Bulletin
Guidance on avian influenza; Replacement of smartcards; HIV testing week; and more. |
|
|
|
Welcome to this week's primary care bulletin
Key points this week include:
- Guidance for the management of persons exposed to animals, including birds, infected with avian influenza A(H5)
- Replacement of smartcards
- HIV testing week
- New referral form for post-COVID services
- Vacancy - Clinical Lead for Borough IT and Digital – West London
- Medicine supply notification
- Memantine (Valios) 5mg orodispersible tablets sugar free
- Support for NHS App Medicines and Prescriptions Team
- Serious Shortage Protocol (SSP077) for Cefalexin 125mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free
- Helping older people and their family carers to prevent pressure ulcers in community settings
- New weight loss medications
- Uploading vaccinations given by other providers
- Change to the way that you will access ICE for Imperial
- Understanding how your team manages referrals to community pharmacies.
Webinars and training, including:
- ICHP Masterclass - fiendish cases - larning from real life polypharmacy - medicines optimisation case-based discussion
- 8th polypharmacy community of practice.
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 |
|
|
Guidance for the management of persons exposed to animals, including birds, infected with avian influenza A(H5)
Read the guidance provided by the UK Health Security Agency.
|
Replacement of smartcards
We would like to inform you about an important update regarding smartcards that are used for electronic prescriptions. From 31 March 2025 some smartcards that are in circulation will cease being able to allow the smartcard user to sign electronic prescriptions. The smartcards affected are Series 04, 05, and 06 smartcards. This change (being implemented nationally) is necessary to ensure the continued security and functionality of the Electronic Prescription Service.
What you need to do
Identify affected smartcards: Please review the current smartcards within your organisation and identify any Series 04, 05, or 06 smartcards in use (please see image below for the example of what to look for). Please note that any smartcards that are not series 04, 05 or 06 are not affected by this change and do not need to be replaced.
Requesting replacement smartcards: Contact the Registration Authority (RA) team at Nhsnwl.registration.authority@nhs.net to request replacement smartcards for any identified Series 04, 05, or 06 smartcards. The RA team will assist you in the replacement process.
We understand that this may cause some inconvenience, however your early assistance in identifying cards for replacement will mitigate any risks. We appreciate your cooperation in ensuring a smooth transition. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact the RA team.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
|
HIV testing materials
National HIV Testing week is coming up on the 10 - 16 February 2025.
Find the following materials below which you might find useful:
A big thanks to our Fast-Track Cities London GP champions Dr Sam Preston and Dr Dan Gibney for all their input.
|
New north west London post covid referral form
A new referral form is available on both EMIS and SystmOne in the location of the old form. Please don't use any old forms you might have.
Further details about this, as well as a reminder about the referral process, are attached.
|
Vacancy - Clinical Lead for Borough IT and Digital – West London
The closing date for this part-time fixed-term contact role is 11 February 2025. Find the job description, as well as other key details here.
|
Medicine supply notification
- Memantine (Valios) 5mg orodispersible tablets sugar free
Please find details attached.
|
Serious Shortage Protocol (SSP077) for Cefalexin 125mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free
Because of ongoing supply issues, we are extending the Serious Shortage Protocol (SSP077) currently in place for Cefalexin 125mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free. SSP077 was due to end on 31 January 2025. The new end date for SSP077 is now 2 May 2025.
SSP078 (Cefalexin 250mg/5ml oral suspension sugar free) is not being extended and ended on 31 January 2025.
The SSPs are available to view on the NHS Business Service Authority (BSA)’s dedicated SSP web page.
|
Support for NHS App Medicines and Prescriptions Team
The NHS App Medicines and Prescriptions Team are looking engage with a wide range of community pharmacies and GP practices to support:
- Measuring baseline benefits with current medicines/prescriptions related processes
- Obtaining views on future NHS App roadmap items.
The team are looking to speak to around eight pharmacy and eight GP sites across a range of geographies/population types. This will initially require a short call to understand where support would be most valuable followed by participation in a workshop, supporting a site visit and/ or a diary study to capture baseline benefits.
If you are interested in supporting this work please express your interest by 21 February 2025 to Nishali Patel, Katherine Haynes and Jo Cameron.
|
New weight loss medications
The attached briefing focuses on the availability of new weight loss medications. Please note it does not discuss the clinical effectiveness of these medicines.
|
Helping older people and their family carers to prevent pressure ulcers in community settings
Do you manage the risk of developing pressure ulcers (also known as bed sores) in a home setting? Can you help us to find new ways to prevent pressure ulcers?
We are inviting older adults at risk of pressure ulcers and the people who may care for them (healthcare practitioners, social care workers and unpaid carers, including family members) to complete and share this 10 minute survey.
|
Uploading vaccinations given by other providers
We would like to thank you for all your hard work this winter season as you deliver various immunisation programmes to help build immunity against vaccine preventable diseases. There remains the need for notifications of vaccinations given by other providers to be manually coded and uploaded onto the patient record by the patient’s practice.
Find out more attached.
|
|
Change to the way that you will access Integrated Clinical Environment (ICE) for Imperial
There will be a change to the way that you will access ICE for Imperial College Hospital pathology and radiology.
At the moment when selecting a provider you may see ‘ST MARY’S CYTOLOGY’. This is undergoing a name change and will now be ‘Imperial College Healthcare Trust’.
This change will take effect on 12 February 2025. Any problems or queries please contact the Service Desk.
|
Understanding how your team manages referrals to community pharmacies
The NHS England Pharmacy First programme would like to invite your practice to share your feedback. All feedback is kept anonymous, and your practice will not be identified in any reports. This approach allows you to share your honest opinions freely.
We’re looking to understand how your team manages referrals to community pharmacies and processes the consultation summaries you receive from them. It would be particularly helpful to speak with the staff members in your practice who handle these tasks. Their insights will help us identify what works well and uncover challenges and opportunities for improvement
We can visit your practice in person, but we’re also happy to arrange a 40 min conversation via Teams – please let us know your preference
What dates and times work best for you to schedule a feedback session? We're aiming for a meeting 10 - 19 February 2025.
We look forward to hearing from you.
If you have any questions reach out to Marianthi.vezertzi@nhs.net (senior user researcher).
|
|
|
ICHP Masterclass - fiendish cases - larning from real life polypharmacy - medicines optimisation case-based
On behalf of 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 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 Cat Caldwell.
|
8th polypharmacy community of practice
Imperial College Health Partners (ICHP) are delighted to invite you to the polypharmacy community of practiceon 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 Cat Caldwell.
|
|
|
|
|
