DDLMC WEEKLY UPDATE ISSUE 3/23
WINTER HUB REFERRAL PROCESS
All practices will have received the updated SOP and referral flowchart this week. We have reattached the documents above and would like to draw your attention to the change in clinical triage requirements to screening – to be completed by practice clinician (please review flowchart for further requirements). This change has come about through practice feedback given to the Winter Team.
PRACTICE MANAGEMENT TASK AND USEFUL INFORMATION
Please find attached an initial resource document after request from new starter Practice Managers, which outlines key dates and useful websites for information.
Any feedback or for additional points for inclusion please send through to ddlmc.office@nhs.net
REMINDER: ACCESS TO RECORDS UPDATE FOR TPP PRACTICES
Access to records developments are still ongoing. The ICB have been instructed by NHSE to request that all practices with over 50% of patients coded with the 104 code complete a survey.
General Practice is under immense pressure, and we will support practices pushing back or not completing this request. DDLMC are working with DDICB to push back on the request with a joint letter which will be sent to NHSE shortly.
Further communication will be coming out from DDICB on actions required, we would like to highlight that these requests are not coming from the ICB but NHSE.
We have recently been advised that TPP practices will be enabled for prospective access on 01 February 2023 unless opted out.
IMPORTANT: If a practice does NOT wish for the change to be applied on 01 February 2023, they must take immediate action by emailing RecordAccess@tpp-uk.com by 27 January 2023 at the latest, including their instruction, practice name, address and ODS code. If opt-out is not registered with TPP by 27 January 2023, the practices will be enabled.
bma-template-letter-for-system-suppliers-oct-2022.docx
LMC BUYING GROUP
All Derby & Derbyshire levy paying practice can sign up to the LMC Buying group.
Buying Group membership is completely free and there is no compulsion to use all our suppliers. We do the hard work associated with finding the most competitive suppliers in cost and customer service, so we save you time as well as money on your purchasing!
Although the Buying Group was originally set up to help GP practices save money on the products and services they regularly buy, membership is now also open to GP Federations, Primary Care Networks, Dental Practices, independent pharmacies and other health and social care providers in the UK.
You can click on the boxes below to see an overview of what is available to your sector through the Buying Group. Once registered and logged in you’ll be able to see the sector specific information and offers on the individual supplier pages. Trusted to Save Healthcare Providers Time & Money | LMC Buying Group (lmcbuyinggroups.co.uk)
PRACTICE LIAISON OFFICER BI-WEEKLY DROP IN SESSION
Please note the next drop in session will be on Tuesday 31st January 2023 at 13.30.
In last week’s drop in session we discussed:-
- GP Payments
- PPGs
- Wound care and the need for practices to claim
- Pushback on secondary care referrals
CQC FOCUS
Practice should have a system in place to ensure that they are receiving, disseminating and acting upon all alerts and information relevant to general practice. This includes ensuring appropriate there is clinical involvement and oversight.
Practice should:-
- consider who should receive alerts and information within the practice
- make sure there are effective processes in place to act upon alerts received
- arrange cover for annual leave or staff absences.
For example, a practice could keep a log of alerts. They could document action taken in response to these. There should be clinical involvement and oversight of the process.
GP mythbuster 91: Patient safety alerts - Care Quality Commission (cqc.org.uk)
SCREENING AND IMMUNISATION TEAM
Polite reminder that if you need to contact the team with regards to an immunisation query, please use EMICAS inbox (East Midlands Immunisation Clinical Advice Service) inbox england.emids-imms@nhs.net
DO NOT USE the SCRIMMS inbox as this is no longer in use for this purpose and your query may not be picked up by the relevant staff member .
MINOR EYE CONDITIONS SERVICE
The Minor Eye Conditions Service – MECS continues to be available to patients and this is a reminder to GP practices about how to signpost patients to the service. The MECS service is provided to patients by local Optometrists in the community.
Information for GP Practices and patients is provided within this update and is also available on Derbyshire Pathfinder.
CAUDA EQUINA SYNDROME REFERRALS
UHDB have recently changed their process for patients with suspected Cauda Equina Syndrome referred to Royal Derby Hospital.
In hours (9am - 5pm) these patients should be referred to the Orthopaedics SpR via bed bureau and advised to attend OAU directly. They should no longer be directed to A&E.
Out of hours (5pm - 9am) these patients should be referred to Orthopaedics on call and advised to attend A&E for review by orthopaedics on arrival.
MESSAGE FROM JOINED UP CARE DERBYSHIRE
We would like to support more people from ethnic minority groups to successfully progress their career and be represented in leadership positions. We know from our local NHS staff survey data that significantly fewer ethnic minority people believe their organisation acts fairly with regard to career progression / promotion, regardless of ethnic background, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability or age. We have national and local leadership development opportunities available and recognise that some people may face barriers to joining and attending.
Please complete this short survey so we can develop our understanding further and create development opportunities for 2023 and beyond that will support you and enable effective career and leadership progression. This survey will close on Friday 10th February 2023.
Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts by clicking here
CLINICAL PRACTICE RESEARCH DATALINK
TPP SystmOne practices in Derbyshire are now eligible to benefit from joining CPRD (Clinical Practice Research Datalink), the MHRA’s medicines safety and public health research project. Practices joining benefit from free, confidential prescribing safety reports which save you time and help meet PCN DES specifications. They are intended as an aid to clinicians in high risk prescribing areas such as learning disability patients (prescription of psychotropics), patients with NSAIDs and Heart Failure, and women of child bearing age and Valproate. These are not a performance management tool and we don’t supply them to the CQC or ICB.
CPRD has worked with practices for over 30 years and has contributed to proving the safety of the whooping cough vaccine in pregnancy (no risk of stillbirth), updated NICE guidelines for diabetics with hypertension, amongst over 3,000 case studies from our work.
To ensure medicines work safely for patients in Derbyshire, we need practices to join and share clinically coded data with CPRD. 14 practices do currently and more are essential to better reflect healthcare issues in your area.
Taking part in CPRD is free and does not add to your practice workload. We also don’t require you to install any software or change to your clinical practice.
We are able to supply practices with GDPR templates we have worked on with the BMA. Taking part in CPRD does not enable patients to be identified outside the practice: we do not receive name, address, NHS number or free text. CPRD also respects the National Data Opt-out.
EMIS practices are very much also welcome to join. More information is also available at www.cprd.com/generalpractitioner. CPRD is happy to meet with your practice, PCN and PPG groups.
To sign up, please visit www.cprd.com/joiningform - we will then send instructions on how to activate within your system. If you have questions, please contact gpnetwork@mhra.gov.uk .
KEY MESSAGES FROM NHSE
Pulse oximeters available to support adults with COVID-19
Pulse oximeters are available for self-monitoring purposes by adults who have tested positive for COVID-19, to support the earlier detection of silent hypoxia. Pulse oximeters should be used in line with the COVID Oximetry @home standard operating procedure, patient safety netting leaflets and diaries. Oximeters can also be used as part of Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) hubs and ARI virtual wards to support patient self-monitoring. Trusts, systems, maternity, ambulance services can request their oximeters free of charge. GP practices and care homes can also order through their ICB. Once received, orders will usually be processed and delivered in 5-7 working days. For queries please contact england.home@nhs.net.
PCN webinar – Thursday 26 January
NHS England’s next Primary Care Networks webinar is being held on Thursday 26 January from 5pm - 6pm. It will cover improving patient care and supporting primary care teams through personalised care. To attend, please ensure you register by 12pm on Wednesday 25 January 2023.
GP registrations – ensuring correct details are recorded
GP teams are encouraged to check new patient demographic details have been recorded correctly when registering with a GP practice. Inaccurate details may result in duplicate records and additional NHS numbers being allocated to individual patients. In addition, the process to amend duplicate or incorrect records can result in delayed access to treatment.
This is particularly important for newly registered babies who may require newborn bloodspot screening. The laboratories will not accept the newborn bloodspot screening sample without all the correct demographic details, including the correct NHS number.
Practices are reminded to please take extra care to double check the spelling of names, the date of birth and addresses of new patients.
Core skills – new bitesize training sessions for managers and their teams
Free training sessions have been developed by NHS England for practice and PCN managers and their teams throughout February and March 2023. They will equip managers and their teams with the tools, resources and knowledge to become effective leaders and to develop strong resilience to thrive in their roles. Please take a look at the sessions and share with your teams:
- ‘Transition to Leadership’ highlights the challenges of leadership in the context of primary care and supports new or aspiring leaders to achieve their leadership ambitions.
- ‘Recharge and Recover’ teaches life skills and self-awareness that are valuable in enabling learners to recover from intense work periods.
MESSAGE FROM THE BMA
Many of you have queried the HEE education contract that some practices have been asked to sign. We have discussed this with HEE and it has been agreed that practices do not need to sign this. This was introduced to formalise the payment mechanism for practices to be paid for training and supervision, however the contract was not general practice specific and included much which applied to hospitals.
We have agreed with HEE that we will work on a more suitable contract for general practices and will let you know when this is developed.