Primary care bulletin - 20 August 2025

Seasonal influenza vaccine programme 2025-2026 service sign-up

As of Monday 18 August 2025, only 20 of our 330+ practices have indicated to NHS England London that they will be taking part in the adult and/or children’s influenza programmes for 2025-26.

As a matter of priority, can those practices who are yet to indicate their participation in these programmes please do so by filling out an MS teams form.

The CQRS service offers will only be released to those practices who have confirmed their intention to participate using the above form.

Please contact the NHSE London Immunisation Team with any queries in relation to the sign-up process at england.londonimms@nhs.net.

Deadline for primary care bulletin content - 27 August 2025 edition

Please note the deadline for submitting content is 3pm each Monday.

However, due to the bank holiday the submission deadline for the 27 August 2025 edition will be 12pm on 26 August 2025.

Please note that we reserve the right to hold content submitted after these deadlines for the following week's bulletin.

Support for staff distressed by events in Middle East

We know that many staff are deeply affected by the ongoing conflict in Gaza, where a number of innocent civilians, including children, have lost their lives, including patients and staff in healthcare facilities. We recognise that this is a distressing situation and would strongly encourage staff to seek support if they need it.

NHS Cervical Screening Programme – digital results launching September 2025

From September, NHS plans to start sending results from the NHS Cervical Screening Programme, utilising the NHS App.

In September, those who have a negative test result will be notified of this by an NHS App message. It will also appear as an NHS App notification. If the NHS App message isn’t read within 72 hours, a letter will be sent as a failsafe.

Abnormal result letters will continue for the time being to be delivered by post.

This change follows the successful rollout of digital invitations and reminders in June 2025, where since the launch, 9 out of every 10 invitations are being sent digitally, with the remainder being sent by post.

Important actions and notes for providers:

with immediate effect, please can sample takers inform patients attending cervical screening that from September their results may be delivered via the NHS App
we would be grateful for sample takers continued support in encouraging your patients to download the NHS App and turn on notifications
laboratories will no longer be able to stop a result communication being issued to a participant, once these files have been accepted by the Cervical Screening Management System.

Reporting clinical issues and concerns on the national patient safety reporting system

Please ensure any clinical issues/concerns are reported on the national patient safety reporting system (LFPSE), so emerging issues across north west London can be identified early. If you need any support setting up an account or linking your current patient safety recording system to LFPSE please email Primary Care Quality team.

Compatible systems include: Ulyssess, Radar healthcare, Datix, Inphase, Pharmsmart, Risksured, Vantage, Phoenix medical supplies.

Pharmacy opening hours over the bank holiday

NHS North West London has published a news story for patients about the opening hours for commissioned pharmacies. The story also provides details of how to find out the opening hours of other pharmacies.

Newly diagnosed Parkinson's patient information session

The newly diagnosed Parkinson's information session will be on Wednesday 15 October 2025, 1.30pm. The session will be held both in-person and online.

Share the further information and booking link with suitable patients.

A patient information pack and a resources document have been published for newly diagnosed patients.

Integrated Medicines Optimisation Committee - approved prescribing resources - July 2025

A number of guidelines were approved at the Integrated Medicines Optimisation Committee (IMOC) meeting on 16 July 2025.

If you have any questions or require further clarification, please contact your ICB pharmacist.

COVID-19 Seasonal Vaccination Programme – Autumn/Winter 2025

Identifying, inviting (or signposting) and vaccination of persons aged 6 months and over who are immunosuppressed.

In June 2025, the Government accepted final Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice and announced the cohort eligibility regarding a COVID-19 Autumn/Winter 2025/26 vaccination programme.

This means that a COVID-19 booster dose will be made available to individuals aged 6 months and over who are immunosuppressed, as defined in COVID-19: the green book, chapter 14a; Tables 3 and 4 (Greenbook chapter 14a).

The national call/recall service will invite and remind eligible people (including those who are immunosuppressed) to get their COVID-19 vaccination this Autumn/Winter 2025.

The NHS North West London COVID-19 website will be updated soon with the listings of confirmed vaccination centres and pharmacy sites within each borough, where people can book (from 1 September 2025) or walk-in for their COVID-19 booster vaccination from 1 October 25.

Please also note that not all sites offer vaccination to children, so patients should contact the site in advance if child vaccination is required.

Any patient querying where they can get a booster vaccination can be directed to this NHS North West London webpage (will be updated soon).

Actions required by all north west London GP practices

Locally, there are additional crucial steps that are required by all north west London GP practices to ensure that all individuals aged 6 months and over who are immunosuppressed are identified and contacted to receive a booster during this Autumn/Winter.

Medicines shortage notification: Shortage of antimicrobial agents used in Tuberculosis treatment issued 29 July 2025

A National Patient Safety Alert (NatPSA-2025-004-MVA) was issued on 29 July 2025 relating to the shortage of antimicrobial agents used in Tuberculosis. The alert provides clinical guidance and outlines mandatory actions that must be implemented to ensure patient safety during the disruption period. Find out more.

New Respiratory Syncytial Virus services to accept on Calculating Quality Reporting Service

Some services have now been offered out to GP Practices for participation. Find out more.

Upgrade of GP laptops

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 devices to Windows 11 is mandatory.

NHS North West London IT have begun upgrading primary care laptops in batches. We will remotely make a configuration change to your laptop that allows/forces it to download the Windows 11 upgrade from Microsoft directly to your device.

The configuration change depends on you accessing the corporate network over AnyConnect VPN. Please do this regularly if you don’t already do so.

Find out how the update will look and get further guidance.

Education and training