Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 1st June 2018
Date sent: Friday 1 June 2018
All Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and previous updates can be found here
- Transformation of General Practice in Somerset
- Recommendations to Somerset CCG on General Practice at Scale
- GDPR
- Dropbox update
- Data Security and Protection Toolkit
- GDPR changes to SARs and fees from 25 May
- Nursing Associate Apprenticeship Pilot- Update and Clarification Update from Carol Hobbs education facilitator
- Hospital contract guidance – onward referral
- Primary care home: community pharmacy integration and innovation
Transformation of General Practice in Somerset This paper discusses the possible allocation of the approximately £1.68m available in Somerset from the notional national GP Transformation Fund, which is part of the GP forward View
Recommendations to Somerset CCG on General Practice at Scale Somerset GP Board (SGPB) has produced this short paper as a contribution to the proposed review of primary care services in the county.
GDPR The GPC Dropbox has been further updated with a new blog 20 for action by practices , there are revisions to Blogs 15 and 18, in particular 18 in relation to a CCG being a Practice DPO.
Please Note that NHS Digital states at https://www.dsptoolkit.nhs.uk/ (where you can also register to access their toolkit) that:
“The Data Security and Protection Toolkit is an online self-assessment tool that allows organisations to measure their performance against the National Data Guardian’s ten data security standards. All organisations that have access to NHS patient data and systems MUST use this toolkit to provide assurance that they are practising good data security and that personal information is handled correctly. This system is subject to on-going development.”
GDPR changes to SARs and fees from 25 May The General Data Protection Regulations and the Data Protection Act 2018 will replace the existing Data Protection Act 1998 from (25 May) and will see widespread changes to UK data protection legislation. For GPs it will bring in a number of changes, specifically the charges that were in place for undertaking Subject Access Requests (SARs). In most cases, patients must be given access to their medical records free of charge, including when a patient authorises access by a third party such as a solicitor. A ‘reasonable fee’ can be charged if the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive. However, these circumstances are likely to be rare. If the request is for a medical report (rather than a SAR) then this falls under the Access to Medical Reports Act (AMRA) and should be handled in the usual way. The GDPR does not change the AMRA.
The GPC are in the process of updating the guidance document ‘Access to Health records’ which will available shortly on the BMA website and we will provide further details on this.
Hospital contract guidance – onward referral New guidance on onward referral has been published. Changes to the contract in 2016 allowed for onward referral of patients by secondary care clinicians, in certain situations, rather than having to always require referral back to the GP. The guidance is designed to support doctors locally in applying the change appropriately.
As a reminder, new guidance was also published recently on the responsibility for prescribing and principles for shared care . All guidance can be found on the BMA website, including the Quality First pages with the template letters to support LMCs and practices in reporting contract breaches.
We know that implementation of the contract measures is still very variable and we will continue to press for improvement. The GPC are currently working with NHS England on a contract implementation toolkit for CCGs.
Primary care home: community pharmacy integration and innovation Somerset’s NHS health commissioners, GPs and pharmacy leaders have welcomed the findings of a national guide highlighting the positive benefits to be gained for patients when GP Practices and pharmacy services work in close collaboration. The National Association of Primary Care’s guide, “Primary care home: community pharmacy integration and innovation”, looked at ways local pharmaceutical committees, community pharmacies and GP Practices can make greater use of pharmacists’ skills as part of a model of care to a whole community. Michael Lennox, Chief Executive of the Somerset Local Pharmaceutical Committee, said:
“Community pharmacy and GP Practices have traditionally worked closely together, but we could take joint working much further, as recommended by the National Association of Primary Care. By strengthening the integration of services and working in multi-disciplinary teams, community pharmacies could deliver that integral support that would help the health and care needs of whole communities. “ http://napc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Community-pharmacy.pdf
Jill
Jill Hellens
Executive Director
Somerset LMC
TEL: 01823 331428
Fax:01823 338561
General Practice in Somerset Great Place Great Potential
