18 December 2020
Documents can be found here
If you are receiving this update as a practice manager, please make sure you do share it with your colleagues, including sessional GPs.
Ask of the week
Action: Regular COVID-19 testing for GP staff update from NHSE - following receipt of an NHSE invitation to order lateral flow antigen tests, primary care organisations should log on and complete their order as quickly as possible. The final closing date for orders across all contractors will be Wednesday 30 December
Lateral flow antigen testing will now be rolled out to asymptomatic patient-facing staff delivering NHS services across all four primary care contractor groups (Medical, Dental, Optometry, and Community Pharmacy) in England.
A standard operating process has now been published, together with a staff leaflet. A training video is also available on the Health Education England website Link to training video COVID-19 self-swab for healthcare staff (learninghub.nhs.uk). FAQs are expected shortly.
A letter has been sent out today to all primary care contractors outlining the process for ordering testing kits. Primary care contractors will begin to receive invitations to order test kits from Primary Care Services England , during a window beginning from w/c 14 December.
Following receipt of an invitation, organisations should log on and complete their order as quickly as possible. The final closing date for orders across all contractors will be Wednesday 30 December
For further information, please contact Fiona Sutcliffe, Covid Testing Programme Lead, North West London CCGs. fionasutcliffe@nhs.net
Read the latest NHSE letter here, the standard operating procedure here, and a guide on self-testing for staff here.
NHS training to deliver Covid-19 vaccine
Action: For those who need training on delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine, read the attached update and note the points of contact for each borough
To book onto these sessions please contact your local training hub, the names and contacts are as below:
|
Brent
|
|
|
Central
|
|
|
Ealing
|
|
|
H&F
|
Vicki Newport vnewport@nhs.net
|
|
Harrow
|
|
|
Hounslow
|
|
|
Hillingdon
|
|
|
West
|
|
New SMS text to send to 50-64 year olds about flu
Action: Send following SMS message to your 50-64 year old patients, advising around the flu vaccine available at pharmacies and GP practices
Pharmacies across North West London now have plenty of stock to vaccinate the 50-64 cohort and it is important to protect this group and those around them. You are asked to direct patients aged 50-64 to pharmacy for flu jabs if you do not have capacity in your practice to offer flu vaccinations to this age group. Please send the following SMS message to your patients aged 50-64 and feel free to delete the words ‘or at your GP’ to suit your practice circumstances.
Suggested SMS wording:
If you are 50-64, flu can be very serious. This year you can have the free flu vaccine in pharmacy or at your GP to protect yourself and others. Ask/phone a pharmacy near you or book online at https://myvaccinations.co.uk/ or https://bit.ly/boots-flu-jab.
Additional resources:
Please note that free flu posters for this cohort can be downloaded at https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/34/resources/5557.
Standard operating procedure now available for delivering Covid-19 vaccine in a community setting
Action: Read the latest SOP which describes the operating model and design requirements for safe delivery of COVID-19 vaccines in a community setting
Congratulations for your outstanding work delivering flu vaccines
Action: Celebrate your success!
Thank you to all our practices who have worked so hard to deliver the flu vaccine to all eligible cohorts in this most challenging year. Today we would like to particularly congratulate those practices that have reached the national ambition of 75% uptake for 2-3 year olds. Thank you for your outstanding achievements.
Brent
· SMS Medical Practice
· Alperton Medical Centre
Ealing
· Hammond Road Surgery
· Bedford Park Surgery
· Medical Centre Southall
· The Town Surgery Southall
Harrow
· Kenton Clinic
Hillingdon
· Southcote Clinic
Westminster
· Imperial College Health Centre
· Lanark Road Medical Centre
Toolkit to help NHS primary care staff when speaking about end of life care
Action: Read the new toolkit from NHS London Clinical Networks, which offers advice and scripts that you can use when speaking with people about end of life care
Conversations with those who might be in the last year of life are challenging, and even more so in the presence of COVID-19. With this in mind NHS London Clinical networks has developed a primary care support document that staff can use to talk with patients, their family, friends or carers about the next steps.
PPE portal arrangements for xmas and video on how to use the portal
Action: Read about the Christmas arrangements for the PPE portal, and how to access equipment over this period
Key highlights:
- The DHSC PPE Portal will be operational over Christmas.
- The portal delivery partners (Royal Mail and their Pallet Carrier) will not be delivering on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
- Orders made during this time should still be delivered within 5 days.
- PPE portal order limits have been increased to provide cover over the Christmas period (will be lowered in early January)
- Please make sure you order up to your weekly order limit, ideally in a single order.
- The DHSC portal team have also created a useful video guide (https://www.youtube.com/embed/kBFlukkEnk4?feature=youtu.be) on how to order covid-19 related PPE from the portal.
Covid-19 vaccine mythbusters
Action: Read the latest myth buster and FAQ document about the COVID-19 vaccine (document is titled COVID 19 key messages update 18.12.20)
Culturally diverse and all staff virtual NHS common rooms
Action: Join a virtual common room, held weekly by NHSE, to share your experiences of working for the NHS at this difficult time, get support, and also connect with others.
This is an opportunity for our NHS people to come together virtually and to invest some time in supporting each other during these challenging times. Open to anyone, though specifically catering to the needs of our NHS staff from BAME communities and all staff working within the NHS across England. This is regardless of job role, organisational context or hierarchy and includes all final year students who have been working on the COVID-19 pandemic. The common rooms are a safe and supportive environment hosted by an experienced and approved practitioner.
Currently operated Monday – Friday, 8:00am – 8:00pm at varying times to provide flexibility with further plans to increase to a 7days a week service with increased daily hours should demand require this.
To register, please visit our online events calendar where you will also see a range of events run by NHS England and NHS Improvement throughout the UK on a variety of topics.
Any queries, please email Communications Lead, Tyah Pinnock – tyah.pinnock1@nhs.net
Over 100 practices already signed up to the new health data research opportunities for nw London
Action: Access the Discover-Now tool, by accepting the invitation on the Data controller console. Read about what the tool offers here
Discover-NOW, hosted by Imperial College Health Partners, have made available two health data research tools for Primary Care to use which have been approved by the NWL IG board and reviewed by the LLMC. They support and make it easier for patient involvement in health research, in line with the research aims of the NHS Long Term Plan.
Action to access these tools: In the first instance, you will need to review and accept new documentation which has been uploaded onto the Data Controller Console (DCC) before you can access these Discover-NOW tools. The ISS, MDPA & DPIA documents have all been approved by the NWL IG board and reviewed by the LLMC.
- FARSITE (Feasibility And Recruitment System for Improving Trial Efficiency) – an online tool for searching, finding, and contacting patients with research opportunities, whilst still preserving their confidentiality. It enables GPs to decide whether their patient should be contacted to be invited to participate in a specific research study.
- North West London Health Research Register - register of adults 18 and over living in North West London who are interested in health research and want to find out more about health research opportunities. It supports more patients to become more quickly involved in research beyond what is running at their GP practice.
For more information and to book a short introductory session explaining how these tools work and the opportunities for health data research in Primary Care, please get in touch with the Discover-NOW team FARSITE@imperialcollegehealthpartners.com
New resources to support flu promotions
Action: Share videos and translated PDF’s with patients, which have been translated into a range of languages. Similarly print and place up posters in your GP practice, selecting the most relevant languages for your patient cohorts.
New flu jab videos
· New flu video for parents of 2-3s from Dr Meena Nathan,GP, at https://bit.ly/drnathan-flu-2-3
· New flu video for adults from Dr Owuama, GP, at https://youtu.be/09i4Qn_YNc8 .
· TV Doc Dr Ranj Singh’s popular flu video for pregnant women at https://bit.ly/drranj-flu-pregnancy
Flu mythbusters in translation
· Translated versions of the flu mythbusters are now available on our website at https://bit.ly/flu-mythbusters
Flu posters in translation
Flu posters for all cohorts can now be downloaded or ordered free of charge for all eligible groups, including parents of 2-3 year olds; parents of 4-11 year olds; pregnant women; people with long-term health conditions; household of the shielded; carers; 50-64 year olds and 65+; in the following languages:
· Arabic
· Bengali
· Chinese (simplified)
· Gujarati
· Hindi
· Polish
· Slovakian
· Somali
· Punjabi (Arabic and Indian)
· Urdu
Visit this link here to download: https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/resources/campaigns/34-public-flu-vaccination-campaign/resources/5510
London pharmacy opening hours between xmas and new year
Action: Read attachment with all London Pharmacy opening hours for Christmas and New Year 2020
Bank Holidays can affect the opening hours of local pharmacies. This document provides the opening hours for pharmacies in London which have been asked to open for longer hours on the Christmas & New Year Bank Holidays. Please note that 26th December 2020 is not a bank holiday, however there will be a large number of pharmacies who normally open who will be closed on this day. The 28th December is a bank holiday in 2020..
There maybe additional pharmacies opening which are not listed. If the pharmacy you would like to visit is not listed here, then you can check their opening hours by searching at www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-pharmacy
Read the latest Covid-19 vaccination agreement for PCNs
Action: Find the revised contract, which outlines the agreement on how PCNS will work together to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine to eligible patients.
31 December EU exit - what does this mean for medication supplies?
Action: The Chief pharmaceutical officer for England, Dr Keith Ridge, has shared a letter outlining the impact that is anticipated on medication once the UK exits the EU on 31 December 2020. Read more here.
DHSC guidance is that it is not necessary for local providers, whether in hospitals or primary care, to stockpile medicines or for clinicians to write longer prescriptions for patients. Unnecessary stockpiling puts more pressure on the supply chain and can risk additional pressure on the availability of medicines in other parts of the country. Prescribers and pharmacists should explain to patients that they should continue to order their prescriptions as normal.
Quickly signpost patients with NHS service finder
Action: Use NHS Service Finder to access accurate information about local services when signposting patients or identifying how to make referrals
Services listed include community pharmacies, mental health services and urgent treatment centres.
Registration is quick and easy, and open to anyone working in health or social care. Register with your NHSmail email address for immediate access from your computer, smartphone or tablet. For more information, visit the NHS Digital website or email service.finder@nhs.net.
Continue the great work with infection and prevention control to help reduce infections in primary care
Action: With the rise of nosocomial infections in NW London, continue to be stringent about following infection and prevention control procedures
As you will be aware rates of nosocomial infections have been increasing across North West London. Please could you ensure that you reinforce the message on the importance of adhering to effective infection prevention and control measures to avoid transmission and spread of Covid-19.
The key actions that you can take to minimise risks to both your colleagues and patients are set out below:
1. Consistently practice good hand hygiene and all frequently touched surfaces and items are decontaminated multiple times every day – once or twice a day is insufficient.
2. Maintain social distancing in the workplace, when travelling to work (including avoiding car sharing) and to remind staff to follow public health guidance outside of the workplace.
3. Wear the right level of PPE when in clinical settings, including use of face masks in non-clinical settings.
Twice weekly lateral flow antigen testing for patient- facing primary care staff is being rolled to primary care staff in the next few weeks. Taking part will help reduce the risk of transmission to both colleagues and patients.
For further information, please contact: Fiona Sutcliffe, Covid 19 Programme Manager, NW London CCGs fionasutcliffe@nhs.net
Training and resources
For more information, contact nwlccgs.communications.nwl@nhs.net.
