Page last updated: 27 November, 2020, 7:32pm
Primary Care E-bulletin (Issue 95) – 17 November
Click here to view a web browser version of this briefing.
In this Issue:
- Reminder of important upcoming dates re COVID-19 vaccination
- Helping us to vaccinate care home staff against flu this year
- Flu vaccination reminder letters sent in error to individuals with a history of glandular fever
- Learning from deaths of people with a learning disability (LeDeR) review of COVID pandemic deaths
- Mid and South Essex Training Hub
- IC24/EEAST Troubleshooting Meeting
- Supporting a reduction in demand in primary care: Essex Child Health App
- Communications campaign to promote safe sleeping for babies
- Lateral flow asymptomatic NHS staff testing
Support with Day to Day Issues
Reminder of important upcoming dates re COVID-19 vaccination
- PCN groupings to advise CCGs of nominated site for designation Tuesday 17 November
- CCGs complete designation assessment process for nominated sites and submit recommendations to NHS England and NHS Improvement regional teams Thursday 19 November
- NHS England and NHS Improvement decision communicated to PCN groupings along with formal commissioner offer to practices with access to an approved designated site to sign up to deliver the Enhanced Service Monday 23 November.
All the documents associated with the above can be found on NHSE’s website.
New national Futures workspace: COVID-19 vaccination programme
Note: NHSE has set up a new area on the Future’s workspace to provide a community for colleagues across the country who are working to deliver the COVID-19 vaccination programme in primary care.
The slides and recording from a recent GP webinar on the COVID-19 vaccination programme have now been added to this space and NHSE will be regularly updating the space with resources, webinar information and links to key policy documents.
COVID-19 vaccination programme webinar for general practice and community pharmacy - Wednesday 18 November
NHS England and NHS Improvement will be hosting a webinar for primary care networks, general practice, CCGs and community pharmacy on Wednesday 18 November at 1pm to talk in more detail about the COVID-19 vaccination programme. If you have previously signed up to our general practice webinars, there is no need to sign up again but for those who have not joined before, please register for this event.
Helping us to vaccinate care home staff against flu this year
Uptake for care home staff is much lower with only 21.7% of directly employed staff and 15.6% of agency/bank staff vaccinated across the region as of 26th October.
Download the below letter which details what you can do as a GP practice to help vaccinate more care home staff.
Flu vaccination reminder letters sent in error to individuals with a history of glandular fever
NHS Digital have written to apologise for an error that has occurred in the identification of the cohort of patients for whom flu vaccinations are recommended, and to let primary care know what actions are being taken to rectify this situation and the impact this may have on GP Practices.
Learning from deaths of people with a learning disability (LeDeR) review of COVID pandemic deaths
The University of Bristol report looking at the deaths of 200 people with a learning disability who died between 2 March and 9 June 2020 has been published.
NHS England and NHS Improvement have also published a response to that report in “Action from learning response to learning from deaths of people with a learning disability (LeDeR) review of COVID pandemic deaths”.
We are asking that all GP practices:
- Increase the uptake of annual health checks. GPs can use this information to assess whether a person with a learning disability is high, moderate or low risk so that annual health checks can be prioritised for people most in need. (Please note different tools are also available).
- Review the Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decisions for people with a learning disability registered with their practice to make sure they are appropriate for each person. Supporting guidance can be found in the quality and outcomes framework published in September 2020.
- Consider all of the health issues each person on their learning disability register has and determine whether any of their registered population with a learning disability is at a higher risk of serious illness from coronavirus so that they can be advised to take extra precautions to stay safe.
- Be aware of diagnostic overshadowing and that the signs that someone with a learning disability displays when they become unwell might be different to someone without a learning disability.
- Make sure that the right reasonable adjustments are made for people with a learning disability.
NHSE has also produced useful guidance and resources.
Education and Training
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.
MyCPD
In response to the Government announcement of £150m increased investment in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for nurses and allied health professionals (AHPs), the Mid and South Essex (MSE) Training Hub have commissioned a series of training courses for the year 2020-2021.
Following extensive research, a series of training courses has been arranged. Full details, including eligibility and booking instructions, can be found on the Training Hub website.
Updates from the Wider System in Mid and South Essex
IC24/EEAST Troubleshooting Meeting
To support improved working between primary care and IC24 and EEAST, we are establishing a Troubleshooting Meeting across the five CCGs. The purpose of this meeting is to enable clinician to clinician discussion to improve the way providers work together for the benefit of the population we collectively serve.
This builds upon other troubleshooting arrangements in place with acute and community providers. Whilst elements of the 111/Out of Hours agenda are nationally determined, both our GP Board members and IC24 and EEAST are keen to collectively agree how we can make local arrangements as effective as practical.
The first of these meetings will take place on Tuesday 24th November 2020 at 3:30pm. This will be via MS Teams. Please contact Nicola Goodey ([email protected]) if you would like to receive the invitation for this meeting.
Supporting a reduction in demand in primary care: Essex Child Health App
The CCGs have launched a campaign to promote the new ‘NHS Essex Child Health App’. The app has been designed to support parents, grandparents and carers across Essex find NHS advice at their fingertips to help look after their children’s health and recognise when they are unwell.
The roll out of this app is key to the CCGs winter planning approach, to support services and families with appropriate signposting, which in turn is hoped to support a reduction in demand on NHS services.
Communications campaign to promote safe sleeping for babies
A local campaign has launched to raise awareness on how to create a safe sleeping environment for babies. The joint campaign from the five CCGs in mid and south Essex aims to ensure that new parents and parents-to-be are aware of how to reduce the risks of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
For Information
Lateral flow asymptomatic NHS staff testing
You may already be aware that earlier this week, the NHS announced it would be rolling out asymptomatic testing of all patient-facing NHS staff.