Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 22nd April 2022
Date sent: Friday 22 April 2022
Sent to all Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and previous updates are available here
- Referral Query and Advice line for ADHD and Autism Assessment
- New Menopause Service for Somerset
- Somerset Medical Examiner Service Community Roll Out
- GP Career Plus
- NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme
- Building Your Primary Care Multidisciplinary Team: Paramedics
- Level 5 Coaching & Mentoring
- Introduction into Coaching for Managers and Team Leaders
- Job Vacancies
Referral Query and Advice line for ADHD and Autism Assessment: Children and Young People’s Neurodevelopmental Partnership (CYPNP) are running a trial of a Referral Query and Advice line for those with any referral questions. They cover Autism assessments for school age children (aged 4-17) and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) for primary school age children (aged 6-11 to be expanded to 4-17 later in the year, details to follow). It is not for those already seen by CYPNP. Contact is 0303 033 3002 open 9-12 every Wednesday and Thursday. This line is open to parent/carers, young people or practitioners from health, education or social care. The kinds of queries we will be able to answer through this phone line include;
- Queries from parent/carers and referrers regarding the status of referrals made to the CYPNP.
- Discussion with a member of our team about potential sources of support that might be available to a young person whilst they are waiting for an assessment with our service.
- Discussion with a member of our team about whether it would be appropriate to refer a young person to our service for an Autism or ADHD assessment.
New Menopause Service for Somerset: Dr Juliet Balfour will be providing advice and guidance to GPs and offering consultations for complex cases via the Somerset NHS Menopause Service. This has funding for a 1-year pilot and is based at Glastonbury Surgery. Information on the referral process and criteria, plus resources for GPs and patients, can be found on this page on the Glastonbury Surgery website: https://www.glastonburysurgery.co.uk/somerset-nhs-menopause-service/
Somerset Medical Examiner Service Community Roll Out: Nationally, the Medical Examiner Service aims to introduce a level of independent scrutiny of the cause of death by the attending medical practitioner, improving the quality and accuracy of the medical certificate of cause of death (MCCD) and thereby informing the national data on mortality and patient safety. It will increase transparency and offer the bereaved the opportunity to raise concerns, providing new levels of scrutiny to help deter criminal activity and poor practice. Health and Care Bill: medical examiners - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Acute trusts in England were tasked to set up medical examiner offices to initially focus on hospital deaths and this is now being extended to include all non-coronial deaths in the community. Implementation will take place incrementally to allow time for capacity and processes to be put in place. Somerset Foundation Trust’s Medical Examiner Service (SMES) is leading this work locally and is seeking assistance in ensuring that what we are asking of GPs is appropriate, acceptable and meets the terms which will be set out in the legislation. Mendip PCN are participating as a pilot over the summer. Their input and feedback into the process will ensure it works as best it can for GPs and their patients.
The ME process provides an opportunity to learn from deaths and improve patient safety by identifying clinical governance concerns and raising within the appropriate forums. Details are being established and it is estimated that approximately 2-3% of deaths will meet the ‘serious’ definition requiring further input. Multi-agency involvement and support from across both community, primary and secondary care providers is vital as community deaths rarely involve single providers. It has been stressed that outcomes need agreement before being shared with outside parties including relatives, to mitigate any risk of unintended consequences or unnecessary complaints. Further details including proposed workflow for referral to the MES will follow.
GP Career Plus: We all know that working in general practice can be enormously challenging, often feeling overwhelming, leading to many leaving for long periods or retiring early. Opportunities to chat with colleagues, unwind and share ways of overcoming the challenges we face have become harder to find. GP Career Plus aims to help redress the balance through 12 remunerated facilitated sessions of peer support groups. If you have GPs in your team who you think could benefit from GP career plus, or as a GP you feel you may benefit from this, check out the flyer for GP Career Plus. The next course is due to start via MS Teams on the morning of 10th May 2022.
Feedback from those who have previously participated includes:
- “I wish I’d done this earlier”
- “It gave me a new perspective on the options available to me as a GP”
- “I realised for the first time that I wasn’t alone and could openly share my story with people who understood”
NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme: After launching the renewed referrer toolkit and TeamNet page in January we are pleased to have seen increasing numbers of referrals to the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NHS DPP) with record numbers during February and March.
The programme, which is delivered by Xyla Health and Wellbeing, is available to all patients in Somerset identified as pre-diabetic and can support them to reduce their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. In response to a dip in referrals during 2021 we launched a comprehensive toolkit via TeamNet to make it easier for General Practice to access all referral materials. During March we saw over 200 referrals to the programme and over 100 patients reaching milestone one. We will be writing to each PCN to let you know your referral numbers and how we can help you build on this success.
This higher number of referrals has also supported the resumption of face-to-face sessions for patients with groups already booked in May and June for Shepton Mallet, Taunton and Frome. We continue to encourage practices to refer patients as they are seen in practice and also to invite eligible patients from your registers who have been diagnosed with pre-diabetes.
Practices can access the comprehensive toolkit and Quick Start via the following public TeamNet link NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme - TeamNet Link. This toolkit contains information on the NHS DPP, EMIS searches, coding, referral information, patient pathways and other useful resources. For any further support please do not hesitate to contact the Diabetes Prevention Lead Officer, Georgie Clayton (Somerset CCG) on 07788 337374 or by emailing Georgina.clayton@nhs.net. For any support with TeamNet please contact James Loder (Somerset Primary Healthcare) james.loder@nhs.net.
Building Your Primary Care Multidisciplinary Team: Paramedics: Catherine Hayden the LMC and Training Hub Paramedic Ambassador has put together this guidance document for our GP practices, we do hope you will find it useful, if you have any queries on this subject do get in touch with Catherine Catherine.hayden@nhs.net. HEE have also produced a guide (HEE SW Advancing Practice Faculty Handbook 2022-23 ) to Advanced Practice Funding which outlines the annual timetable and HEE funding process.
Level 5 Coaching & Mentoring: There are a few places still available, with first refusal to primary care colleagues on the “5 Certificate in Effective Coaching & Mentoring”. We would like to invite Health Coaches and Social Prescribers. The South West Councils website has more information on the training. If you are interested or have any queries please contact Oli Fletcher Workforce Programme Lead Somerset Integrated Care System (ICS) oliver.fletcher@nhs.net or Jean Painter jean.painter@nhs.net. The programme is looking to commence in May and September 2022.
Introduction into Coaching for Managers and Team Leaders: A new training course is now available, this will support managers to coach their teams and understand the benefits of a coaching style in appropriate situations. This course is ideal for all first line managers, team leaders and anyone in a supervisory role. The course is an Introduction into Coaching and is not a qualification, however it will provide learners with some basic coaching skills and how to apply them practically.
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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