Primary care bulletin - 23 December 2024

Primary care bulletins in the new year

This is the last bulletin of 2024. We plan to send out the bulletin on these dates:

Friday 3 January 2025 (content deadline 12pm on Thursday 2 January 2025, but mostly will be content sent over festive period)
Wednesday 8 January 2025 (content deadline 3pm on Monday 6 January 2025) with continuation of this routine thereafter.

Pharmacy opening hours

Bank Holidays can affect the opening hours of local pharmacies. The attached document provides the opening hours for pharmacies in north west London, as well as other London boroughs, which have been asked to open over the Christmas and New Year Bank Holiday Days.

There may be additional pharmacies opening which are not listed. If the pharmacy the patient would like to visit is not listed, then they can check their opening hours by searching at www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-pharmacy or by calling NHS 111.

In addition, there will be some pharmacies who normally open who may be closed or closing early on Tuesday 24 December and Tuesday 31 December 2024. Any patient who is unsure can visit www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-pharmacy or call NHS 111.

Proposed funding uplift for general practice

On Friday 20 December, the Department for Health and Social Care announced a proposed funding uplift for general practice. The announcement took place during the Ministerial visit of Minister of State for Care Stephen Kinnock to the Violet Melchett Health and Wellbeing Hub in Chelsea, hosted by GP and Clinical Director Dr Fiona Butler.

While the consultation with GPC England is yet to begin, DHSC and the GPC jointly agreed that it is important to provide early reassurance to general practice that the proposed contract uplift reflects Government’s commitment to support the sector.

The proposed funding uplift in 2025–26 is £889m, representing a 7.2% cash growth (estimated at c. 4.8% real terms growth).

As part of the uplift, the Government reaffirmed its commitment to reform by reducing bureaucracy, targets, increasing flexibility in ARRS recruitment and incentives for continuity of care (particularly for those with long term conditions). The announcement also emphasised the need for a a neighbourhood health service.

You can read the announcement here.

Letter and guidance about the NHS and winter pressures

NHS England, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the General Medical Council (GMC) and the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) have written a joint letter.

NHS England have issued guidance for managing ambulance pressures letter. See the attached.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting MP has also written a letter about NHS finances and other matters.

Tier 2 Medicine Supply Notifications (MSN)

Various MSNs have been issued. Please see a list and a link to the notifications below:

Please also see the attached email about the that Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) have been issued today for Estradot® 50 microgram, 75 microgram and 100 microgram patches.

Autumn/winter 2024 COVID-19 and flu vaccination campaign

Thank you for your continued work to prepare for winter, including through the offer of winter vaccinations to protect our patients, frontline staff and services during colder months.
Both the flu and COVID-19 vaccines should be offered to all eligible frontline health and social care professionals, including clinical and non-clinical staff who have direct contact with patients, ahead of winter.
To maximise protection, vaccination arrangements are to remain in place to vaccinate eligible residents until Friday 31 January 2025 for COVID-19, and Monday 31 March 2025 for Flu.
The National Booking System (NBS) closed on Friday 20 December 2024 and appointments cannot be booked.
However, COVID-19 vaccination at sites will continue on a walk-in-service basis until Friday 31 January 2025. Information of pharmacy sites offering walk-in service after Friday 20 December 2024 can be accessed via the Walk-in-Finder service site: Find a walk-in COVID-19 vaccination site.
No appointment is required to use the walk-in service, but we strongly advise that you contact the site in advance to confirm the operational hours and clinic times. You do not have to be registered with a GP to use our walk-in services and you do not need to bring any identification.
The Vaccination Telephone Booking Service (119) closed for bookings via NBS on 19 December 2024. However from 23 December 2024, call agents will provide guidance and signpost via the walk-in finder/ICB websites until 31 January 2025.
The NHS North West London website is up-to-date with infrastructure details of sites offering COVID-19 vaccination at borough level: https://www.nwlondonicb.nhs.uk/your-health-services/Covid-19/where-get-your-vaccine.

Preparing for a successful spring 2025 COVID-19 vaccination campaign

The Government has accepted Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice that the NHS should plan for a seasonal COVID-19 vaccination programme in spring 2025.

The announced and authorised cohorts for the spring 2025 programme will cover:

Adults aged 75 years and over
residents in a care home for older adults
individuals aged 6 months and over who are immunosuppressed, as defined in COVID-19: the green book, chapter 14a; Tables 3 and 4.

Vaccination for all eligible cohorts should begin from 1 April 2025. Priority should be given to older adult care homes and eligible housebound patients. The campaign end date will be 17 June 2025
A new appointment management system for sites is currently in development. Further information, training and guidance will be provided in due course
Participating sites will have access to the National Booking Service (NBS) on 18 March 2025. Sites must load appointments so that invitations can commence, and the public can book appointments from 25 March 2025 for vaccination from 1 April 2025
Confirmation of the vaccines to be used in the spring 25 campaign will be provided in due course. Individuals cannot choose between the vaccines available through the national programme.

Details of the Spring 2025 COVID-19 vaccination campaign has been shared with system stakeholders. Link to announcement is here.

Patient materials for winter wellness

There are key materials about winter wellness on Central and North West London (CNWL) NHS Trust's website. They have been produced in collaboration with West London NHS Trust.

The webpage includes details about local services like CNWL Talking Therapies and The Cove.

Please let patients know about these resources, and consider putting up these posters about urgent mental health.

GPs might find this summary of the CNWL's winter plan useful.

Data sharing for SystmOne practices – V23

V23 of the sharing list for NHS North West London has been released. Please make sure that you update your practices sharing list as soon as possible.

Please go to www.nwlondonicb.nhs.uk/pcig and click on the SystmOne Sharing Rule (White List Link) and follow the instructions.

Any problems, please contact the NHS North West London Service Desk by 🖥️ Self Serve |📱 020 3350 4050 | 📧 nhsnwl.servicedesk@nhs.net

GP connect update

We want to say thank you to all surgeries for making us the top of the table for 10 months of 2024 for offering appointments.

Please make sure that you check that your NHS 111 appointments are available to book and not embargoed in both your general practice systems and your PCN systems, especially over the two weeks with Christmas.

You can check your appointments by going to https://appointmentchecker.gpconnect.nhs.uk/, putting in your practice/PCN ODS code and use RRU as your “Searching On Behalf Of” code, you should be able to see your appointments.

If you have any issues with your slots, please contact the NHS North West London Service Desk (contact details in the above story).

Controlled Drugs Newsletter

The seventh edition of the London Region's Controlled Drugs Newsletter is out now.

Updated position statement: Wegovy for managing overweight and obesity

Please see the updated position statement attached.

Online consultation solutions from April 2025

On 5 December 2024, NHS North West London Primary Care Executive committee made the decision to delay the re-procurement of online consultation solutions until April 2026 and to extend the existing contracts of the incumbent providers from the 2022 procurement – Patchs and eConsult (Ealing only).

We are not alone in this decision as other London ICBs have indicated they are also unwilling to embark on online consultation procurements. This is mainly due to the current lack of guaranteed NHS England funding, which limits procurements to one year, this in turn, causes uncertainty and disruption if repeated annually. The other main concern is the lack of an approved framework from which to choose software solutions.

Read more about our approach here.

Harrow professionals webpage launch

We are delighted to announce the launch a dedicated password protected page for Harrow professionals on the Borough Based Partnership section of the NHS North West London's website. We have started the process of collating information relevant to all partners, incorporating a sub-section specifically pertinent to Harrow Primary Care (titled Harrow Primary Care Resources). Please note, certain information on the Harrow professionals page, such as the Mental Health Directory, is still pertinent to primary care, so please look through the resources in both sections.

Find out about how to access the section.

HPV self-sampling

The UK National Screening Committee is currently consulting on whether to offer an HPV self-sampling option to non – screened patients under the national cervical screening service.

GP practices interested in participating can find further information by visiting this website. Patients can also have their say as part of the public consultation.

National State of Patient Safety 2024 report - now published

This report presents the national state of patient safety in England in 2024. Two years on from the first report, it provides an updated analysis of the publicly available data. The report concludes that performance in key areas such as maternity care has deteriorated, requiring urgent attention.

You can access the report here.

Primary Care Quality Improvement Lead and Managers in post

The Chief Nursing Directorate is pleased to announce the appointment of Jane Hall as the Primary Care Quality Improvement Lead, alongside two Primary Care Quality Improvement Managers, Shwetha Mahadevappa and Jorge Pamplona. They are eager to collaborate with north west London primary care stakeholders to support ongoing efforts to maintain and improve quality in the services provided.

For any inquiries related to patient safety, patient experience, or quality metrics, please do not hesitate to contact the team via the dedicated inbox at nhsnwl.pcquality@nhs.net.

Planning letter shared regarding the north West London primary care single offer on enhanced services

A letter from our Primary Care Executive Director Javina Sehgal and Medical Director Dr. Genevieve Small has been shared with clinical directors, practices, medical and borough directors which outlines the provisional plans in relation to the north west London primary care single offer on enhanced services for 2025/26 and 2026/27. The key messages include:

Incorporation of the Access Programme and Covid Medicine Delivery Unit into the Single Offer on Enhanced Services
Minor changes to existing specifications where issues have been identified by the primary care team and by practices (in relation to the respiratory and diabetes specifications)
An update on the launch of the clinical effectiveness programme in 2025
A review of the financial envelope to determine whether any uplift can be applied and whether any funding needs to be repurposed within the single offer on enhanced services to ensure services are funded appropriately
There will be a move towards more outcome-based monitoring in 2026/27 with a working group already established who are currently developing the framework.

WorkWell success: Supporting patients back to employment

We're delighted to share the remarkable progress of WorkWell, your gateway to comprehensive employment support for patients. Through our flexible 8 or 16-week programme, patients receive personalised guidance, with our expert triage team matching them to the employment support that best fits their individual needs.

The response from primary care and JCP has been outstanding. In just two and a half months since launch, we've already exceeded our quarterly target, with 426 patients beginning their journey with WorkWell. Even more encouragingly, we're already seeing patients secure employment through the programme.

Referring patients is straightforward - you can do this directly through SystmOne, EMIS, or Joyapp – just click WorkWell on the Employment Support Services form. Alternatively, patients can self-refer through WorkWell - North West London - Shaw Trust.

Your continued support in referring patients will help us reach even more people who could benefit from employment support. For any questions about WorkWell or the referral process, please contact Ann at awaugh001@ealing.gov.uk.

Practice free Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) by Keeping Well (colleagues only)

Join Peter Helmer, NHS mindfulness practitioner with the Keeping Well service for an eight week MBSR programme, free to join for all staff.

What is MBSR:

MBSR is an eight week training programme that can help us better understand how stress manifests in our day to day lives and how mindfulness can help. There is further information about mindfulness and resources for relaxation here.

How to join:

We have a limited number of spaces in two groups starting in January 2025, the dates and timings for the groups are as follows:

Monday 20 January 2025, 4 - 6pm – for eight weeks

Wednesday 22 January 2025, 4 - 6pm – for eight weeks

If you would like to join, please go to Eventbrite and book your place on either the Monday group or Wednesday group.

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

Preparing for a successful spring 2025 COVID-19 vaccination campaign

Patient materials for winter wellness

Education and training