Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 8th January 2021
Date sent: Friday 8 January 2021
Sent to all Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and previous updates are available here
- Movement of AZ Vaccine
- Updated Enhanced Service Specification Covid 19
- Learning disability deaths and Covid-19
- Freeing up Practices to support COVID Vaccination Programme
- Covid oximetry Webinar
- Increased fee for CV19 Vaccination of Care Homes residents & staff
- The legal status of referral versus advice and guidance
- SiDER on tap at last
- Child Health Information Service Information Sharing Agreement By Chris Ellis, Operational Lead at CHIS South West
- Women’s health update
- Practice Sitrep
- An Essential Update about First Contact Practitioners and Advanced Clinical Practice in primary care
- NIHR Study - GP Worklife Survey 2020 GPs are invited to complete the GP Worklife Survey 2020
- Vote on PCN DES
- eDEC
Freeing up Practices to support COVID Vaccination Programme: NHSEI released this letter on Thursday outlining additional support for practices. The BMA & NHSEI agreed: income protection for QOF QI and prescribing indicators (meaning the vast majority of QOF is now protected); protection for minor surgery income this quarter; direction to CCGs to suspend LESs and to take a supportive, pragmatic approach to contract management. Crucially there is additional funding to support PCN clinical directors who have worked so hard in the initial delivery of the CVP with an increase in payments from 0.25 WTE to 1 WTE.
Covid oximetry Webinar: This webinar will highlight the association between oxygen saturations and COVID-19 . It will share a collaborative approach to monitor and manage patients at risk of sudden deterioration.The session will be chaired by Professor Maureen Baker, former Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners
The webinar will cover the following:
- Silent hypoxia, COVID-19 and emerging evidence
- The COVID Oximetry @home model and why it’s important
- NIHR evaluation of COVID Oximetry @home and opportunities to be involved
- Vulnerable patient groups including care home residents and people with a learning disability
- Q&A session
- Resources
Increased fee for CV19 Vaccination of Care Homes residents & staff: To increase the speed of protection for care homes NHSEI agreed to increase the payment for the additional time and resource needed in that setting: a supplement of £10 per dose will be paid on top of the £12.58 IOS fee. Owing to the change in policy to concentrate on first doses the fees will be payable on each dose as announced by Dr N Kenani on 31st Dec. Further details of the reporting and payment arrangements will doubtless follow.
This does not [yet?] apply to housebound patients as it is anticipated that the AZ/Oxford vaccine should mean that we can revert to a delivery model more akin to flu where community nursing teams can assist. Again, GPC will provide more details as soon as possible.
The legal status of referral versus advice and guidance: With A&G the overall responsibility of care remains with the GP but the consultant is liable for the advice given. If formally referred the responsibility for the patient’s care and time to be seen is with secondary care. If the patient is not seen within a safe period the responsibility for this will be with secondary care. The argument then would be about whether enough information was supplied to allow secondary care to triage appropriately.
SiDER on tap at last: The CCG Digital team deserve praise that GP clinical staff will be able to access the Somerset Integrated Digital e-Record (SIDeR) Shared Care Record via Pyrusium from 11 January. SIDeR was soft launched on 25 November with information from patient records at YDH and 63/65 Somerset Practices. YDH staff can access SIDeR via their clinical system, TrakCare. SFT community staff can also now access SIDeR via RiO. St. Margaret’s Hospice connected to SIDeR on 23 December. Adult Social Care staff are being set up to access SIDeR via AIS later this month (with a new system, Eclipse, in April). Work is going on to connect SFT for Acute staff via the clinical portal platform, Better, connecting to IMS Maxims, by February.
SIDeR can only be legitimately accessed for the purposes of direct care to provide a live ‘snapshot’ view of information that is not retained aside from an audit trail. Information displayed in SIDeR is limited and deliberately concentrates on recent episodes of care as well as active medication, allergies etc. Further enhancements will be made over coming months to improve the care of Somerset patients, reducing the need to repeat their stories and of other teams having to contact practices.
Child Health Information Service Information Sharing Agreement By Chris Ellis, Operational Lead at CHIS South West: We are pleased that as a result of a meeting with Sarah White (Devon Doctors), Bex Lovewell (Delt Shared Services Ltd), Kevin Caldwell (Somerset CCG) and Beverly Gallagher (Kernow CCG) the Information Sharing Agreement (ISA) between InHealth Intelligence (SW CHIS) and GP practices has been agreed for distribution. The LMC has also been involved through this process and welcomes its outcome.
This ISA will allow child immunisation data, 6-8 week developmental check results and notification of babies at risk of Hepatitis B to be shared between GP practices and the Child Health Information Service (CHIS).
Local CCGs will distribute the ISA shortly. If you have any questions, please contact me at: Chris.ellis@inhealth-intelligence.com
LMC note: No further action is required from local GP practices at this time.
Women’s health update: The Primary Care Women’s Health Forum provide a range of guidance on managing everyday issues of contraception, bleeding and menopause without face-toface consultations and highlighting when these are needed. FSRH provide further updates. The Diploma of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare has just been revised and details will be available in the new year.
Practice Sitrep: Many thanks to all of you that complete this survey twice a week. It informs the whole health and social care system of the pressures in primary care. Other sectors can give details of phone calls received, time taken, abandonment rate, attendances, admissions etc. All too often all we can say in return is that general practice is “really busy.” On average we receive 45 replies and it would be fantastic if we could get nearer to 65. It really only takes a couple of minutes so please do make sure your practice responds. And be honest! Otherwise no one will ever know the trouble you see.
An Essential Update about First Contact Practitioners and Advanced Clinical Practice in primary care: This live on line webinar is going to take place on Thursday February 4th 2021, 1.00-2.30. An invitation to all GP employers, practice managers and PCN managers. The numbers of new role clinicians have increased a lot under ARRS and with the increase have come new national requirements re roles, training, supervision and support. The guidance runs to over 100 pages so this 1 1/2 hour webinar is essential. Please ensure you book early to access this event.
NIHR Study - GP Worklife Survey 2020 GPs are invited to complete the GP Worklife Survey 2020: The summary findings will be made available to the Department of Health, NHS England, the BMA, and the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body, as well as GPs themselves, and the survey therefore represents an opportunity for GPs to let policy makers know about the things which are affecting their job satisfaction and stress.
Vote on PCN DES: Readers will be aware that the LMC sent an e mail to all GPs on Wednesday from Dr Richard Vautrey on this important vote, for those that may have missed it please find full detail here and survey link here.
eDEC: A reminder for practices the General Practice Annual Electronic Self-Declaration (eDEC) mandatory collection is due to close on 15 January 2021.
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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