Newsletters

Regular discussions are taking place with the PCT regarding a whole range of issues particularly in the monthly meeting of the GMS/PMS sub-committee. Amongst many items this group has been looking at reviewing the enhanced services that currently exist in the county and date back to the days of the three PCT’s. The LMC all along has felt that one set of LES schemes are required for all practices that are fair and fit for purpose. Although the timescale is tight it is hoped to have this ready for implementation on the 1^st April. Concern exists regarding the anti-smoking LES and further discussions have taken place about this. We understood that practices will be able to do this work under either the existing LES or the new tariff based scheme. We were not at all impressed to learn that it is intended that the payments will be different for the two schemes. That is blatantly unfair. Once again we have suggested that this is dropped. Only 7 out of the 17 PCTs in the West Midlands have signed up for this tariff based scheme and only 4 out of the 67 practices have expressed an interest in the work. That suggests that the majority of people think this scheme is unworkable. Clearly unless a solution is found to this many practices will simply choose to stop doing this work and the patients will have to go elsewhere.  That is not at all what is wanted.

 

Work has been done to revive the Violent Patient Scheme and a more detailed document is likely to be sent out shortly which we hope will clarify what is allowed under the current regulations. The areas that particularly seem to cause problems relate to difficult patients rather than violent ones. Practices are asked to read this document carefully; we believe it clarifies both the role of practices and the PCT in how to deal with this particular group of patients. 

 

For some time now the LMC has been in discussion with the PCT regarding the failings of the TCN service. As is now widely known, just after Christmas TCN put themselves up for sale. Having lost the contract in their home PCT in Suffolk clearly their long term prospects were bleak. The LMC has been assured through this time by the PCT that there is a “plan B” should the TCN service fail. A great deal of time is being spent discussing how best to handle this process and it is anticipated that a decision will be made imminently. For commercial reasons it is not possible for us to give a detailed report on this at this stage.

 

This group meets on a Tuesday morning for a couple of hours bi-monthly. The meetings rotate between Worcester and the Alexandra Hospital. The PCT reimburses expenses for the half day attendance. It is very important that general practice is adequately represented on this group and there is currently a vacancy. If anybody is interested on taking on this work please will you contact the Secretary who will give you more information. We only hope that somebody, particularly from the North of the county might feel able to attend and represent their colleagues.

  

The roll out of the Summary Care Record seems to be causing growing concern from LMC colleagues elsewhere in the country. Initial discussions have been made about this and there are anxieties about the workload for practices, confidentiality issues, how patients can opt-out of the SCR and also accuracy of information being loaded onto the system. The LMC is increasingly concerned about this and will be discussing this issue further at the next meeting.

 

The LMC has received a letter from the Royal College of Physicians informing us of a National Clinical Audit programme, funded by the Department of Health and commissioned by the Quality Improvement Partnership. The next round of the national audit will take place later this year and audit departments will be contacting practices about a small number of patients. We very much hope practices will support what appears to be a very worthwhile project.

 

Many GPs are contacted year after year from parents and schools for sickness certification for pupils who miss examinations due to being off school due to sickness. GPs are not contractually obliged to provide a sick note for pupils who are off sick from school. They are also not obliged to provide sickness certification for students that miss an exam or believe their performance was affected due to illness.  Because of this ongoing problem the GPC wrote to the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) about this, and has received a response which highlights that medical proof should not be required. If you receive a request for this, you may wish to draw the requester's attention to the letter which is below:

 

 KING’S FUND INQUIRY INTO GENERAL PRACTICE – ONLINE SURVEY

The King’s Fund has launched an on-line opinion survey about the quality of care in general practice. Please contribute to the survey here:

 

Full details of the inquiry are available here:

 

The Final Seniority figures for 2006/07 for England have now been published by the Technical Steering Committee and for England the figure is £92,140. Further details are available on the NHS Information Centre’s website at:

www.ic.nhs.uk.

 

We have been notified by the GPC about a problem with the NHS appraisal toolkit. They have been contacted by the Department to say they have identified a security problem with the NHS appraisal toolkit. As a result of this, the toolkit is to be shut down for at least three weeks, so that the suppliers can modify it to ensure security.  There are two clear aspects to this problem - data security and the appraisal itself. 

 

The GPC said they are unable to ascertain exactly how long the security problem existed before it was identified yesterday. However, they have no reason to believe that an actual security breach occurred - i.e. that anyone accessed data that they were not authorised to see on any doctor(s) using the toolkit. The government has assured the GPC that steps will be taken to ensure the full security of doctors' data before the toolkit is re-launched. It is expected that this will take about three weeks.

 

The shutting down of the toolkit will affect the appraisal of any GP who uses the NHS appraisal toolkit, and whose appraisal is due to take place during the three week period (and possibly after). GPs who are unable to participate in their arranged appraisal due to the toolkit being shut down should organise an alternative date for their appraisal. PCOs are being told about this today and are being told to be reasonable. This situation may lead to some GPs being unable to meet the normal deadline for the completion of their appraisal.  Dr Laurence Buckman has written formally to the Department to ask them to write to all PCT’s, advising them to be flexible in their use of appraisal deadlines for an GPs affected by the problem. They have also asked for any costs incurred by appraisers and appraisees to be met, as well as re-affirming the importance of the security of information uploaded on to the toolkit. 

 

The Department of Health released a statement regarding this situation at:

There is advice for GPs from the people who run the toolkit at its website at:  

www.appraisals.nhs.uk and also on the document below:

 

National Pandemic Flu Service – Shut down and Guidance:

Following the shut down of the National Pandemic Flu Service (NPFS) from 1am on the 11^th February 2010 please note that antivirals will only be authorised via health care professionals.   However, Antiviral collection points (ACPs) will continue to function until the end of the ‘flu season (31 March 2010).   See below a link to a copy of the DOH guidance on the prescribing of antivirals for your information.

 

H1N1 Vaccination Programme - Letters from DH:

Letters regarding the H1N1 vaccination programme were sent out from the Department of Health on the 18^th February.  Practices have been advised to continue vaccinating at risk groups opportunistically beyond the end of March.  For this they will continue to receive payment, though not the related DES concessions.  Practices will be advised to stop vaccinating children under 5 from the end of March.  The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has suggested that the vaccine can now be offered as a travel vaccine for those travelling to Southern Hemisphere countries during their flu season.  This is likely to be provided through private travel health providers.

The letters are available on the DH website at the following link:

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Lettersandcirculars/Dearcolleagueletters/index.htm
 

There have been more questions regarding 24 hour retirement for single handed GPs. Please see below two documents that may be beneficial for those needing to know more on this. 

24 hour retirement guidance for single handed GPs:

 

NHS Pensions Newsletter on 24 hour retirement – August 2006:

 

The BMA is joining other public service unions and campaigns in a mass march and rally to protest against the privatisation of the welfare state and cuts in services.  The march takes place in London on 10th April from 12pm.  It will be followed by a rally, at which Hamish Meldrum will be among the speakers.

 
Please put the date in your diary and let friends and colleagues know.  If you plan to attend please can you let the BMA know by emailing:

info.lookafterournhs@bma.org.uk. 

You can find more information at : http://www.10410demo.co.uk/

STATEMENT OF FITNESS TO WORK ‘FIT NOTE’

From 6 April 2010 the current Med 3 and Med 5 medical statements are being replaced with the new Statement of Fitness for Work. The Department of Works & Pension’s short guide and sample fit note can be found at :

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/fitnote.

 

The BT priority fault repair service is to be withdrawn. A letter from Peter Dyke of NHS Connecting for Health says that from 1 April BT will no longer provide priority fault repair services to telephony infrastructure at GP premises. The existing agreement for this service is being terminated due to new regulations introduced by OFCOM stating that a priority repair service should no longer be provided for non-emergency infrastructure. Please see the full letter at the following address:

 

The BMA’s have organised a 2010 GP Trainees Conference called “Get Ahead: The Essential GP Trainee Skills Day”. This will take place on Friday 16^th April at BMA House.  This is for anyone who would like to make the most of their training, prepare for life as a qualified GP, and network with colleagues from across the country.

 
Members of the GPC will share their experiences and give advice on subjects such as finding a partnership and options for sessional and locum working. Dr Laurence Buckman, the Chairman of the GPC will introduce the day, and a representative from The Careers Group will give advice on how to best present your CV and succeed at interviews.

You can find out more on the BMA website at:

 

The following guidance has been added to the LMC website during the last month:

 

 

News 6 - Appendix 1 - Estimates of NHS pension pay - Feb 2010