Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 14th August
Date sent: Friday 14 August 2015
All Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and Previous updates can be found here
- Controlled Drugs Fraud by Practice Staff
- GPs with Section 12 Approval (or equivalent) Needed to Become DoLS Assessors
- Vaccs and Imms Guidance 2015/16 Updated
- Cold Calling to sell Medication (Scam)
- Video Conferencing solutions survey
Controlled Drugs Fraud By Practice Staff
May be commoner than we think
The CCG has recently had a report from the counter-fraud service noting three cases in which a locum GP, a practice manager and a practice nurse were all convicted of fraudulently obtaining codeine or tramadol tablets by making false patient records and then generating FP10 prescriptions. These drugs are now more often the subject of such frauds than morphine or diamorphine , though Oramorph is also a target.
The report suggest four risk reduction strategies, which along with a practice philosophy of maintaining constant awareness of the risks of opiate mis-prescribing and diversion, may be helpful.
Make sure your pre-employment checks are thorough and references are taken up. Double check if anything does not feel right.
Enforce good IG procedures such as making sure people log out when leaving a workstation and that passwords are not shared.
Be aware personal difficulties such as family stress, illness or lifestyle problems and support staff through them, recognising these can be risk factors for prescription drug misuse and fraud.
Run regular EMIS audits of prescriptions printed but then cancelled, apparent high volume opiate use, prescribing episodes out of normal hours and unexpected password changes.
GPs with Section 12 Approval (or equivalent) Needed to Become DoLS Assessors As the number of assessments required under the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards continues to rise, the County Council (who are responsible for this) are looking for GPs who are either Section 12 approved or who have 3 years post-registration experience in mental health, to join the team of assessors in Somerset. To be eligible there is a brief online course from the RCPsych to complete ( http://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/deprivation-of-liberty-safeguards/ currently being revised, new version available in the autumn) followed a half day training session organised by the County council DoLS co-ordinator, after which you can join the assessor panel.
Currently the remuneration is £173.37 for a completed assessment and travel costs are paid at 54p per mile. Assessments may be needed anywhere in the county, and there is a particular need for new assessors in West Somerset so people are not asked to travel too far, but Taunton, Bridgwater & Mendip areas are also short. The job is likely to best suit GPs who have one or two flexible days a week.
For more information contact CAHamilton@somerset.gov.uk (07919 540630)
Vaccs and Imms Guidance 2015/16 updated
The 2015/16 vaccination and immunisations guidance and technical requirements to support GMS changes have been updated to include the new and amended meningococcal programmes. Full details on the LMC website
Cold Calling to sell medication (scam) There have been a few further instances reported of patients contacted by phone by a caller purporting to represent their medical centre, they then ask what medication the patient is taking and try to sell them other medications, as before there appears to be no breach of confidentiality and the calls are Ad Hoc, however it would be helpful if practices could report these instances to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or online at www.actionfraud.police.uk.
Video Conferencing Solutions NHS South, Central & West CSU are working with Somerset CCG to evaluate and test potential Video Conferencing solutions to support clinical sessions between GP and consultants and/or patients, and in addition use the infrastructure to make internal meetings across a broad geography more time efficient.
We would be grateful if you could take the time to complete a short survey in order to gather your views on the use of Video Conferencing.
The link to the survey can be found here https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NGHG8X5 survey closes on the 14th September
Kind Regards
Jill
Jill Hellens
Executive Director
Somerset LMC
TEL: 01823 331428
Fax:01823 338561
www.somersetlmc.co.uk
