22 January 2025
Bulletin
Childhood flu vaccination programme; Updates to Medicines Optimisation website; and more

Welcome to this week's primary care bulletin

Key points this week include:
  • Childhood flu vaccination programme including school-age children
  • Human T-lymphotropic virus information and testing
  • Pharmacy First information
  • Updates to Medicines Optimisation webpage
  • Windows 10 operating system – end of life
  • Reminder for PCNs to use their GP Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme funding in 2024/25
  • Change of pathway for non-complex adult audiology referrals.
Webinars and training, including:
  • North west London cervical screening quarterly update session
  • ICHP masterclass - fiendish cases - learning from real life polypharmacy - medicines optimisation case-based discussions
  • Polypharmacy community of practice
  • The REST is KIDNEYS podcast. New name same passion.

If you have any submissions for this bulletin please email them to the communications inbox - nhsnwl.communications.nwl@nhs.net To view any previous editions click here
Childhood flu vaccination programme including school-age children

Flu is circulating at relatively high levels currently and local data is showing that a significant proportion of the hospital admissions are in children and young people.

Therefore we would greatly appreciate your support in ensuring that:
  1. All children in the 2 and 3 year old cohort - so any child aged 2 or 3 on the 31 August 2024 (which includes those who may have turned 4 since then) have received their offer of the flu vaccine this winter, and
  2. Any unvaccinated school-age children (Reception to Year 11) who present at your practice are signposted to the appropriate service below to receive the flu vaccine.
Any child aged 6 months to under 18 years in clinical risk groups (as defined in the Green Book, chapter 19 (influenza) can receive the vaccine at your surgery.

There is plenty of stock still available to order via Immform including the IM alternative for those parents who do not want their children to receive the nasal spray (LAIV) and the child flu vaccine (LAIV) can be offered at the same time as other routine childhood immunisations.

Details of the school aged catch-up clinics for all north west London boroughs here.

The contact details for the Children and  Young People Community Immunisation Service (CYPCIS) providers who are running the catch-up clinics for each London borough can be found here.
Human T-lymphotropic virus information and testing

HTLV (Human T-lymphotropic virus) is a blood borne virus, transmitted via sex, pregnancy, breastfeeding or contaminated blood or needles. There are an estimated 36,000 people living with HTLV infection in the UK and this number is rising.

Please find out more, including an important message about testing. Please note this applies to all north west London boroughs.
Pharmacy First information

The attached letter is regarding the NHS Pharmacy First service. It contains two one page summaries for the different elements of the service:
  • Pharmacy First - seven clinical conditions
  • Pharmacy First - minor illness.
Your practice may find these documents useful when referring patients to the Pharmacy First service since they highlight key inclusion and exclusion criteria. If useful, you may wish to laminate these summaries and have them easily available to be used by clinicians referring into the service or alternatively for reception staff who have had training in the Pharmacy First service.

We have also provided information on supportive resources such as a link to the recording of the north west London Pharmacy First service webinar and information as to where to find the NHS North West London Pharmacy First referral template on EMIS and SystemOne.
For any questions, please reach out to your borough medicines optimisation team for support.
Updates to Medicines Optimisation webpage
 
The NHS North West London Medicines Optimisation Team is pleased to announce that the following primary care resources have been added to the Medicines Optimisation webpage:
Please visit the website to explore resources and support materials.
Windows 10 operating system – end of life

Windows 10 will reach the end of life on the 14 October 2025. Subsequently support, including security updates, will no longer be available after this date. This presents a security risk to your data and systems.

NHS North West London IT are currently planning to upgrade all devices using a number of different methodologies with laptop upgrades beginning in February and desktops in March.

It’s possible, however, that not all applications or software will be fully compatible with Windows 11. IT have tested core applications but practices will need to review their 3rd party applications with their service providers and make suitable arrangements.

Further information will follow on a regular basis. This will include which deployment methods are relevant to you, schedules, a list of non-compliant software and the differences you may see in Windows 11.

If you would like to be an early adopter or have any questions about Windows 11 in general, please email the client systems team at cst.team@nhs.net                                                      
Reminder for PCNs to use their GP Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme funding in 2024/25

In October 2024 changes were made to the Network Contract DES specification to allow 
Primary Care Networks (PCNs) to claim reimbursement for recently qualified GPs via the 
Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) for the remainder of 2024/25. Additional funding of £82 million has been made available to allow PCNs to employ over 1,000 additional GPs. Find out about accessing the funding.
Change of pathway for non-complex adult audiology referrals

Further to the previous communications sent out in October and November 2024, we would like to remind you of the change in pathway for all non-complex adult audiology referrals (new and re-assessments).

Please note: 
  • All eligible non-complex adult Audiology referrals (new and reassessments) are required to be sent to a community AQP service provider via eRS (Specsavers, Inhealth or Audiological Science) and
  • LNWUH will reject any coming through to them as they will only be accepting patients that are not eligible for the community non-complex adult AQP Audiology service (i.e. complex) referrals across all their sites. 
Below are the communications that were sent out previously in relation to the community AQP non-complex adult Audiology service and ensuring via eRS that these commissioned service providers (Specsavers, Inhealth or Audiological Science) are utilised for all eligible non-complex adult audiology referrals.

Any qualified provider community audiology
GP referral guidelines
Patient information
SystemOne eRS form
EMIS eRS form

Education and training
North west London cervical screening quarterly update session

The primary care quality team will be hosting the first north west London cervical screening quarterly update on 29 January 2025, 1 - 2pm. It takes place via Teams.

They are quarterly informative sessions to discuss north west London cervical screening uptake, challenges and strategies with everyone involved in the provision of the national cervical screening programme.

This update is aimed for nurses, practice managers, administrative staff, practice cervical screening leads, PCN women health leads and anyone involved in the call/recall and appointment aspect of the programme.

The joining link is here.
ICHP masterclass - fiendish cases - learning from real life polypharmacy - medicines optimisation case-based discussions

Dr Graham Stretch (PCPA President, Partner Argyle GP, Lead Pharmacist Ealing Community Partners) would like to invite you to attend our upcoming 'fiendish cases - learning from real life polypharmacy - medicines optimisation case-based discussion webinar on Wednesday 12 February 2025, 12 - 2pm. 

This masterclass will help you to address the complexities of polypharmacy. Learn how to navigate ethical and clinical challenges while applying structured approaches to deprescribing and medication reviews (SMRs). Explore practical solutions to managing complex cases, with real-world examples covering frailty, dysphagia, and high-risk medications. Through engaging discussions and case studies, you will explore tools and frameworks to refine your approach to polypharmacy whilst discussing best practices and resources for ongoing professional development in medicines optimisation. 

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 Amar Singh.
Polypharmacy community of practice

ICHP are delighted to invite you to the polypharmacy community of practice on Wednesday 5 March 2025, 1 - 2pm. 

This will be the final ICHP hosted community of practice, focusing on:
  • Retrospective: What have we done 2022 to 2024
  • Programme wrap up: What’s upcoming until March 2025
  • Sustainability: How can we integrate principles in north west London?
Please ensure you have a working camera and microphone, as this will be an interactive session.  

Click here to register for the session.    

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

For further information and/or to get involved with the ICHP polypharmacy programme please contact Amar Singh. 
The REST is KIDNEYS podcast. New name same passion

The REST is KIDNEYS makes kidney disease management easy

The REST is KIDNEYS is for primary care clinicians

The REST is KIDNEYS is NICE consistent short and sweet

Welcome to The REST is KIDNEYS brought to you by NWL NHS kidney care team

Follow here: The Rest is Kidneys. We are also on Instagram and Linkedin

Episode 9:Managing heart failure and CKD is NOT mission Impossible!  

The management of CKD and heart failure is a topic known to generate anxiety amongst clinicians. Optimal aggressive heart failure treatment often reduces kidney function and leads to complications such hyperkalaemia. Should RAAsi therapy and diuretics be stopped? How permissive can we be and when do we need to worry?

Episode 8: Drugs to review with a falling GFR and conquering pain in CKD

Often medication doses need to be adjusted in the presence of a reduced kidney function and sometimes completely avoided. Analgesia can be particularly challenging as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are nephrotoxic. This episode should help to increase your confidence when managing individual affected by other conditions like diabetes, infection, chronic pain who are also affected by CKD

Episode 7: Power to the people: educate to empower. 

How can we explain a CKD diagnosis with clarity but without frightening them? What language to use? What are our practical tips to promote engagement during short consultations?