Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 27th November 2020
Date sent: Friday 27 November 2020
Sent to all Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and previous updates are available here
- COVID WINTER SUPPORT FUND £150m
- From YDH Radiology - CXR's for suspected CV19
- Think 111 First
- Volunteers for delivery of Mass vaccination programme
- A Christmas wish from Devon Docs
- New to Leadership Programme
- Kickstart
- Top Tips
- And Finally...
COVID WINTER SUPPORT FUND £150m. Colleagues will have seen that this sum was negotiated by GPC to support primary care. It has nothing to do with any putative CV19 vaccination programme. Somerset’s share is £1.43m and on Tuesday the Primary Care Board agreed that 60% (£858k) will be distributed directly to practices according to weighted list size with the remainder to be held centrally to pay for countywide initiatives to support General Practice. Any unspent central funds will be distributed to practices before April. The seven priorities suggested by NHSEI on 9th Nov include support to CV19 patients monitoring their O2 at home with pulse oximeters supplied free. More information will follow from the CCG soon.
From YDH Radiology - CXR's for suspected CV19: If a clinician in primary care wants a CXR without any further secondary care input please complete the radiology request form on EMIS, email to radiologyfasttrack@ydh.nhs.uk AND then please ring the dept to warn them on 01935 384576. Tell the patient to go to ED and say they are there for CXR only, not as an ED pt. The ED team can then ring radiology and the pt will be transported straight to the dept, so minimising risk of infection transmission.
THINK 111 FIRST On 1 December a new way of accessing urgent care will be launched as part of the national Think 111 First (T111F) campaign with a national publicity campaign. The aim is for people to safely receive the right care in the right setting whilst relieving pressure on emergency departments (ED) and their reduced, CV19 secure waiting rooms. T111F encourages people to ring or go online before going turning up at the ED or MIU. Trained NHS HCP advisors at a local Clinical Assessment Service (CAS) will advise patients promptly on the best service for their need. Options will include self-care (40% in a pilot in Cornwall), going to a pharmacist or, possibly contacting a practice. As this is for urgent care those numbers should be small and all will have been assessed locally by a clinician with a 111 summary available as now. Please do tell the LMC if any such cases cause you concern. If needed T111F will directly book an ED, MIU or, in time, a same day emergency clinic (SDEC for all you acronym fanciers) slot using the new ED digital integration system (EDDI [!]). Earlier this month a “soft launch” test started with good initial feedback. The new service will be refined with experience to benefit more people as it develops.
Volunteers for delivery of Mass vaccination programme: Somerset foundation Trust have set up a dedicated e mail address for volunteers to register an interest in helping with the programme mvp.recruitment@somersetft.nhs.uk Readers can find the stakeholder briefing on the programme here
A Christmas wish from Devon Docs: With 2020’s Christmas break being four days in length, your out of hours colleagues would be enormously grateful if you could ensure that your end of life patients have documented treatment escalation plans and, where appropriate, ‘just in case’ or syringe driver/as required medications prescribed and supplied. Given that practices will close at 18:30 on 24/12/20 and will not re-open until 08:00 on Tues 29/12/20, pharmacy opening times will be limited over the Christmas period and the OOH service carries finite supplies of palliative medications, please do also consider prescribing larger quantities of end of life drugs than you might normally do in order to minimise the risk of palliative patients facing supply problems over the festive period. Many thanks.
Important and Urgent Invitation to all in primary care roles who are new or relatively new to leadership South West Leadership Academy is providing a series of 90 minute leadership learning and development sessions and follow up group discussion. Sessions run from January to May and you can attend as many as you want and are available. Sessions are all FREE and are being allocated on a first come basis. Places will fill up fast and early applications are advised. details here
Kickstart: This is a new, fully funded government scheme to create new 6 month job placements for 16-24 year olds at risk of long term unemployment. We all know what a tough time young people are having and the LMC and Training Hub hope that as many practices as possible can make placements available with the help of the scheme.
Funding gives employers 100% of National Minimum Wage for 25 hrs/week, NI and enrolment contributions. Practices will also receive £1500 and help from Skill Up in Somerset to help the young person develop useful skills and knowledge during the 6 months. There is no obligation for placements to become permanent jobs. The scheme runs until Dec 2021 and practices can offer consecutive placements
The young people signing up to the scheme include graduates as well as school leavers and people being made redundant. The work experience and support will help them find work after the scheme.
For practices a placement can free up another member of staff, get that short term project done, give you more capacity just when you need it, look ahead to filling future vacancies, attract more local young people to a career in the NHS and be a way of helping them when they need it most.
Government only accept application of a minimum of 30 placements, so practices cannot apply individually. Therefore Somerset County Council is acting as the scheme Gateway on behalf of small individual public sector employers to make a coordinated application, support the scheme for all concerned and pass on the payments.
The SCC team have produced a really useful short You Tube video presentation which explains everything you need to know and then interested practices can give an Expression of Interest using this form.
Top Tips...
Can be found here. New items this week are:
- Population Stratification
- Seasonal Influenza Business Ruleset
And Finally...
Tectona become a friend: Many readers will remember Dr Roger Crabtree who was a hugely valued member of the Somerset GP family and LMC pastoral team. He designed and launched the Somerset GP safehouse and was the Inspirational Founder of the Tectona Trust who provide voyages at sea for people recovering from mental health issues and drug and alcohol misuse. Dr Barbara Crabtree has been involved with the The Tectona Trust since Roger bought Tectona in 2008, and as the work continues to develop the Charity since Roger died, they are now looking friends for the new support organisation to be known as ‘Friends of Tectona and Olga’ (FOTO). The FOTO brochure gives full details of this amazing venture, and how you can become involved, and if you would like to become a friend all the details are on their website.
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
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