Primary care bulletin

Improvement work on website underway

We have been working with the general practice website and resource management clinical lead to make improvements to the professional website. Following extensive feedback from clinical leads a new structure to the website has been agreed.

We are now starting to update the professionals section of the NHS North West London website to improve its layout, accessibility and readability. When the work is complete the section will be more user friendly.

There is no longer a referral guidelines section, most of the content can be found in "clinical topics" and "pathways and services".

Some links to Medicines Optimisation documents may no longer work. The team is currently reviewing and updating these links. In the meantime, please visit the Medicines Optimisation and Community Pharmacy section to access the relevant documents.

We thankyou for your patience whilst we undergo this improvement work. Please direct any questions or issues to nhsnwl.communications.nwl@nhs.net

Publication of flu and COVID-19 seasonal vaccination programme Autumn/Winter 2025-26 letter

Following the Government acceptance of JCVI’s advice on the COVID-19 programme, today we have published the Flu and COVID-19 Seasonal Vaccination Programme: Autumn/ Winter 2025/26 letter.

The letter confirms the eligible groups for flu and COVID-19 vaccination for Autumn/Winter 2025-26, confirms the timing of the campaign (main campaign starting on 1 October, with flu vaccinations in children and pregnant women from 1 September), and lays out next steps.

As announced, cohorts eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine in Autumn/Winter 2025-26 are:

residents in a care home for older adult
all adults aged 75 years and over
persons aged 6 months and over who are immunosuppressed, as defined in tables three and four of the COVID-19 chapter of the Green Book.

Eligible cohorts for the flu programme are set out in the national flu immunisation programme 2025 to 2026 letter.

Thank you for all your work in supporting the delivery of seasonal vaccinations.

RSV vaccination of older adult cohort, those aged 75 - 79

Thank you for the continued efforts to promote and provide the RSV vaccination programme to older adults.

Please ensure your practice has actively called/recalled those older adults who were 75- 79 on the 1 September 2024 when the programme started. One of the aims of the programme is to vaccinate this cohort in the first 12 months of the programme i.e. by 31 August 2025. In order to protect them in the winter ahead, those aged 75 - 79 need to be vaccinated before 31 August 2025. Some people in that cohort will age out of the eligibility for the programme, as they become 80 on 31 August 2025, so this will be their last opportunity to take up the offer of vaccination.

Required action: Please can you ensure that your practice has called/recalled all the older adults aged 75 - 79 on your practice list who have not yet taken up the offer of the RSV vaccination, ahead of 1 September 2025. Find out more in the contractual guidance.

Please contact our team directly with any queries at england.londonimms@nhs.net.

Changes to routine childhood immunisations schedule

A summary of documents related to the changes that came into effect yesterday can be found below:

new guidance: The childhood schedule changes from 1 July 2025 information for healthcare practitioners guidance has now been published by UKHSA
core training slide for health care professionals
revised Patient Group Directions for the hexavalent, PCV, meningitis B, Hib/MenC and hepatitis B vaccines have now been locally authorised and are available on website for use from the 1 July - NHS England — London » Immunisations
new flyer: Why is the childhood vaccination programme changing flyer - Health Publications
publication for the Childhood Vaccination Schedule Changes from 1 July 2025
eligibility calculator: Childhood immunisation eligibility calculator - Health Publications.

Vaccination and Screening Leadership Bulletin

The bulletin contains various updates:

the new ‘Your guide to NHS cervical screening’ information leaflet
NHS to roll out HPV self-testing for under-screened
cervical screening non-responder reports

A guide to cervical sceening is available online.

NHS England London region introduces HPV self-screening pilot

NHS England London region will introduce HPV self-screening to women and people with a cervix from age 25 to 64 who never or have rarely attended cervical screening. This will be introduced from the summer of 2025. It follows publication of the YouScreen Study which demonstrates that HPV self-screening could reduce inequalities and is cost effective. Offering HPV self-screening has shown to be acceptable to under screened people who may face barriers such as pain, embarrassment and inconvenience.

In Phase 1 of this service improvement pilot, 20,000 women will be offered HPV self-screening opportunistically in participating practices. Cancer Alliances will invite London practices to register interest in offering self-screening. This initiative is part of the NHS commitment to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040, which is dependent on improving cervical screening coverage rates to 70%.

A self-samping Q&A has been published.

For further information contact y.damanhuri1@nhs.net.

Community eye services

Primary Eyecare Services (PES) has been awarded a contract by NHS North West London to deliver an optometry led community eye care service following a procurement process. PES is a national not-for-profit optometry organisation, providing eye care services through local networks of optometry practices in the community. The NHS North West London service includes a:

Community Eye Service (CES), similar to a Minor Eye Conditions Service (MECS)
pre-cataract referral assessment
glaucoma referral filtering service.

The services are NHS funded and will be available to all patients registered with a north west London GPs practice ie. patients with a Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hounslow, Hillingdon, Kensington & Chelsea or Westminster GP.

Find out more including how patients can access the service and inclusion criteria.

A patient leaflet has been produced.

The veterans physical health and wellbeing service

Op RESTORE, the veterans physical health and wellbeing service is for anyone who has served at least one day in HM Armed Forces and who have continuing physical health injuries or related medical problems attributed to their time in the Armed Forces. It is for both former regulars and reservists.

The service uses a network of civilian and military consultants, along with welfare support from military charities, to support a veteran’s health using a holistic approach. A GP referral is required.

Find out more about the service and how residents can access it.

Help to improve cancer conversations with patients in primary care

RM Partners North West and South West London Cancer Alliance is seeking feedback from clinicians who refer patients on an Urgent Suspected Cancer pathway (USC) on how to better support conversations between you and patients who are worried about possible cancer symptoms.

Findings from the 2023 National Cancer Patient Experience Survey show patients - particularly those aged 45 – 54, males, or those from South Asian and Black ethnic backgrounds, often wait 3+ months before seeking help and may need multiple appointments before a referral.

They want to reduce delays and help patients feel confident discussing symptoms with their GP or healthcare professional. Your insights will help support patients to have meaningful consultations ensuring timely cancer referrals.

Please complete the short survey by 31 July 2025.

Supporting cervical screening in GP practices – Standard Operating Procedure available

New national changes to the cervical screening programme come into effect from 1 July 2025. To support this, a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been developed for cervical screening in north west London.

A dedicated cervical screening webpage is available in the professionals’ section of the ICB website. It includes full details of the changes to the screening programme and the SOP, which is designed to support GP teams in delivering high-quality, consistent cervical screening services.

The SOP includes guidance on:

staff training and competency
sample taker database
electronic sample requesting
managing screening incidents.

This SOP is a key resource to help practices deliver safe, inclusive and effective cervical screening.

Visit the NHS North West London cervical screening SOP webpage to download the document and access support tools.

Cervical screening clinical template updated

The cervical screening template for SystmOne and Emis has been updated to reflect recommendations from the national guidance. This ensures:

accurate coding and data collection to support targeted population health management
accurate and concise documentation of discussions during consultations and results management
easier options for recording call and recall options (verbal, SMS, letter, email)
accessible links for professional and patient resources.

Learn more about when the template will be available and where you will be able to find it.

EMIS Local Services for Pharmacy First now active

We are pleased to inform EMIS practices that EMIS Local Services has been successfully activated in all practices across north west London by Optum.

This activation supports the new Pharmacy First service, enabling you to refer patients with common conditions directly to community pharmacies via Local Services in EMIS Web.

Read about the key benefits and relevant training opportunities.

Upgrade of GP desktops - reminder

Windows 10 will be end of life (eol) on 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 so the upgrade of your desktops to Windows 11 is mandatory.

NHS North West London IT have begun scheduling practice upgrades to begin in July. These upgrades will take place overnight so we will be asking you to leave your desktops on and logged out to minimise disruption.

Find out more and how you will be supported.

Fully integrated radiology requesting Clinical Decision Support Tool

On Monday 7 July 2025, the Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Tool piloted in Hillingdon and London North West University NHS Trust incorporating the NHS North West London guidelines for imaging requests made through the Integrated Clinical Environment (ICE) system will be enabled for all GPs referring into Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. This is fully integrated with ICE requesting and provides point-of-care advice to the clinician on the most appropriate imaging for their patient.

Find out more.

Berkshire and Surrey Pathology Services system upgrade (Hounslow only)

The old Berkshire and Surrey Pathology Services Trust Integration Engine (TIE) will be upgraded over the next 5 weeks, staggered by application to minimise operational disruption. This is an essential upgrade as the TIE has become increasing unstable.

During this upgrade there will be short (10 minute) pause while request and results messages for pathology services queued. After 10 minutes, requests and results will available as normal. The changes will take place between 10am and 2.30pm and will happen no more than once per day.

Find out more.

Education and training