Bulletin 05.10.2009

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Bulletin 05.10.2009

Pandemic Flu – DH letter sent to SHA

Professor Salisbury, Director of Immunisation, has written to all SHAs and PCTs in England, to assist immunisation leads, pandemic influenza leads and flu co-ordinators in further planning for the swine flu (influenza A (H1N1v) 2009) vaccination programme. The letter includes information about the vaccination deal, the licensing and delivery plans of the vaccines, as well as information about issues such as the Guillain-Barré Syndrome and the use of thiomersal in some vaccines. The letter can be accessed here.

Pandemic Flu – Indemnity for GPs vaccinating own staff

The GPC have had confirmation from the MDOs that GPs who vaccinate their own staff, who are not registered as patients at the practice where they work, would be indemnified as it would be part of their provision of professional services. The DH has deemed it appropriate for GPs to use NHS vaccines on practice staff who are not registered with them. There is more work to be done locally on the logistical issues for GPs vaccinating their own staff.

Pandemic Flu – Sickness Certification

DH will shortly be sending information about certification in the event of a pandemic. You can view some of the key messages it will contain here.

QOF Results 08/09 and business rules

As you will be aware, the QOF results for 2008/09 have been published. They’ve gone down slightly overall as a result of a drop in the Patient Experience domain, which itself was caused by the Patient Experience Survey being incorporated into the QOF.

Commenting on the publication of the QOF results for 08/09 by the NHS Information Centre, Dr Laurence Buckman, Chairman of the BMA’s GPs committee, said: “The continuation of high scores in the clinical domain shows that patients are still getting extremely good care from their GP practice. Much of this work is preventative, meaning patients are benefiting from early diagnosis and treatment. The dip in the Patient Experience QOF scores is a direct result of changes to the funding of the Patient Experience Survey and not because quality in this area has dropped. Practices got very similar, high patient satisfaction results to last year’s Patient Experience Survey, yet this year they have lost points and resources. It means that if patients look at their practice’s QOF results they could end up with the impression that the quality of the practice, and patients’ satisfaction with it, has declined, when this isn’t likely to be the case. So as well as unfairly reducing resources for patient services the results are inevitably likely to be misinterpreted, and this is why GPs have so little faith in this survey.”

You can view the full results here.

Version 15 of the business rules have now been published. They are available to view on the NHS PCC website here.

LMC useful reminders list

Occupational health services available to GPs and Practice Managers: GP Health (www.gp-health.org.uk) offer free occupational health services for GPs and their spouses/partners, and Practice Managers and their spouses/partners in the Tees Valley and Hartlepool area (includes sessional GPs and registrars). Identities of those seeking assistance are kept anonymous and not notified to any PCTs. If you would prefer to talk to someone about the different fields of assistance available, please contact: Dr Leslie Dobson (01287 610901) or Dr Ed Selby (07712 531 932).

The LMC sponsor two charities that offer help and support for GPs and their families:

· The Cameron Fund is the only medical charity which provides help and support solely to general practitioners and their dependants. It aims to meet needs that vary considerably from the elderly in nursing homes to young, chronically sick doctors and their families and those suffering from unexpected and unpredictable problems such as relationship breakdown or financial difficulties following the actions of professional regulatory bodies. Anyone who knows of someone experiencing difficulties, hardship or distress is urged to draw attention to the Cameron Fund’s existence or alternatively to contact Jane Cope, the Services Manager. E-mail: janecope@cameronfund.org.uk / Phone: 0207 388 0796. Address: The Cameron Fund, Tavistock House North, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9HR.

· The Royal Medical Benevolent Fund provides help and support for all doctors and their dependants in serious difficulty. Amongst the help they give are: back to work support packages, specialist debt management advice, regular financial support where there is long-term need due to accident or illness and one-off grants to help adapt homes or vehicles for independent living despite disability. To find out more about eligibility for assistance please see the link ‘How we can help you’ on their website www.rmbf.org. RMBF also host information and advice websites: www.support4doctors.org for those beginning their medical careers and www.money4medstudents.org is a resource for medical students to help them manage their finances. Contact address and phone number are: Royal Medical Benevolent Fund, 24 King’s Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 8QN : 0208 540 9194.

Movement of GPs: Practice Managers should contact FHSA Contractor Services on 0191 333 3275 whenever a GP is commencing or leaving the practice. The LMC is then provided with this information which enables us to keep a list of GPs in the area.

Email addresses: Practice Managers should contact the PCT IT Help Desk (0845 234 0233) with the names and email addresses of GPs or members of staff joining/leaving the practice so that email addresses used by the PCT and LMC can be kept up to date. Specify that the GPs and Practice Managers names/email addresses be inserted into:
· the “Global Address List”; and
· the “All Groups” section under the specific PCT GPs or PCT Practice Managers entries

Practice letterheads: Should show the names of all partners. If letterheads include non-partners such as salaried GPs, locums, nurses, Practice Manager or Business Partners, their role should be made clear otherwise there are circumstances in which they could be assumed to be partners thus exposing the partnership to financial and other risks.

Requests for short term sicknotes: employers / students: The LMC has produced this standard letter for practices to use for patients seeking short term sicknotes (less than 7 days including a weekend). Practices should hand this letter to patients for employers OR this letter to students for schools/universities.

Requests for Hep B in connection with employment/university: Here is a standard letter to be handed out by practices to patients seeking Hep B in connection with employment / university. To assist patients requesting Hep B for employment / university related purposes, you should be aware of Hep B arrangements at neighbouring practices/alternative providers, who can charge a fee for the vaccination and blood test, but you must not discuss charging arrangements. Any such arrangement must be for the convenience of the patient and no discussion or agreement over charges must take place with those practices as this may breach Competition Law with serious financial and criminal consequences. Here is an additional letter for GPs/Practice Managers from the LMC outlining this guidance.

Clinical waste (GMS/PMS practices in non-Trust owned properties): The latest version of clinical waste letters can be found by following the links below. All practices who produce 500 kg of hazardous waste annually (clinical waste comes under this category) must be registered annually with the Environment Agency for the production of hazardous waste. If you have any queries please contact Christine Knifton at the LMC office on 01642 737744 or email: christine.knifton@middlesbroughpct.nhs.uk.

Letters to Practice Managers on different aspects of clinical waste:

· Clinical waste

· Collection and labelling of all clinical waste

· Collection and labelling of 1L diabetic sharps boxes from patients

· Collection and labelling of cytotoxic waste

· Collection and labelling of toxic waste

· Waste disposal easy reference

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