Welcome to this week's primary care bulletin

Key points this week include:

• Same day access hubs
• Air quality alerts for General Practice and Emergency Departments in London
• Updated HCP guidance for requesting emergency response to LAS
• General Practice surgery websites
• Cervical screening management system
• International Women's Day - Keeping Well NWL
• Training, webinars and more

Same day access hubs

Our plan to improve same day access to primary care in NW London has been announced. Same day access hubs will be introduced, bringing together senior GPs and a multi-disciplinary team of clinicians and non-clinical staff drawn from practices in the area, to triage patients who contact their GP.

To provide more information about same day access hubs, why they are being launched and potential changes to the way patients receive their care, Dr Genevieve Small, NHS North West London Director of Primary Care, has recorded this short video: nwlondonicb.nhs.uk/same-day-gp-access

Air quality alerts for General Practice and Emergency Departments in London 

The London Air Quality and Health Programme Office were pleased to announce that on Wednesday 28 February 2024 the UK’s first targeted high air pollution alerts for General Practice and Emergency Departments in London launched. 

Please see attached a letter from Dr Chris Streather and Professor Kevin Fenton outlining the alert system, how and when you will receive it and why it is important for your day-to-day conversations with patients.

For enquiries or further information, please contact the Air Quality and Health Programme Office at aq.programmeoffice@ukhsa.gov.uk.

Updated HCP guidance for requesting emergency response to LAS

Attached is updated guidance from London Ambulance Service to help healthcare professionals effectively request emergency responses for their patients.

Please kindly remind your colleagues that the phone number for the HCP line is not to be displayed to patients. Also attached is information about a series of webinars that London Ambulance Service is holding for healthcare professionals so that they can learn more about the dedicated healthcare professionals line number and ask questions to the medical directorate.

General Practice surgery websites

There have been some calls over the last month regarding links from surgery websites out to www.PrimaryCare.nhs.uk being broken. These links may include postal code searches. This website closed back in 2019. We would advise that all surgeries check their website and remove any links that point to this website.

Cervical screening management system 

Thank you to everyone for getting practice staff smartcards updated in preparation for the go live of the Cervical Screening Management System (CSMS). We are the first ICB in London to get 100% of our practices smart card roles updates.  If you have had new staff, please make sure that you get their smartcard updated via the Registration Authority.

Detials on the training days will be sent in the next couple of week.

International Women’s Day – Keeping Well NWL 

Friday 8 March is International Women's Day (IWD), a global celebration of the achievements of women and marks a call to action for accelerating women's equality. 

Women are well represented in health and care professions, making up approximately 80% of staff across the workforce (NHS Digital). 

This year’s theme is to #InspireInclusion.  Find more resources and ways to get involved here.

The Keeping Well website also has a dedicated women’s health information page.

We are here to support you. Get in touch with us by:    

Telephone: 0300 123 1705 
Email: keepingwell.nwl@nhs.net    
Complete a self-referral form

London wide GP webinar - Measles

The video recording of the London wide GP webinar on measles that took place on 21 February is now on our YouTube channel. If you would like the MP4 file please let me know. 

The slides are also attached along with answer to the questions that came out of the session.

Borough based user groups

User groups for your clinical systems happen every month.

This month the topics that will be looked at are: NHS 111 & GP Connect, GPAD Update, Systems Updates, ICE Update,

Ealing and Hounslow –  Tuesday 12 March @ 13:00
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 355 030 911 398 Passcode: VUEo82 

Central, West & Hammersmith and Fulham – Thursday 14 March @ 13:00
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 357 861 784 358 Passcode: R6PhWC 

Brent, Harrow and Hillingdon – Thursday 14 March @ 13:00
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 327 189 716 47 Passcode: Hymroi 

If there is anything else you would like us to cover, then please let us know via email to: nhsnwl.pcddat@nhs.net and we can included it.

Training

Please see below training schedule for March. All courses are run virtually and are all bookable via the NHS NWL Learning Hub. www.nwllearning.nhs.uk

SystmOne: E-RS Training (Referrals)
06/03/2024
10.00 – 11:30

EMIS Web: Introduction for Beginners
06/03/2024
10:00 - 11:00

SystmOne: Administrators – Advanced
07/03/2024
12.00 - 01.30

SystmOne: Reporting - Basic & Advanced
12/03/2024
10.00 - 12.30

EMIS Web: Document Template
12/03/2024
10:00 - 11:00

SystmOne: Clinicians
13/03/2024
10.00 - 12.00

EMIS Web: Configuring the Appointment Book
13/03/2024
10:00 - 11:00

SystmOne: Appointment Skill
15/03/2024
11.00 - 12:00

EMIS Web: Introduction to Searches & Reports
21/03/2024
14:00 - 1500

EMIS Web: Hints & Tips
26/03/2024
13:00 - 14:00

Spirometry virtual webinar training - registration form

The London Respiratory Clinical Network has now scheduled a series of online spirometry training sessions. These sessions will be free of charge to anyone in London who signs up. After the training (2 virtual sessions), participants will need to complete their practical portfolio and get registered at the ARTP. 

To register for these webinar sessions, attendees are asked to complete a short registration form. Calendar invitations will then be sent to registered attendees from this mailbox. Below are the two options for times and dates that attendees can choose from:

Session 1 dates/times:

· Tuesday 23 April from 13:00 – 14:30

· Tuesday 18 June from 13:00 – 14:30

Session 2 dates/times:

· Friday 26 April from 13:00 – 14:30

· Friday 21 June from 13:00 – 14:30

If colleagues have any queries or issues completing this form, please get in touch via the respiratory mailbox: england.resp-cnldn@nhs.net.

National thrombosis week 2024 accredited virtual conference

Registration has opened - welcoming all healthcare and allied healthcare professionals.

An opportunity for CPD accredited and free registration to three days of ‘live’ sessions (7-9 May 2024) plus access to accredited catch-up recordings until 31 May 2024.

The sessions offer an extensive agenda including Q&A opportunities and interactive case study sessions, e-Poster display, round table meeting sessions, and exhibition hall offering chat, free resources and access to further learning opportunities.

Full details and registration here. 

Participants needed - research enquiry from University of Surrey

The University of Surrey are conducting some research about prostate cancer. The research will explore GPs usual practice towards prostate cancer testing in men in the United Kingdom. 

This involves an online questionnaire (approx. 15 mins)
You can also opt into a one-to-one interview (approx. 30 mins)
Upon completion of the questionnaire you can enter a £25 Amazon gift voucher raffle.

Click here to complete the questionnaire.

The study aims to explore GPs beliefs, behaviours and knowledge towards prostate cancer, prostate cancer testing and testing in high risk men.

For more information contact: sm01966@surrey.ac.uk

New sessions added to End-of-Life Care programme 

The End-of-Life Care For All (e-ELCA) elearning programme now features new sessions on a cancer case study, palliative care for people with mental ill health, and financial support.

The cancer case study explores the common physical, psychosocial and spiritual symptoms that patients may experience and how these can be addressed.

Palliative care for people with mental ill health looks at the issues arising when providing palliative care for people with mental ill health. It focuses on broadening understanding of the specific needs of people with diagnosed mental illnesses who have incurable physical health conditions.

Advising on financial support from the welfare system outlines the financial support available for patients who are nearing the end of life and offers guidance for clinicians who submit medical evidence to support their patients’ claims for benefits.

More than 77,000 staff from across health and care actively use e-ELCA training sessions, which have been launched over 1.5million times. They cover a range of topics including symptom management, spiritual care, quality of life and bereavement care.

The new and existing sessions can be accessed through the End-of-Life For All programme page.

ICHP Polypharmacy Masterclass - Care Homes 

Wednesday 13 March 2024 

Manisha Bhatt and Imperial College Health Partners would like to invite you to attend upcoming “Elements of Medicines Management in Care Homes and its connections to Polypharmacy” webinar on Wednesday 13 March 2024 from 12pm to 2pm.

In this session, there will be discussions about care home medication ordering process, proxy access, medicines waste, transfer of medicines and transfer of medicines and medicines reconciliation. Please bring along any questions for discussion.    

Please click here to register for the session.  

Feel free to circulate this invite to other colleagues who may be interested.  

For further information and/or to get involved with the ICHP Polypharmacy Programme please contact: catherine.caldwell@imperialcollegehealthpartners.com