Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 21st April 2023
Date sent: Friday 21 April 2023
Sent to all Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and previous updates are available here
- MD Soundbites!
- GPC Needs Practices’ Feedback – Evidence of the Negative Impact of Imposed 23/24 Contract Changes
- GP Prospective Records Access
- Bereavement Services
- Adrenaline Auto-Injectors held by Schools
- Practice Costing Template
- GP Workload Management and Triage Toolkit
- Exploring Safe Working in General Practice: How We Triage
- April is Stress Awareness Month
- Safe Working in General Practice (BMA)
- Waiting Lists - Job Vacancies
GPC Needs Practices’ Feedback – Evidence of the Negative Impact of Imposed 23/24 Contract Changes: In our regular engagement sessions with LMCs, we are already hearing of issues relating to unresourced increased costs for practices, e.g. relating to cloud-based telephony. We need to hear about these issues so they can be collated and shared with the DHSC and NHS England as a body of evidence against their ill-advised imposed changes. Please email your evidence, as well as any other feedback you may have, to feedback.gpcontractimposition@bma.org.uk.
GP Prospective Records Access: We are aware that IT leads in practices have been contacted to action this, we would like to remind all that this requirement has been delayed until 31 October 2023.
Bereavement Services: Please be aware that following the merger between SFT and YDH, the Bereavement Services at both MPH and YDH are merging with Helen Gilliland as manager across both sites. There are differing processes currently between both sites and over the coming year they will be working to align these processes. Some of this will be delayed whilst waiting for Trust IT systems to be aligned so please bear with them. The Medical Examiner process, remain the same.
Each hospital had an existing Bereavement generic email address which have now changed since the Trust merger. The updated emails are below:
YDH – BereavementYDH@Somersetft.nhs.uk
MPH – BereavementMPH@Somersetft.nhs.uk
If any practices need to contact either bereavement service regards the death of one of their patients in the acute hospital, they can use these email addresses.
Practice Costing Template: Our thanks to Wessex and Surrey and Sussex LMCs for sharing this template developed for costing a service that practices are welcome to use.
GP Workload Management and Triage Toolkit: As there is currently no standardised triage system for GP practices, to help with the increasing workload, the BMA have developed a tool to support practices with implementing a triage system if they wish to do so.
The toolkit aims to provide a cost neutral aid to reduce the administrative burden on staff members, ensure patients are seen by the right clinician at the right time and allow GPs to spend their time where it is needed the most. This toolkit will not apply to all practices, but they have provided a number of case studies, along with examples of how you can tailor the system to your practice.
Exploring Safe Working in General Practice: How We Triage: With the news that the impending contract imposition is going to require us to assess the need for every contact made each day, triage systems are going to become increasingly important. It’s not yet clear if this requirement is even achievable , but we also know that GPs will be faced with patients armed with the news of this change, so the tide is coming. Read the blog by GPC member James Booth.
April is Stress Awareness Month: To help manage your stress, we encourage you to use the new QOF targets in the GP contract to do your quality improvement project on staff wellbeing. GPC have put together a document which can help guide and inform your project, which includes some tangible recommendations and tools for improving workload and safe working. Please continue to use the safe working guidance.
Safe Working in General Practice (BMA) - Top Tips
Waiting Lists: We advise general practices to move to a waiting list system for appointments as demand currently greatly outstrips capacity. There has been pressure on GP practices to provide near immediate assessment and management of all patient problems regardless of actual clinical urgency. This is impossible to maintain and not required by the GMS contract.
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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