Dear %recipient.firstname%,
For many years GPs and the LMC have requested that hospital specialist provide legible and comprehensive information when making requests for GPs to prescribe following outpatient attendances. Unfortunately, hospital specialists have continued to provide inadequate...
Dear %recipient.firstname%,
When performing employment medicals GPs do not have to express an opinion about whether a patient is fit to carry out their occupation. We recently had discussions with District Councils about this in respect of taxi medicals. The LMC has been asked to produce a...
At a time when so many are criticising general practice, we would encourage you to continue to use the resources and tools available on the Support Your Surgery campaign page to get the support of our patients to make the changes we urgently need to see.
This is one of the ways to address the...
The Accessible Information Standard aims to ensure that people who have a disability, impairment or sensory loss are provided with information that they can easily read or understand with support so they can communicate effectively with services. Examples of the types of support that might be...
This newsletter includes articles on;
General Practice Forward View
Performance Matters - Prescribing to Vulnerable Adults
PCSE Contact Details
Out of Area Registrations
Global Sum Funding & Uplift
Revalidation Guidance for GPs
Electronic Discharge Summaries - ULHT Backlog
Learning Disabilities...
Practices will have received notice that they can resume blood tests, however there is still a shortage of blood bottles. NHSEI have requested that practices continue to be cautious with their blood bottle usage.
Lincolnshire CCG has asked that practices inform them of any shortages by...
We all receive, deal with, and file, hundreds of blood test results every week. In the vast majority of cases this is a seamless and uncomplicated process. However, over recent months a number of cases have been discussed at performance panels where the main concern has been due to incorrectly...
Booking 111 appointments
If you have empty 111 appointment slots in your appointment ledger you can use these for your patients. Patients should not be redirected to 111 to book these slots.
If a patient contacts your practice and is requiring on the day assessment or treatment, and you...
There is not an actual small claims court. Low value claims are dealt with in the small claims track of the civil courts and they are commonly referred to as being in the 'small claims court'.
Cases in which your claim is worth £10,000 or less (or £1,000 or less for personal injury claim or...
Bankruptcy
Any individual who is able to give information about a bankrupt may be required to give evidence, for which no charge can be levied. The Court may also require such individuals to produce any documents in their possession or under their control relating to the bankrupt (S366,...
This newsletter includes articles on;
Practice Manager's conference
Recent LMC work
Requests from schools
Mental capacity assessments
Transitional care / Home First
Flu vaccinations
Firearms update
Dental problems
Safeguarding guidance
Requests for branded drugs
Winter indemnity schemes for...
Claim back your Immigration Health Surcharge
Do you work in a healthcare role for an average of 16 hours per week and have paid the Immigration Health Surcharge?
You can claim back your Immigration Health Surcharge fee, even if your employer paid the surcharge and you are reimbursing your...
Completing Fit Notes/Med 3
The LMC has recently received several enquiries regarding when Fit Notes can be completed, especially whether a Fit note can or should be completed before another Fit Note has expired.
Government guidance on completing Fit Notes explains that the fit note is...
Not getting adequate consent is the fourth most common cause for medical indemnity claims[1]. It also accounts for high proportion of the cases which are taken to the GMC and local Performance Groups.
When consent is not adequately obtained, and a claim arises, 75% of claims are settled...
Considerations for Single-handed GPs
When we think of business continuity planning for our practice, we don't often consider practice continuity after death, but this is a real consideration for single-handed GPs. It can be a grim reality for families that should the death of a single-handed GP...
Contract changes made in April 2021 have reformed the way practices are reimbursed for immunisations and vaccinations. As part of these changes, practices must have a nominated Practice Immunisation Lead (PIL).
Practice Immunisation Leads are responsible for ensuring contractual requirements...
Contract changes made in April 2021 have reformed the way practices are reimbursed for immunisations and vaccinations. As part of these changes, practices must have a nominated Practice Immunisation Lead (PIL).
Practice Immunisation Leads are responsible for ensuring contractual requirements...
The Lincolnshire LMC have been contacted by many practices over the past few days who have received an email from NHS England regarding their core hours.
In November 2017, NHS England issued guidance to commissioners regarding the definition of how practices meet the 'reasonable needs of...
The CQC published its State of Care report recently, which is an annual assessment of health and social care in England. The report found that 91 % of GP practices were rated good in 2018, with a further 5 % rated outstanding, despite increased pressure on services.
Once again, general practice...
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) are moving on from their transitional monitoring approach and are introducing a new monthly check of the information and data they hold on GP practices. Find out more about these changes by attending our CQC update on Tuesday 6 July. Speakers include, Amanda...
Data Provision Notice (DPN) for GP Data for planning and research (GPDPR)
NHS Digital has issued a DPN (data provision notice) as part of the development of GPDPR (GP data for planning and research). This is a planned replacement for the GPES (GP extraction service) to collect data for planning...
The deadline of 30 June for applications to be made to the EUSS (EU settlement scheme) is rapidly approaching. If you are an EU national currently in the UK and arrived before 31 December 2020, you must apply before that date.
It is free of charge and by applying and being granted...
Dealing with abuse of practice staff on social media from patients
The GPC have developed guidance how to protect yourself from online abuse and the steps GP practices can take against patients who leave abusive comments on social media or websites. It outlines what to do first, how to report...
Comments from patients on the NHS website, social media and other similar sites can sometimes be inaccurate, unfair or inappropriate, which can potentially damage an organisation or staff member's reputation.
If the patient can be identified it is often useful to have a conversation with them...
Articles in this newsletter include;
International Recruitment
Call for Special Conference
Improving Communication between General Practice & ULHT
Performance Matters - Firearms held ny patients
Safeguarding Children Conference
Government e-petition to save general practice
BMA Survey of GP...
From time to time NHS Engalnd go through a process of validating the dispensing lists of practices.
NHS England will write to your practice with a list of patients that they think you should not be dispensing to. We would encourage practices to check whether you agree with the list the NHSE...
The duty of candour came into effect for GP practices on 1 April 2015. This is Regulation 20 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, which sets out fundamental standards.
It aims to ensure that providers are open and transparent with people who use...
Endorsing correctly for Serious Shortage Protocols
Dispensing practices are being encouraged make sure they are correctly using the new endorsement Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) to avoid invalid claims.
In February 2019, the government amended the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to...
The new enhanced shared parental leave system for salaried GPs has been launched across the UK and will allow for up to 50 weeks of the 52 weeks maternity leave to be shared between the parents. Eligible parents are also able to share up to 37 weeks of statutory shared parental pay (equivalent...
The EPaCCS webinar on Tuesday 19th October will help practices to:
Save time and improve efficiencies with the updated Gold Standards Framework (GSF) Meeting Tools.
Streamline communication using the GSF Report and new EPaCCS
Automate administration for your GSF/MDT Meetings
Automate your...
EU settled status webinar
The Cavendish Coalition and the Home Office will be holding a webinar on Ensuring the settled status and right to work of social care and NHS staff on Wednesday 26 May, 12-1pm.
Designed for recruitment leads and HR, you will hear best practice from social care...
Flu and Pneumococcal Vaccination by LCHS staff- it is time to sign the Vaccination Agency Agreement (VAA)
As in previous years, we want to ensure that there is maximum uptake of flu and pneumococcal vaccination. To facilitate this LCHS staff will be able to administer the vaccines on behalf of...
The GDPR is a regulation that will come into force from 25th May 2018. Its intention is to strengthen data protection for individuals across the European Union. The GDPR strengthens the controls that organisations (data controllers) are required to have in place over the processing of personal...
General Practice Alert System- coming soon!
Hospital trusts use Operating Pressures Escalation Level (OPEL) to communicate their demand and capacity to the NHS systems. OPEL is used by the NHS system to identify where support is required in the short term, and where transformation is required...
We have created infographics for general practices to use on their websites and social media. These infographics inform patients on key services to use and how general practices are currently operating.
Below is an example of the infographics we've created:
window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer...
GPs frequently see patients who are aged under 18 years of age without the parents being present. If the GP decides to treat these patients without parental knowledge or consent parents may complain about the doctor's actions. It is thus essential that all GPs understand the rules and guidelines...
GMC and NMC numbers in correspondence
Practitioners should include their GMC or NMC number in all correspondence.
GMC guidance states that it is good practice to have GMC number on all professional correspondence. Radiology requests must have GMC or NMC number included as this is required for...
GPs are increasingly being asked to act as occupation health physicians (OHP). Patients attend the surgery with a request from and employer to complete paperwork relating to the patient's ability to per-form various duties. Similarly, other organisations request that GPs complete forms or write...
This guidance came into force on the 1 June 2016 and applies to all doctors who carry out both surgical and non-surgical cosmetic procedures including those who may be responsible for supervising others.
The GMC defines a cosmetic procedure as ''any intervention, procedure or treatment carried...
Patients frequently attend practices with hand written prescription requests which were issued to them in outpatient clinics. These requests are often illegible, and rarely have enough information for us to safely prescribe. To this end practices have to delay prescribing to get clarity.
The...
GPs are often requested to give hepatitis B immunisation covering three broad areas;
for travel
for occupational health
lifestyle risk or medical conditions
Travel
Hepatitis B immunisation for travel is not remunerated by the NHS as part of additional services. However, the regulations do not...
Visiting patients at home is a part of the GMS contract.
The GMS contract states;
7.6.1 In the case of a patient whose medical condition is such that in the reasonable opinion of the Contractor attendance on the patient is required and it would be inappropriate for the patient to attend at a...
It is well documented that interruptions during consultations are upsetting to both doctors and patients. About 10% of GP consultations are interrupted for one reason or another. When surveyed, patients felt that over 50% of these interruptions were unnecessary, and 20% felt that the...
Lincolnshire CCG will soon be introducing a new software application for GP practices to request radiology tests. Practices need to sign up all their clinicians to be able to use this software application.
This software application, WebV, is currently used by both ULHT and NLAG to request...
This year practices will receive an IoS fee for providing a flu vaccine to their own practice staff in patient-facing roles. The Enhanced Service specification has been updated to reflect this change.
Membership entitles you to discounts on products and services provided by the Buying Group's suppliers. Membership is free and there is no obligation on practices to use all the suppliers. However, practices can save thousands of pounds a year just by switching to Buying Group suppliers. To view...
Practices are experiencing prolonged excessive workload pressures whilst also facing workforce shortages. Practices should thus prioritise NHS clinical work. Practices can choose to cease providing private services to support this NHS clinical work.
If your practice chooses to restrict...
This newsletter includes articles on;
General Practice Crisis Meetings
Private Administration of Men B Vaccinations
Performance Matters - Sepsis
GMS Contract Changes 2016/17
Publication of GP Earnings
DNA-CPR Countywide Policy
Zika Guidance for Primary Care
Improving Communications between...
Medication Reviews
Medication and prescribing errors can cause significant patient harm, and thus can lead to complaints and referral to the Practitioner Performance Team (PPT) or GMC. When these complaints are investigated, the PPT will look at the index case, and also at the records of...
What is the Mental Capacity Act 2005?
The MCA is an Act of Parliament which provides a framework by which people who may not be able to make choices about their own welfare, can be assessed, and cared for safely.
How do we decide if a patient has capacity?
If a patient is believed to not have...
Public Health England have published a National Protocol for inactivated influenza vaccine which sets out how flu vaccines can be administered by registered and un-registered health professionals. Practices can use this protocol to enable un-registered staff to administer the flu vaccine...
National Workforce Reporting Service (NWRS)
What do I need to do before the first collection on 31st July?
The aim of this new service is to make the task as simple and efficient as possible to help minimise the burden placed upon practices and primary care networks (PCNs). Before the first...
The CQC has issued revised guidance on DBS checks. The new guidance states that;
There is no requirement for a service that directly employs its own staff to repeat DBS checks within a set period. For example, there is no blanket rule such as re-checking all employees every three years....
Legislation
Under the terms of their primary medical services contracts, GP practices cannot refuse an application to join its list of NHS patients on the grounds of race, gender, social class, age, religion, sexual orientation, appearance, disability or medical condition.
Other than that,...
The new PCN handbook for 2021/22 has now been published and is available on the BMA website. The handbook has been updated to include the changes agreed as part of the 2021/22 GP contract, including additional ARRS workforce and new PCN service specifications, as well as other operational...
This new online service to help administer practice payments and GP Pensions is now live.
What's new:
Statements: Practice statements are now accessed via PCSE Online, and will no longer be available via Open Exeter from 1 June 2021. Practices can access their statements data from the 2014/15...
Lincoln Medical School Research Projects
Lincoln Medical School students are currently developing research projects for their BMedSci qualifications. Lincolnshire LMC is working with some of these students to perform research in general practice. Please help these students by completing...
Practice In Touch
Practice In Touch is the Lincolnshire LMC newsletter. The newsletter is sent out on a regular basis to all GPs & practices in the county.
If you do not currently receive a copy of our newsletter & would like to subscribe, please email rosa.larner-peet@lpft.nhs.uk to be added...
NHS Digital has been commissioned by NHSX to develop and implement a new IT system, which they say will be simpler and easier to use. It will replace the current call/recall IT system for cervical screening, which sits on the National Health Application and Infrastructure Services platform. As a...
This data collection will enable the NHS to better articulate general practice workload, understand appointment activity and utilisation and demonstrate the use of general practice across the week, including by healthcare professional and by mode of appointment.
This information to be collected...
This newsletter includes articles on;
Marketing Lincolnshire General Practice - BMJ Careers Fair
Performance Matters - Back Pain in Older Patients
Department of Works & Pensions (DWP) Consent
Patient Registration for GP Practices
CQC Registration
Doctors Health
Intranasal Influenza...
There is no requirement to provide patients with access to online services at the weekend or in the evening when the practice is closed.
Before the pandemic, as part of the 2019 GP contract deal (paragraph 5.10 (i)) GPC England agreed that it would eventually become contractual for practices...
At the LMC we receive many queries regarding Out of Area Registrations. We have listed below, the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions;
Can existing registered NHS patients who move out of area be registered as out of area patients without home visits?
Existing registered...
A recent safeguarding Serious Case Review (SCR Family V, published on the Lincolnshire LSCB website) highlighted the importance of knowing who has parental responsibility for a child. In this case, a man had repeatedly taken a child to multiple medical appointments, and the child had received...
During the last few months we have had a number of practices find themselves in serious difficulties due to having no partnership agreement in place or their partnership agreement not being up to date.
We cannot stress strongly enough to all GPs & Practice Managers of the need to have an up to...
We are aware that around 2,000 practices did not have pension deductions taken for one or more GPs from June through August. PCSE inform us that the majority will have the deductions in total taken from payments to practices during this month's payment runs. The deductions will be taken from the...
Performance Matters- palliative care and pre-emptive planning
The LMC is regularly involved in representing and supporting doctors who have been identified as having 'performance' issues. The LMC has identified themes which recur, and this regular feature from our newsletter will highlight...
Personalised Asthma Action Plans
As part of QOF, patients should have a Personalised Asthma Action Plan agreed when the patient attends for their annual asthma review. The PAAP should include information about how to step-up and step-down inhalers, and how to respond to acute exacerbations....
Pharmacy Contract Changes
There have been some recent changes to the pharmacy contract which will possibly impact GP practices. These changes include
New Medicines Service
Pharmacists will offer a medication review to patients who have been started on medications for certain conditions such...
Practices spend a significant amount of time and resource trying to answer questions which patients raise regarding hospital appointments. To reduce this burden the LMC has created a poster for practices to use in waiting rooms and consulting rooms to educate patients about the best way to have...
Type 1 opt-out form.pdf
To provide more time to speak with patients, doctors, health charities and others, the collection of GP data for Planning and Research in England has been deferred from 1 July to 1 September 2021.
As a practice you may be receiving Type 1 opt out forms from your...
Practice Call-Back Policy
Healthwatch Lincolnshire have recently surveyed patients about their experiences when contacting GP surgeries. One of the issues raised by patients in this survey was the uncertainty about when a clinician will call the patient back when a telephone appointment...
Please see below our 'Practice Manager' Webinars. All attachments can be found below the descriptions of each webinar. Don't forget to check out our other Educational Webinars and Podcast Episodes.
Practice Manger Update 16.09.2021:
This is a recording of our Practice Manager Update; covering...
The LMC has developed a range of resources to assist practices in preparing for their CQC Inspection.
CQC Walkthrough
We are also pleased to offer a CQC Walkthrough to practices, this involves a member of the LMC visiting your practice to help you & your practice prepare for your CQC...
NHSEI have published their expectation for PCNs for 2021/22 and 2022/23. Full details of this can be found at the NHSEI web pages. This article aims to summarise these for practices so that you know what will be expected from October 2021 onwards. LMC plan to run a webinar about this...
From 1 April 2015, it is a contractual requirement for practices to publish on their practice website by the end of the financial year (i.e. 31 March 2016), the mean earnings for all GPs in their practice relating to the previous financial year (i.e. 2014/15).
All earnings reported are pre-tax,...
Healthwatch Lincolnshire has received a number of complaints from patients about being removed from GP practice lists. Healthwatch Lincolnshire has done some research and has found that some of the removals were done for inappropriate reasons, and that some practices have removed more patients...
Schools frequently request information from GPs regarding a child’s health conditions, their absence from school, or to certify that they were ill when sitting an exam. Parents often are put under pressure from schools to get this information from practices, even though they themselves would be...
The scheme is aimed at doctors who are seriously considering leaving or have left general practice due to personal reasons (caring responsibilities or personal illness), approaching retirement or requiring greater flexibility. The scheme supports both the retained GP and the practice employing...
Collaborative arrangements
The NHS Act obliges NHS bodies to provide advice to statutory bodies in relation to social services, education and public health functions. Thus NHS England and CCGs, as NHS bodies, have to enable the Local Authority to carry out is safeguarding duties. This is...
All staff who come into contact with children and young people have a responsibility to safeguard and promote their welfare and should know what to do if they have concerns about safeguarding issues, including child protection.
The intercollegiate document 'Safeguarding children and young...
Standard Operating Procedure for practices from 19th July 2021
On 19th July 2021 NHSEI wrote to practices explaining their expectations of practices from 19th July onwards. In summary this letter says
Infection Prevention and Control- practices should continue to follow PHE guidance,...
Step by step guide on visa sponsorship
Gaining the right to be a UK visa sponsoring practice has many advantages and could form an important part of your general practice workforce planning. A step by step guide to applying for a visa sponsorship licence is now available. The guide has been...
The temporary emergency registration provided by the GMC to doctors, as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, will remain until the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care declares the emergency over.
The GMC is currently contacting doctors on the temporary register to ask...
The active bystander training
Reflections of a black Christian woman GP human being.
People matter; and at the core of our individual experiences is that desire to know we are seen, accepted for who we are and valued for our contribution. But in an increasingly diverse and precarious...
Patients presenting with possible dental problems
This guidance informs GPs of their obligations to patients either requesting emergency dental treatment or asking for an NHS prescription for drugs recommended by private or NHS dentists. It is aimed at all GP’s including out of hours...
NHS England is offering practices the voluntary opportunity to participate in two new enhanced services from 1 July 2021. These focus on two areas which are a priority to support recovery from the pandemic: long COVID and weight management.
Long COVID is an increasingly widespread condition,...
UPDATED STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (SOP) TO SUPPORT RESTORATION OF GENERAL PRACTICE SERVICES
NHSEI have written to practices to inform them of the updated standard operating procedure. This letter advises practices to make two important changes.
Firstly, to have face-to-face...
DHSC has published guidance on new regulations which make COVID-19 vaccination a requirement for NHS staff entering care homes. This includes all staff in NHS commissioned services going into care homes. The regulations will come into force on 11 November to give care homes, services, and staff...
Recent research conducted by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism about access to Covid vaccines for those who are not registered with a GP practice. Their findings showed that many practices refuse to register patients that have no fixed address, no documents or an unclear immigration status....
