Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 22nd March 2024
Date sent: Friday 22 March 2024
Sent to all Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and previous updates are available here
- MD Soundbites!
- GPAS (General Practice Alert State)
- Clinical News/Updates
- Connecting the Dots
- End of Primary Care Knowledge & Evidence Specialist Provision in Somerset
- Just a Reminder - Residential Institute Codes (RI)
- Pharmacy First-From the Local Pharmacy Committee (LPC)
- NHS App GP Survey - Information for GP Partners/Salaried/Locums/Practice Managers
- GP Locum Unemployment
- Somerset LMC Committee Locum Member Vacancy - Safe Working in General Practice (BMA) This guidance is regularly updated with new items and suggestions
- Job Vacancies
- Somerset Emotional Wellbeing Podcasts - this week.... The Parent-Infant Relationship
Clinical News/Updates
Connecting the Dots: The Connecting the Dots meeting is a chance to share projects / ideas and discuss areas that impact on both primary care and SFT. It is informal and you can come and listen in, bring an item you would like to raise, or just join in with the discussion if you feel it is relevant to you. SFT are alternating the days between Tuesdays and Wednesdays and the next meeting is on Tuesday 26 March 2024 at 13.00 to 14.00. The subject is Advice First which Dr Tom Macconnell will be discussing. Click here to join the meeting.
End of Primary Care Knowledge & Evidence Specialist Provision in Somerset: Over the last 2 years general practice and primary care networks in Somerset have been privileged to access support from Somerset Foundation Trust knowledge and library services. This has been possible as part of a 2-year pilot funded project from Health Education England (now NHS England). practices have benefitted enormously from this service with support for people to access open Athens, learning resources and specific literature searches to inform service design. Unfortunately, ongoing funding for the service will be coming to an end at the end of March 2024. The basic core offer and membership of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust Knowledge & Library Service will continue to be available to all staff in Primary Care in Somerset. However, there will not be any value-added services such as evidence searching and training. We want to take this opportunity to thank the team (Cate, Paula, Veronica and Roxanne) for the amazing work they have done over the last couple of years. Thank you.
Just a Reminder - Residential Institute Codes (RI): A new process for RI codes was introduced in 2020, it has been simplified and there are only two codes which can be found here. Please note you do not need to recode your existing patients. Here's link to the PCSE patient registration process. They have produced a simple and easy to use Guide to Patient Registrations. This will keep you up to date with the current process. Configuring Residential Institute codes in EMIS Web, for EMIS system configuration. The impact of nursing home registration and how to solve the problem - Primary Care IT, for EMIS coding.
Pharmacy First - From the Local Pharmacy Committee (LPC): We are writing to you to acknowledge and express our greatest thanks for the support you have given your Community Pharmacy colleagues across Somerset with the launch of the national Pharmacy First service. There has been an incredible amount of patients being referred across Somerset from GP Practices who are using the Local enhanced services button on emis.-Thank you.
As part of NHS Somerset, our goal is to grow the service, deliver good patient care and reduce the amount of patients who present at your surgery with minor acute illnesses that could be referred into the pharmacy first service within community pharmacies.
The local enhanced services button has been updated and now includes an assessment tool, to enable practice staff to check eligibility of patients who present to your practice with any of the 7 clinical pathway conditions.
If all practices wherever possible use the local enhanced service button to refer patients into their community pharmacy of choice - this enables a clinical referral and in turn the practice will get notification of the patients outcome.
Practices can find supporting data here from the system and some key points of why patients are being referred back into practices. If any practice needs support then please do contact either Laura.picton3@nhs.net or yvonne.somersetlpc@gmail.com.
NHS App GP Survey: A new NHS App survey seeks to better understand the process of how GPs review, file and hide test results to patients' GP health records. Additionally, thoughts are being sought on notifying patients about their test results on the NHS App.
Information for GP Partners/Salaried/Locums/Practice Managers
GP Locum Unemployment: This is a growing local and national phenomenon. Funding decline and an increase in the uptake of the ARRS are contributing to this situation, alongside the recent significant rise in the number of GPs becoming locums. It is unfathomable that we have colleagues out of work alongside a national workforce crises and rising patient numbers. We would like to hold a Q&A webinar to support our GP locums on Wednesday 3rd April 2024 13.00-13.40, please book here. To see the full extent of the issue could practices complete this 2 minute survey on locum availability and could locums complete this 5 minute survey (closing date 28.03 5pm).
We would like to therefore reassure practices that there are doctors looking for work in both salaried and locum positions. We see that the number of jobs being advertised through the LMC website has recently reduced and encourage practices to advertise through the LMC if they have up and coming vacancies and attend our recruitment event on the afternoon of 3rd April at Taunton Racecourse. Book your place via our website.
Somerset LMC Committee Locum GP Vacancy: The LMC is the only elected representative body of local GP opinion and exists to represent, support and advise GPs and General Practice as a whole. While we have elected GP members, we also have a further seat solely for Locums. As a result of our most recent Locum GP representative standing down, we now have a vacancy to fill. The full committee meet every other month on a Thursday at Taunton Racecourse, meeting attendance is funded. If you would be interested to find out more about the LMC and what this role involves please email jill.hellens@nhs.net.
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
General Practice in Somerset Great Place Great Potential
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