Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 6th October 2023
Date sent: Friday 6 October 2023
Sent to all Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and previous updates are available here
- MD Soundbites! - Updated
- GPAS (General Practice Alert State)
- Advice and Guidance from Cinapsis and the DPP
- District Nurses and Administration of Flu Vaccinations
- Somerset Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Dashboard
- getUBetter App
- CNSGP Indemnity Guidance for General Practice
- Somerset New to Practice Programme
- Primary Care Matters Newsletter - September/October 2023
- Specialist Paramedic Placement Requests - Funded
- LMC Buying Group Support for PCNs
- Undergraduate GP Placement Survey
- Safe Working in General Practice (BMA) This guidance is regularly updated with new items and suggestions
- Job Vacancies
- Somerset Emotional Wellbeing Podcasts
Advice and Guidance from Cinapsis and the DPP: Further to previous updates the LMC have linked the comprehensive communications from the ICB here.
The ICB have been made aware that some practices have expressed concerns regarding the Data Protection Protocol (DPP) – it has been confirmed that Cinapsis will only have access to relevant patient information when appropriate.
As a reminder the DPP was sent directly to practices on Monday 11th September 2023 and can be approved and signed via DocuSign.
The Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) for Cinapsis is now available via the GP Shared area. As a reminder, your practice is a data controller in this activity and that this is a template for you to review/amend/adopt as you determine and should be processed and signed-off through your organisation’s own DPIA procedure.
If you have any questions regarding the service, please contact advice.first@somersetft.nhs.uk for any queries regarding the DPP or DPIA please contact, somicb.GPDPO@nhs.net.
District Nurses and Administration of Flu Vaccinations: After discussions it has been confirmed to the LMC that the District Nursing teams will, this year, be unable to provide any support to the flu vaccination campaign of housebound patients. Practices will, therefore, need to ensure plans are in place to vaccinate their entire housebound population without this historical support.
We understand the current stress on the District Nursing teams and continue to value the help and support they provide to General Practice on a daily basis. However we are sad to see the loss of this long standing example of system working.
Somerset Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Dashboard: The ICB will be contacting practices via next week's GP bulletin requesting engagement for the development of a Somerset CVD dashboard by Somerset Council Public Health team, based on pseudonymised practice-level data. It is hoped that the learning from this will guide future public health initiatives that aim to address health inequalities in the county.
As data controllers, permission will be required from each individual practice to share the required data, which will be pseudonymised during extraction as part of the EMIS Enterprise Search and Reports process and therefore anonymous in context once it leaves the practice. The LMC have been kept informed about the programme and have been reassured by the input from Kevin Caldwell, DPO for many Somerset practices and the ICB, that the necessary information governance processes have been followed and appropriate safeguards are in place.
getUBetter App: A digital tool to support self-management of MSK conditions. Following a successful pilot, this is now available to all Somerset patients. More info available on TeamNet (clarity.co.uk). Somerset FAQs for clinicians here. Though clinicians can refer patients via getUBetter - Request Access preselection, the preferred route is for practices to sign up and install getUBetter, so that a practice specific accuRx link can be provided. Patients can also self refer via a QR code on a leaflet/poster. 35 practices have currently signed up for this, and since the summer 500 patients have registered to use the app. If you would like more information please contact carly.jackson12@nhs.net.
CNSGP Indemnity Guidance for General Practice: In response to queries regarding the scope of CNSGP cover, please use the following link CNSGP Indemnity Scheme for General Practice. Colleagues will need additional cover from their medical defence organisations for performance issues (such as those relating to NHS England and the GMC) together with support with coroners’ queries, and matters referred to the Ombudsman.
Colleagues should also confirm that their medical defence organisation also covers them for non- NHS services delivered individually, or by their practice. Non-NHS clinical services (e.g. DVLA, local authority safeguarding etc) are not covered by CNSGP.
Somerset New to Practice Programme: We are pleased to announce our newly developed ‘New to Practice Programme’ for general practice nurses. Dates and timetable can be found here. News for existing GPN Fellows can be found here.
Specialist Paramedic Placement Requests - Funded: SWASfT are looking for three placement opportunities for trainee specialist paramedics in the Taunton, Wedmore and Wells (or surrounding) areas. The 30 day placements (one day a week) attract a training grant of £2500 to support supervision requirements and placements have been well received in the past. A named GP is required to provide overall supervision but day to day support can be provided by any appropriate healthcare professional. The trainee's scope of practice mirrors existing primary care paramedic capabilities and the trainees will go on to become eligible to apply for Rotational contracts between SWASfT and Primary Care. Please click here for further information here and contact placement co-ordinator Rachel.Howard@SWAST.nhs.uk to find out more or express interest.
Undergraduate GP Placement Survey: Medical Schools are currently struggling to identify adequate placement providers in general practice. University of Liverpool is running a survey which aims to identify the factors which affect a practice’s decision to host undergraduate medical students. The data will be used by medical schools to identify drivers and barriers to medical student placements in general practice, to allow tailoring placement requirements appropriately and identify strategies to help practices overcome potential barriers. If you are interested in participating, please read the Participant Information sheet and complete the online survey here (it is fully anonymous and should take no longer than 5 minutes to complete). Please contact Dr Kathryn J Harrison (docthark@liverpool.ac.uk) for any queries.
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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