Pandemic Flu – vaccinating under 5’s, updated Q&A and vaccinating pregnant women

You will have received an email from the LMC last week with regards to the arrangement across Tees re the H1N! vaccination of under 5s. The LMC Executive agreed to support the PCTs offer of direct financial of £5.25 per immunisation for the under 5s. In supporting this direct financial payment and in recognising the concerns about the impact of this campaign all parties are fully committed to local discussions about the actual impact on workload and delivery of practice activity. We urge you to continue and complete the immunisation of the at risk and under 5s groups and will be in touch about the work we are doing on impact and practice activity. You should have seen copies of these letters from the GPC and the DH with regard to local agreements being required.

A reminder that, currently, the antiviral collection point for Tees is at the Primecare Centre, Massey Road, Teesdale, Stockton on Tees and due to a decrease in demand it is now only open between 10am and 12 noon seven days a week.

The RCGP, Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) have issued this joint statement to nurses and midwives highlighting the importance of H1N1 vaccination for pregnant women and to allay fears that the vaccine is in any way ‘dangerous’ for this priority group or their babies. An updated version of the BMA Pandemic Flu Q&A is also available here.

Guidance on Correct Use of Choose & Book

A new document outlining responsibilities and operational requirements for the correct use of Choose and Book was published on 8th December 2009. The document is also on the BMA website here. You will note that in Section 6 : Page 14 it states that where providers offer named referrals on paper-based referrals they should do so on electronic-based referrals. This has been raised with the Tees PCTs and the LMC will be pursuing this where it is not available.

In January 2009, the BMA published ’Choose and Book – Learning Lessons from Local Experience’. The research found that implementation of Choose and Book goes far beyond installing systems and problems are often not due to the functionality of the system but due to broader issues such as national and local policies, processes in place and capacity issues. The BMA discussed these findings with the Department of Health and the outcome of the discussions is the ’Responsibilities and operational requirements for the correct use of Choose and Book’ document, which has been co-signed by the BMA. The document is intended to help organisations understand the importance of using Choose and Book correctly. Requirements include promoting rather than mandating the use of Choose and Book, allowing electronic referrals to named clinicians if paper based referrals to named clinicians are accepted and encouraging clinicians to initiate and review referrals themselves online. It is hoped that this document will ensure that all Trusts and PCTs deliver an appropriate level of support.

Requirements for Death Certificate

Some Registrars of Death have been requesting unnecessary information from GP practices because of a misunderstanding about the implications of the new GMC license to practice – for example, practices were asked to supply the names of GPs who were licensed to sign death certificates, together with their GMC registration, their GMC licensing number and details of their qualifications allowing them to sign the forms. GPC can confirm that there will be no GMC license number and there will be no further qualifications required of a GP to sign a death certificate. With the introduction of the license to practise in November 2009, Registrars just need to check that the doctor signing a death certificate is licensed with the GMC at the time of signing the form. There should not be a need to supply information to the Registrar prior to completing the form (particularly as the information could be out of date if supplied in advance). However, it would be helpful to Registrars if GPs could include their GMC number on death certificates so that it is easier for the Registrars to do the necessary checks.

Vetting and Barring Guidance

This guidance explains the steps that GPs need to take individually and as employers to ensure that they comply with the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. This guidance is also available on the BMA website here.