Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 3rd December 2021
Date sent: Friday 3 December 2021
Sent to all Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and previous updates are available here
- Every Storm Runs Out of Rain - A Letter from LMC Chair Dr Karen Sylvester
- New Combined Trust CEO Supports General Practice
- New NHS CEO Praises Primary Care
- GP SITREP Thursday
- The Changes in Regard to Omicron Variant of SARS-CoV-2
- COVID Vaccination & Pregnancy
- Urgent Direct Access OGD for Patients At Risk of Cancer: wef 6/12/21 GPs Can Request an Urgent OGD at Musgrove Park Hospital Directly From C the Signs
- Request for Help Redesigning USS Pathways
- PCN Group Coaching Offer
- A Chance for Lead Nurses & GPNs: a free virtual Practice Assessors and Practice Supervisors’ session
- Somerset Big Tent - Find the Right Mental Health Support for Young People
- And finally…Omicron
- Job Vacancies
NEW COMBINED TRUST CEO SUPPORTS GENERAL PRACTICE: “I recognise how lucky we are in Somerset that our patients continue to receive such high-quality primary care, without which our services would be unable to function. This is in the face of relentless pressure and unfair criticism. I am proud to be working in a system that values the importance of primary care and is striving to build closer links across organisations. In these very challenging times it is so important to work even closer together and as CEO of SFT and YDH I want to thank you all.” Peter Lewis.
NEW NHS CEO PRAISES PRIMARY CARE: Speaking at a news conference with the Prime Minister on Tuesday Amanda Pritchard said, “Our hardworking GPs, community pharmacists and their primary care colleagues have delivered the lion’s share of the vaccinations so far. We’re looking at how we can help them to do even more jabs by cutting other burdens on them to free up clinicians’ time.”
GP SITREP THURSDAY: Yesterday the system was at Opel 3 with four practices reporting Opel 1 (green), 17 Opel 2 (amber), 24 Opel 3 (red) and two Opel 4 (black). Of the 64 practices in Somerset, 49 reported. Responses are really useful for informing the wider system of the state of general practice so please find out if your practice is one that does not reply.
THE CHANGES IN REGARD TO OMICRON VARIANT OF SARS-CoV-2: “Staff members notified that they are a contact of a COVID-19 case are not required to self-isolate if they are fully vaccinated, unless they are identified as a close contact of a suspected or confirmed case of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2. They should inform their line manager or employer immediately if they are required to work in the 10 days following their last contact with a COVID-19 case.” Please see the latest guidance published today regarding COVID-19: management of staff and exposed patients or residents in health and social care settings - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
COVID VACCINATION & PREGNANCY New data published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has provided further evidence for the safety of COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy, with good birth outcomes in vaccinated women who had their babies between January and August this year. This is in contrast with growing evidence that pregnant women are at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19 compared with non-pregnant women, particularly in the third trimester. Recent data shows that between July and October, nearly 20% of the most critically ill patients receiving Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation support in England were unvaccinated pregnant women. Around one in three women who are hospitalised with the virus need to be delivered preterm to help them recover and one in five of their babies need care in the neonatal unit.
REQUEST FOR HELP REDESIGNING USS PATHWAYS: The majority of diagnostic ultrasound scans are performed and reported by sonographers who have undergone extensive postgraduate training. As well as interpreting the scan and writing the report sonographers communicate results with patients in most cases. They are looking to extend this to some sonographer led pathways with the intention of decreasing the burden on referrers. For example, for primary care initiated liver cirrhosis surveillance they could extend our existing Hepatology pathway. Depending on the result they would request a repeat scan in six months or alternatively alert the Hepatology team for review directly. For patients referred for characterisation of ‘lumps and bumps’, benign findings such as small lipomas with no concerning features the patient could be discharged with safety net advice. The report would make clear what the patient had been told or not. They would like to hear your feedback and ideas as referrers about these proposals and add, “We want you to be involved and to make it work for you.” In the Medical Director’s opinion it would be rude not to take up this kind offer. Please contact Caragh.Mathew@SomersetFT.nhs.uk or Alice.Bevan@SomersetFT.nhs.uk
PCN GROUP COACHING OFFER: The ICS has formed a working group looking at supporting resilience across the health system. As part of this they are making group coaching sessions available to organisations to support either personal resilience within teams or to build organisational resilience. Thirteen sessions, to be led by Yvonne Vigar, have been made available to PCNs free of charge. You can identify any team that requires development. Sessions can be used for any topic such as:
- Team building
- Setting the PCN vision
- Workforce planning
- Improving communications
- Personal resilience
- Managing workload
PCNs are invited to express an interest and the number of sessions you require (flexible, in case not all PCNs take up this offer). Contact Mandy Mason at the LMC amason1@nhs.net by Friday 10th December.
AND FINALLY…OMICRON: (/ˈoʊmɪkrɒn, ˈɒmɪkrɒn, oʊˈmaɪkrɒn/; uppercase Ο, lowercase ο, literally 'small o': όμικρον from ὂ μικρόν ò mikrón, micron meaning 'small' in contrast to omega) is the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet. (Wikipedia). Some say it is possible that the WHO decided not to use the 14th letter (Xi) for the new variant because of political sensitivities. (BCM)
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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