Care.data Roll Out Delay
NHS England has this week announced a six month delay in the roll-out of care.data following follows concerns, particularly on the grounds that the public awareness campaign has not worked, with many patients still unaware of care.data and their right to object to the extraction of data from their medical record. GPs will welcome that NHS England has allowed more time to ensure that patients are made fully aware of the implications of care.data, how their information is stored and used, and their right to object. The BMA continues to support the use of anonymised data to improve and plan NHS services, but will be seeking further assurances from NHS England around the scheme, working closely with them to ensure that the public is properly informed and that safeguards are in place before uploads begin in the autumn. GPs should continue to enter the objection code(s) to patient records where requested by their patients.

Named GP for Over 75s Guidance
The GPC have published guidance on the requirement for a named GP for patients aged 75 and over, which has been agreed as part of the GP contract changes beginning from April 2014. The guidance includes information on the responsibilities of the named GP and how practices should decide on the identity of each patient’s named GP.

Changes to Pension Arrangements for GP Locum Appraisers and Salaried GPs
The NHSPA (NHS Pensions Authority) has stated that all the practice income of salaried GPs will now be pensionable. Practice-based overtime is not currently pensionable for salaried GPs – for example, if they work a Saturday morning that income is not pensionable if it is outside their contracted hours. Now all practice income can be pensioned, even if it takes salaried GPs over their working time hours. The NHSPA has also announced changes that mean freelance GPs who carry out appraisals can now choose to pension that income. Until now, only salaried and partner GPs appraising other doctors could do so. This move comes after continued lobbying of NHS England by the GPC sessional GPs subcommittee. GP locum forms A&B will be updated by the NHSPA in the coming weeks to reflect this change, which comes into effect from 1 April 2014.

Updated Enhanced Services Guidance 13/14
The enhanced services guidance for 2013/14 has been updated following the October 2013 read codes release.

Information Governances Toolkit – 31 March Deadline
Version 11 of the Information Governance Toolkit for general practice went live in June 2013 and the deadline for final submission is 31 March 2014. The toolkit encompasses 13 requirements against which general practice should self assess. The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) states that completion of the toolkit is necessary in order for practices to ensure that their HSCIC services, such as the N3 connection, continue to be provided. This is because every practice receiving these services needs to sign up annually to an Information Governance Statement of Compliance and the only way this can be signed or submitted is through the IG Toolkit online assessment. One person from a practice will have been nominated as the IT lead and they will register for a user account and complete the online self-assessments on behalf of the practice. A link to the toolkit is available here. We recommend that practices submit their 2013/14 self assessments by the deadline.

Potential Scam, IT Systems
We have been made aware of a potential scam involving someone claiming to work for a technical support department on behalf of BT, Virgin media and other telephone and broad band providers contacting practices via telephone. The caller stated that they were being alerted by the central server that the person answering the phone had a number of viruses on their computer that could be effecting the speed of their machine and that if they switched on their PC the caller would talk them through how to clean these viruses from it. When challenged and informed that there is a central IT department or when informed that this was a GP practice the caller hung up. The caller ID in one case was 1010101010. Some practices have had this call on every phone line they have into the practice! This has been reported to IT to create awareness but please be extra vigilant if you receive such a call.

Kings Fund Report, Commissioning & Funding General Practice
The King’s Fund has published a new report entitled ‘Commissioning and Funding General Practice: Making the Case for Family Care Networks’. The report argues for increased collaborative working between GPs and increased funding for practices to meet the demands on primary care, but within a new contractual framework. Dr Chaand Nagpaul, GPC Chair, has made this response to the report.

Chronic Kidney Disease Care Audit
We are sharing this information on behalf of the BMJ:
National CKD Audit commissioned by HQIP, delivered by BMJ and partners. Practices participating in the audit will be able to easily identify and manage patients with CKD using free tools to optimise coding of patients, improve quality of care, and comply with NICE guidelines; without adding to their current workload. BMJ encourage all GP practices to participate. Read more: http://informatica.bmj.com/ckd