Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 11th October 2019
Date sent: Friday 11 October 2019
Sent to all Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and previous updates are available here
- 'Let's Get Stuff Done' the latest blog from LMC Chairman Dr Nick Bray
- LMC Autumn Newsletter
- GDPR Subject Access Request (SAR) Breaking News!
- Debt and mental health form
- Flu Vaccine for Cancer Patients on Systemic Anti-cancer Treatment or Immunotherapy
- Flu Vaccines for under 65’s flyer
- Registration to the MHRA Central Alerting System (CAS)
- Devon Doctors
- PCSE surveys
- Top Tip
GDPR Subject Access Request (SAR) Breaking News!: The LMC is pleased that a Leicestershire GP (wonderfully, for older readers, a Dr Findlay) crowdfunded a court case against a solicitor and won with costs. We understand the Judge dismissed an application from the solicitor, saying that there was clearly no need to order to release the medical record as it had been made available for the patient to collect. The LMC Med Director’s view is that the BMA should have funded Dr Findlay and is pleased that its (defeatist) legal advice on SARs will have to be reviewed in the light of this case law. Watch this space.
Debt and mental health form: A new debt and mental health form and process has been introduced following a cross sector agreement with the British Medical Association (BMA). New BMA guidance has just been published and a much shorter form has been introduced that can be completed by a wider range of healthcare professionals, thereby reducing the burden on GPs. As part of the agreement, GPs in England can no longer charge a fee for completing the debt and mental health form. The only contractual requirement is to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when asked whether the indebted person has a mental health condition and if the answer is ‘yes’ then to give the name of this condition. There is no obligation or expectation to complete the reverse of the form. All forms and accompanying guidance are available on the Money Advice Trust website.
Flu Vaccines for under 65’s flyer: PHE has produced a leaflet for under 65’s flu vaccinations explaining why appointments may need to be rescheduled.
Registration to the MHRA Central Alerting System (CAS): A reminder that from 1 Oct, the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will send CAS patient safety and public health alerts directly to GP practices, replacing any local arrangements currently in place. All GP practices in England are contractually required to register to receive CAS alerts directly from the MHRA by accessing their portal. If practices have not already registered, we would suggest you do so now.
Devon Doctors: (Somerset’s OOH provider) hopes the article in the LMC Autumn newsletter will inspire you get in touch. Established in 1996 to provide support to GP coops across Devon, DDoctors has provided GP OOH cover since 2004. Since then the business has more than doubled in size, providing 24/7 access to urgent care services. As a not-for-profit social enterprise company, all profits are ploughed back into providing patient services. The organisation is clinically led with a team ethos and strong emphasis on training and education. As a result of this growth DDoctors is looking for clinicians to join its multidisciplinary team across Somerset offering full time, part time and sessional contracts with flexibility to create a working pattern which suits you with highly competitive rates of pay and NHS pension. For those eligible we also offer child care vouchers, access to the cycle to work scheme and a day paid volunteering each year. Signing up is now a simple straightforward process, so if you’re looking for flexible, varied, and well-paid work in urgent primary care then contact ddooh.clinicalworkforce@nhs.net
PCSE surveys: GPC England ran a range of surveys in December 2017, which gave useful detail and evidence of the problems practice staff and LMCs were facing as a result of the service delivery of PCSE and helped it to push NHS England to resolve them. There is still clearly a large number of problems with this service and so GPC is repeating the surveys to gauge how things are now. This will enable GPC to influence operational issues on your behalf and give the hard data to substantiate the anecdotal evidence.
Please would practices and individual doctors take a few minutes to complete the following simple surveys:
- Survey of GP practices
- Survey of all GPs including trainees - we would appreciate it if you could share this with your members particularly with locum GPs and trainees.
The deadline for responding is noon, Friday 25 October. The greater the response the stronger GPC’s hand when discussing matters with NHS England.
Top Tip...
QOF version v42 is being released: Population Reporting (EMIS) has been updated with v42 2019-20 (Release 1.0) SNOMED CT. You will now be able to see the new indicators and your current position.
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.somersetlmc.co.uk
Follow us on Twitter
Download the App
General Practice in Somerset Great Place Great Potential
We have updated our privacy policies on both the Somerset LMC and Somerset GP Education trust websites.
