Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 9th November 2018
Date sent: Friday 9 November 2018
Sent to all Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and previous updates are available here
- 'Risk and Responsibilities' the latest blog from LMC Chairman Dr Nick Bray
- LARC Contract
- Prescribing of cannabis-based products
- Consent form for the disclosure of medical records to solicitors
- Colorectal 2ww Referrals
- My Diabetes My Way
- Early Help Assessment (EHA)
- Have your say: Proposed changes to the County Council’s support and services for children and their families
- News from the GPC
LARC Contract: Colleagues will have received the new contract from Somerset County Council for provision of LARC including agreeing to share provision of services. This still requires a yet to be designed data sharing agreement. The Indemnity cover would depend on this. Please do not sign this contract until we can be assured all is in place to allow practices to deliver a safe service.
Prescribing of cannabis-based products: The new regulations to widen the availability of cannabis-based medicines within the NHS came into effect on 1st November. Prescribing is restricted to a doctor on the GMC specialist register prescribing within their field of expertise where the cannabis-based product is an unlicensed ‘special’ medicinal product for use by a specific patient. Once a product receives a licence from the MHRA, it will be available for prescription in the same way as any other Schedule 2 drug. NHS England has also published a patient leaflet which helpfully states (albeit at the end) that ‘You cannot get cannabis-based medicine from your GP - it can only be prescribed by a specialist hospital doctor’
Consent form for the disclosure of medical records to solicitors:The British Medical Association (BMA) and Law Society have updated the joint template consent form for the disclosure of medical records to solicitors. The template has undergone a refresh, to reflect the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and aims to improve the process of seeking consent and to ensure that patients are well informed about these disclosures. You can access the template form here.
Colorectal 2ww Referrals: One of the joys of working for the LMC is getting to meet colleagues from other parts of the NHS and learning about how they work as well as instructing them on the mysteries of general practice. The colorectal cancer nurses who triage 2ww referrals have asked that details of the nature of a change in bowel habit can be really useful even though they accept the form just asks for a yes/no box to be ticked. They have also made a plea not to include automatically generated reams of past medical history irrelevant to the presenting complaint. Do your secretaries do this? They would rather have more details of the consultation which led you to make the referral than about, say, what happened in 1927 which is the record so far.
My Diabetes My Way: You will recall that Somerset is the first area in England to have access to this useful online self -management portal for patients to see their diabetes records securely. Forty-eight practices have signed up and over 2000 patients have been pre-registered. Already 1000 patients are using the site to access results and manage their diabetes but more are needed. A clinician information sharing platform is being tested to let clinicians to see the data securely. The CCG appreciates your efforts to promote MDMW to diabetic patients. Leaflets and posters are available and the Somerset MDMW website can be viewed on this link https://somerset.mydiabetes.com/. If your practice has yet to sign up - please contact rachael.rowe@nhs.net
Early Help Assessment (EHA): The EHA form was discussed at the Somerset safeguarding children's board last month. Agreement was reached that a new referral method was overdue. A working party with GP input has been set up to discuss formats, an online portal to self-populate forms from the NHS number and which will direct referrers to the appropriate services. At present we are expected to know (or guess) what they might be. Consent will be considered at the beginning rather than the middle of the process with advice popping up on how to proceed if it is not forthcoming. An EMIS template is also still being considered but a portal may be preferred bearing in mind that other services have to make referrals too.
Have your say: Proposed changes to the County Council’s support and services for children and their families: For information the above 8 week public consultation has now launched (Monday 5th November). The Council would like to hear as many people’s views on their proposed changes to the support the County Council provides for children and their families. So they would appreciate it if you could promote the consultation and the information “Drop in” sessions detailed below with colleagues. If you have anyone else who you think may be interested in this, please can you also let them know the details, if you could let the Council know who they are so they can include them within their communication plan.
How can people get involved? People can share their views by completing a questionnaire which is available online at www.somerset.gov.uk/getsetconsultation , or a hard copy which is available in the 8 main Family Centres and libraries, and at the information “Drop in” sessions (Detailed here). If anyone would like a hard copy sent to them, or any of the information in an alternative format, for example larger print or translated into a different language, please email getsetconsultation@somerset.gov.uk or telephone 01823 357479. The closing date for consultation responses is 5pm, Monday 31 December 2018.
Kind Regards
Jill
Jill Hellens
Executive Director
Somerset LMC
Crown Medical Centre, Venture Way, Taunton, TA2 8QY
Tel: (01823) 331 428
Fax: (01823) 338 561
www.somersestlmc.co.uk
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