Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 26th August 2022
Date sent: Friday 26 August 2022
Sent to all Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and previous updates are available here
- Flu Immunisation for General Practice Staff
- Amendment - Seasonal Influenza 2022/23 Sign Up
- Plan for COVID-19 Testing
- Somerset Post COVID Assessment Service
- Community Pharmacy and “Out of Stock” Prescription Items
- Dental Access Services
- Paramedics in Primary Care
- Lunchtime Webinar What is an FCP, how is it different to an ACP – what are the routes to become an FCP
- Job Vacancies
Flu Immunisation for General Practice Staff: Just a reminder that the special pandemic arrangements for free flu immunisation for primary care staff have ended, so this year employers will have to bear the cost of this as before. As the national programme for 2022 again covers adults over the age of 50 amongst the eligible groups we anticipate most practices will only need to offer immunisation to relatively few employees.
Amendment - Seasonal Influenza 2022/23 Sign Up: Last week we included the details for the sign up to the Seasonal Influenza Service, please note there was an error in the deadline date released. The deadline for sign up on CQRS by 30 September.
Plan for COVID-19 Testing: The government with advice from the UKHSA have announced that, routine asymptomatic testing in GP Practices and other NHS settings will pause from 31 August 2022. The UKHSA released a letter on 25 August with their advice and the covid-19 testing plans can be found here.
Somerset Post COVID Assessment Service have changed their website to www.somersetft.nhs.uk/somersetlongcovid/. This can be easily found as the top result when searching “post covid somerset” on frequently used search engines. Please direct anyone you know with long/post covid to this website, at the time of, or prior to, referral to the service.
Community Pharmacy and “Out of Stock” Prescription Items: If an item is out of stock in a Pharmacy and they cannot obtain it from their own suppliers (they usually have two main suppliers from the four in the market) they are asked to do the following:
- Contact other Pharmacies in their area to see if they have stock to borrow.
- If the other Pharmacies in the area cannot help then usually they will ask the hospital trusts to see if they can order/lend stock.
(This is rarely effective)
- The Pharmacies usually then put a message on their PCN Pharmacy WhatsApp group to see if anyone has it. The LPC spends some time forwarding the messages to ALL 13 PCN localities for help!!
It's only after exhausting the above should they ask GP for another item in place. Some will tell the practice what equivalents they do have in stock to help the prescriber. There are a lot of things unobtainable at moment, and the WhatsApp groups are inundated with requests for even the basics.
Even once an item is listed nationally as unavailable, Community pharmacies are still -technically at least – expected to follow this procedure.
The wholesale suppliers may have preferential contracts with particular pharmacy chains, so when supplies are tight they may not supply particular products to other pharmacies. Furthermore, even if a pharmacy tracks down a product at another retail pharmacy they have to borrow stock rather than buy it or the second pharmacy will fall foul of the Wholesale Regulations.
Once a particular generic is out of stock then a branded alternative - or if available the actual patent brand - should be dispensed. The expectation is that pharmacies will therefore dispense the branded product at a higher cost to them and take the loss in revenue at business level.
Dental Access Services: Somerset FT provides the specialist primary dental care service for patients registered with a Somerset GP who are unable to use a normal dental practice because of “a severe disability, medical, physical or mental health condition.” It also offers a bariatric service for patients weighing more than 21 stone.
Referrals can be made by any health or social care professional, a voluntary organisation or community group, education professionals, families, carers, or patients themselves so is not something you are likely to need to initiate, but the referral form is fairly complicated so practices may be asked for advice. Non-medical referrers can also get help from the SFT Single Point of Referral Centre on 0300 1237691. The referral page can be found here. Somerset non-dental referrers should use form C. Referral guidance can be found by clicking the link in the guidance which also gives further information about eligibility for a home visit.
Paramedics in Primary Care: Reminder for Practices that new paramedic starters are encouraged to make contact with our Primary Care Paramedic Ambassador Catherine Hayden. Catherine's remit is to support wellbeing and training for paramedics as well as support practices/PCNs in paramedic related issues (for example HEE Roadmap, ARRS etc). The Somerset paramedic community is a supportive one and Catherine can make sure new paramedics are linked in with paramedic specific email updates, discussion groups and training opportunities - please email any queries to catherine.hayden@nhs.net
Somerset LMC/STH Workforce Webinar Thursday 6th October 13.00-14.00 – What is an FCP, how is it different to an ACP – what are the routes to become an FCP: Do you have staff working within your practice who are employed in first contact roles (i.e. seeing people without direct supervision and making diagnoses/independent management plans for patients)? If so, this webinar will help to demystify some of the nuances in terminology around these roles, what the requirements are for the Roadmaps to practice (MSK, Paramedic & OT) along with the supervision requirements. There will also be a brief discussion around the difference between an FCP and an ACP. Book your place 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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