Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 12th April 2024
Date sent: Friday 12 April 2024
Sent to all Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and previous updates are available here
- MD Soundbites! this week... BMA Update - share your thoughts with us
- GPAS (General Practice Alert State)
- Clinical News/Updates
- GP Appointments - February 2024 Headline from Recent NHSE Stats
- Keeping Up to Date with Somerset’s SEND Local Offer
- Self-Referral for Pregnancy Care Somerset
- Vitamin D Reagent Supply
- West Somerset Medical Club - Information for GP Partners/Salaried/Locums/Practice Managers
- A Reminder About LMC Buying Group Membership
- Institute of General Practice Managers (IGPM) Right Care First Time Video
- NHSE Funding Available for IP/NMP & GPN Fundamentals for 2024-25
- Practice Post
- What to Ask When Applying for a Salaried Vacancy - Training/Events
- Summarising Patient Records Online Training Thursday 18th April 14.00-15.00
- HR & Employment Law Round-Up via MSTeams Tuesday 23rd April 14.00-16.30 - Safe Working in General Practice (BMA) This guidance is regularly updated with new items and suggestions
- Job Vacancies
- Somerset Emotional Wellbeing Podcasts this week... Perimenopause Wellbeing
Clinical News/Updates
GP Appointments - February 2024 Headline from Recent NHSE Stats:
- Around 30.5 million standard (non-COVID-19 vaccination) appointments were booked in February 2024, with an average of 1.45m appointments being delivered per working day. This is lower than the average of 1.48m appointments per working day the previous month.
- An average of 1.40m appointments per day were booked in the past year (March 2023–February 2024).
- The number of COVID-19 vaccination appointments decreased significantly from about 11,700 in January 2024 to approximately 140 in February 2024.
- In terms of access, the proportion of appointments booked to take place the same day has decreased slightly from the previous month: 43.5% of appointments in February 2024 were booked to take place on the same day, compared to almost 45% in January 2024.
Appointments booked to take place face to face stayed the same – about 67% of appointments in both January 2024 and February 2024. 45.2% of appointments were delivered by a GP in February 2024: a slight decrease since the previous month (45.5%).
Self-Referral for Pregnancy Care Somerset Maternity voices have developed a PDF poster and practice screen information, both with a QR code on how to self-refer.
Vitamin D Reagent Supply: The lab have informed us that they are experiencing supply issues with Vitamin D reagent, due to the late notice of this by their suppliers, they have very low stocks of reagent and are likely to have to restrict Vitamin D analysis to only the most clinically urgent cases. Requests will be automatically blocked from some point today. Clinicians will need to contact the Duty Biochemist on 0777 064 5278 or Duty.Biochemist@SomersetFT.nhs.uk with their clinical reasons for having the Vitamin D request processed. They apologise for the inconvenienced caused, and hope this will be resolved in the next two weeks.
West Somerset Medical Club: Are you aware of the Medical Club that consists of local GPs and hospital consultants (working or retired) who meet once a month for a fine evening meal at The Castle Hotel followed by a talk or guest speaker? It is an excellent opportunity to chat with our hospital and GP colleagues in a relaxed setting. If you are interested and would like more information, then please contact john.edwards2@nhs.net. Your first meeting is completely free (including meal and wine) - so what is not to like?
Information for GP Partners/Salaried/Locums/Practice Managers
NHSE Funding Available for IP/NMP & GPN Fundamentals for 2024-25: NHS England has agreed to reimburse the tuition fees for 8 places on an Independent/Supplementary (NMP) Prescribing course and 8 places for Nurses to access a GPN Fundamentals Programme.
To take advantage of this opportunity please email Linda.Bickerton1@nhs.net, stating the practice name, applicant name, email address and programme details before applying for the course. Funding will be allocated on a ‘first come first served’ basis and practices will be notified by the Training Hub if funds have been approved and the next steps. Approved applicants must apply directly to the University of their choice and secure a place by the end February 2025.
Practice Post: We are noticing a large increase in the volume of both digital and paper post sent to practices and some practices are becoming overwhelmed. There are also issues with multiple copies of the same letters and low quality communications that add no value to patient care. Please could you answer this very brief questionnaire by Friday 3rd May to ascertain the degree of difficulty this causes your practice. IT IS VITAL WE GET FEEDBACK FROM AS MANY PRACTICES AS POSSIBLE. Thank You
What to Ask When Applying for a Salaried Vacancy: With the declining number of Locum opportunities, the sessional GPs committee have developed a list of considerations for any sessional GPs looking to take up substantive salaried roles. The LMC is also very happy to offer advice and support.
Training/Events
Summarising Patient Records Online Training Thursday 18th April 14.00-15.00: This summarising webinar will ensure staff members are fully aware of what a patient summary needs to deliver for on-going patient care. Please book by Wednesday 17th April here.
HR & Employment Law Round-Up via MSTeams Tuesday 23rd April 14.00-16.30: Adrian Poole has been assisting the LMC and local practices for many years, formally as a partner of Porter Dodson and now running his own consultancy, Apers Limited (www.apers.co.uk) whilst also working as a consultant solicitor. In this online session, Adrian will be exploring the main themes of employment law and HR best practice in a timely revision of what is expected both from a practice and PCN angle. He will leave time to answer any thorny questions you may have (holiday pay calculations, anyone?!) and will be available after the session for any issues you might wish to discuss with him in private. Book your place here. Topics for discussion include
1. A full explanation of the April 2024 employment law changes - including the recent overhaul of family friendly rights.
2. Holiday entitlements - where are we now?
3. A exploration of my recently-released model partnership agreement.
4. All change? What might we expect in the field of HR and employment law from a Labour Government.
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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