Printer toners. New MS421 toners will need to be manually ordered at present. The MX511, MX521, MS521 & MS511 will auto order as normal if already set up to do so.

Group discounts are also available on all toners, drums, fusers etc shown in white. You can email [email protected] for prices on any product not listed, or to arrange the free-of-charge empties collection.

NHS Toner Graphics price file for December 2020

NHS England Primary Care COVID-19 Bulletin

Click here to access NHS England’s latest primary care COVID-19 bulletins. For the latest advice around coronavirus for clinicians, please visit the NHS England website.