Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 1st April 2022
Date sent: Friday 1 April 2022
Sent to all Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and previous updates are available here
- Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service – Contract Specification 2022/23 – PCN Requirements and Entitlements
- Elections for Somerset Local Medical Committee
- OPEL Reporting
- GP Contract Changes Guidance
- Medical Certificate of Cause of Death Changes from 24/3/22
- Ferritin SFT Biochemist Writes
- Friends and Family Test
- Follow-Up of Patients Receiving Private Care
- Autism and ADHD Update Referral
- Opportunities for Teaching with Peninsula Medical School
- Job Vacancies
Elections for Somerset Local Medical Committee: As there was no more than one nomination received by midday on 30th March 2022 for any seat on the Committee the following have been elected unopposed: Somerset Local Medical Committee 2022-2026.
OPEL Reporting: We are aware that practices continue to face huge pressures which has been exacerbated by Covid-related staff absences, but this is not always reflected in the OPEL status reported by practices. We'd like to support practices in reporting more accurately by suggesting new OPEL definitions relevant to General Practice.
Operational Pressures Escalation Levels (OPEL) show the amount of pressure being experienced by hospital, community and emergency health services across the county. The Somerset system and NHSE regional teams will be aware of rising system pressure, providing additional support as deemed appropriate and agreed locally. Our goal as an LMC is to ensure that pressures in General Practice are accurately reported to our system partners. We've noticed that practices don't always reflect what they're experiencing on the ground, and this is partly because the OPEL definitions are generally worded for use in the Acute sector (where the pattern of working and interdependence on other organisations is different to that in General Practice) and also because of the philosophy in General Practice that when things are bad you just set your jaw and get on with it.
A national GP Alert System (GPAS) is in development by Devon LMC, funded by the GPDF but until then, Somerset practices may find it helpful to use the following amended definitions when deciding on their OPEL status:
OPEL 1: “Good access for all patients”
OPEL 2: “Some limitation of access for routine care”
OPEL 3: “ Significant limitation of access for routine care, some delays for immediate care”
OPEL 4: “Routine and immediate care very restricted, delays for urgent care likely”
Any questions please don't hesitate to contact the LMC office.
GP Contract Changes Guidance (from the GPC): Following the announcement of the GP contract changes for 2022/23, which will come into effect from 1 April, we have now published an explainer video explaining what this will mean for practices. This guidance is to support practices in their decision making and next steps.
Medical Certificate of Cause of Death Changes from 24/3/22: Since the changes, please see the latest guidance issued this week. C1566-information-for-medical-practitioners-after-the-coronavirus-act-2020-expires-march-2022.pdf (england.nhs.uk) A reminder that the body would need to be viewed by the GP completing the cremation form if they have not met the 28 day visual requirement. We recognise that this is an increasing issue due to our ever-expanding primary health care teams.
Ferritin SFT Biochemist Writes: We are now receiving steady supplies of ferritin reagent, but not enough to do our usual full workload. We currently have sufficient reagent supply for acute haematology use, plus 2ww GI pathways. If Ferritin is requested, there will be a need to provide additional information on order comms to complete the request. Manual test requests will not be accepted.
If there are any specialist clinics with a particular requirement for ferritin testing, please contact the Duty.Biochemist@SomersetFT.nhs.uk to discuss.
We would draw to your attention that RCPath guidance on minimum retesting intervals (2021), recommends that in most cases Ferritin does not need repeating within 3 months
Transferrin Saturation Access to transferrin saturation remains restricted. If you require transferrin saturation for a particular patient, please contact the Duty.Biochemist@SomersetFT.nhs.uk to discuss.
Reagent stocks will be reviewed next week. If the situation continues to improve, we hope to increase availability further.
Friends and Family Test: The requirement to submit Friends and Family Test (FFT) data was temporarily suspended in March 2020 to allow resources to be freed up for prioritisation during the pandemic.
This requirement will now be reintroduced into the GP Contract from 1 April 2022. To allow practices time to get fully up to speed data will need to be submitted from Q2 in 22/23 onwards, commissioners will be made aware of this. Practices will need to implement the new FFT guidance, and the key requirements for practices are
• make the FFT available for people who want to use it to give feedback
• use the standard FFT question (Overall, how was your experience of our service?)
• include at least one free text question, decided by the practices
• submit monthly data to NHSE using CQRS.
Follow-Up of Patients Receiving Private Care: The LMC office are frequently contacted on this subject and we have pulled together some advice with the Help of Dr Mark Sanford Wood the South West GPC representative and Medical director of Devon LMC, we hope this is useful.
Autism and ADHD Update Referral: Referral for behavioural needs including ASD and ADHD have changed following a local pilot last year.
- For over 5s the referral route is now through a preassessment pathway via the schools. Assessment waits aim to be under 12 weeks. This aims to support children's needs through the this pathway rather than referring children directly for assessments. GPs will only be required to use this preassessment pathway if the school refuses to refer under a dispute with that of parental concerns and in those that are home schooled. Guidance is given on page 10 of the preassessment pathway. If GPs still wish to refer directly to the CYPNDP for autism or ADHD assessment it is still encourage them to help the children access the preassessment pathway.
- For preschool children pathway is currently unchanged and remains through the community paediatricians (general paediatricians in YDH).
Opportunities for Teaching with Peninsula Medical School: Hosting medical students, whilst obviously providing variety in the working week, it can also really re-energise staff. Their enthusiasm can be truly infectious, and it would be wonderful if the great experience they have on their placements encourages them to become GPs in Somerset in the future. For further detail on hosting and a survey from Peninsula Medical school can be found here.
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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