Welcome to this week's primary care bulletin

Key points this week include:

• updates on the NHS New Medicine Service
• welcome to the November edition of the NW London BCYP Bulletin
• single Enhanced Service contract payment for October 2025 delayed
• SMS patient messaging update – September 2025 
• GP X-ray service at Hillingdon Hospital
• direct access for MRI head imaging
• radiology clinical decision support software changes
• piloting digital appointment letters
• Single Point of Access - inner London service unavailable due to away day 
• World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week, 18 - 24 November 2025

Education and training:

• Lunch and Learn Cardiac Rehab webinar
• lipid management in primary care - recent updates
• lung cancer screening webinar
• addressing systemic discrimination sessions
• non-clinical practice staff cervical screening webinars
• free Microsoft training links on digital and data information
• join learning sessions - embedding the people promise in general practice

If you have any submissions for this bulletin please email them to the communications inbox - nhsnwl.communications.nwl@nhs.net. View previous editions.


Please note the deadline for submissions is 3pm each Monday.

Updates on the NHS New Medicine Service

The update briefing document includes the news that NHS England have confirmed that NHS New Medicine Service has been expanded to include depression as a further eligible condition for which patients can receive support. Adults aged 18 and over who are newly prescribed common antidepressants — such as Citalopram, Escitalopram, Fluoxetine, Paroxetine, Sertraline, Duloxetine, or Mirtazapine — can now access additional advice and support from their local pharmacist. This support will cover medication guidance, healthy lifestyle changes, and help in understanding treatment options.

Welcome to the November edition of the NW London BCYP Bulletin

The bulletin is your monthly snapshot of key updates, events and initiatives supporting babies, children and young people across our region. From health equity and education to mental health and immunisation, this issue highlights the collaborative work making a difference across north west London. 

Single Enhanced Service contract payment for October 2025 delayed

Please note, due to the implementation of the new NHS ledger system (ISFE2), the monthly Single Enhanced Service contract payment for October 2025, has been delayed.

Please accept our apologies for this delay, we aim for payment to be processed and with PCNs by 31 October 2025.

This should not impact future monthly payment runs, but will update if further delays are expected whilst we complete the full system implementation. 

SMS patient messaging update – September 2025 

From April 2025, the SMS allocation was reduced to 30p per patient, as agreed by NHS North West London under a three-year business case. This change has been previously communicated via bulletins, emails, and webinars, and shared with the Local Medical Committee. The attached September SMS data dashboard shows usage by GP practices across Accurx and clinical systems, including online consultation providers. It excludes self-funded providers and those not on the same gateway. The dashboard also includes NHS App message volumes. 

Please note that across north west London GP practices have spent £741,101, which is very close to the annual allocation of £891,000. The NHS North West London Finance Team will begin to process recharge payments once the total is exceeded NHS North West London has asked all GP practices to review and complete the MOU attached, which confirms that once practices exceed the 30p per patient allocation, they will be charged for additional SMS use. These charges will appear on your PCSE statement with advance notice given. 

The dashboard provides forecasts to help practices plan ahead, including when and by how much they may exceed the allocation. Historical data shows SMS volumes peak in October, January, and February. We have factored this into the forecast. Last year’s spend is included for reference, informing whether practices exceeded the previous 45p allocation.
  
What does the ICB fund for GP practices?

North West London ICB has committed to fund SMS costs in Primary Care, for three years (from April 2023 - March 2026). This funding covers:

• license costs for Accurx for 3 years for all GP practices in north west London
• 67.5 million SMS fragment costs over the 3 years. The number of fragments that are funded reduces each year.

The total ICB budget for text messaging covers various components, including:

• AccurX SMS Fragments
• clinical system messages (TPP and EMIS)
• PATCHs generated SMS
• eConsult generated SMS (in Ealing only)
• Accurx Plus licenses, AccuBook functionality. 

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the Digital Transformation and Delivery team.

GP x-ray service at Hillingdon Hospital
 
Maintenance works will be taking place in the X-ray department on Thursday 13 November and Friday 14 November 2025 at Hillingdon Hospital.

This means that patients referred by their GP may experience some delays when visiting us. 

Please advise your patients to attend the X-ray service at Mount Vernon Hospital as they are likely to be seen more promptly. This is open Monday to Friday, 9am - 5pm, except bank holidays.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Direct access for MRI Head imaging
 
North west London acute trusts will be providing GP direct access to MRI Head for people with symptoms not meeting the threshold for an urgent suspected cancer referral from 3 November 2025.

This guidance is distinct from NG12 but should be considered alongside it. 

The guidance is for patients where the level of clinical suspicion does not quite fulfil the NG-12 criteria for suspected intracranial malignancy. Where patients do fulfil NG-12 guidance they should continue to be referred along the standard urgent suspected cancer/2 week wait (2WW) pathway. 

Detailed guidance on when and how to refer, and where to obtain referral advice, can be found in a document.

Radiology clinical decision support software changes

For primary care radiology diagnostic referrals into London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust and Hillingdon Hospital from Monday 3 November 2025 changes are being made to the way their radiology diagnostic clinical decision support software operates with the Integrated Clinical Environment (ICE). 

This will be used for all referrals through ICE and cannot be bypassed as previously. 

Please use the most appropriate guideline. You can still choose to override the guideline advice given and request if the exam is needed. If the clinical need is complex and varies from the guideline give the additional information in ICE. 

If you have any general feedback on this change, please contact the North West London Imaging Network.

Piloting digital appointment letters at Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham)

Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (CLCH)  pilots digital appointment letters for patients in Inner North West London in Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster.

CLCH is introducing a new digital appointment letter system to improve how patients receive their communications.They are piloting this approach with their adult podiatry patients in Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster.

The trust's letter to clinicians provides further information. You can also download the patient communication on the changes.

Single Point of Access - inner London service unavailable due to away day 

Please note, Single Point of Access – inner London service will be unavailable between Thursday 20 November 2025, 1 - 5pm. This is due to an all staff training event.

Please continue to send in your queries via email and this will be dealt with when the service resumes at 9 am on Friday 21 November 2025. Patients can email on clcht.bookingsupport@nhs.net. Clinicians/referrers can email on clcht.spa@nhs.net. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. 

If you have any queries related to the above, please contact SPA on 020 8102 5555 or email clcht.spa@nhs.net.

World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week, 18 - 24 November 2025

The 2025 theme, Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future, encourages everyone to educate themselves about antimicrobial resistance (AMR), advocate for bold commitments, and take concrete actions to combat AMR. By making informed choices, we can help prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance and protect future health.

In north west London, a key objective is to improve awareness and understanding of AMR through effective guidance, communication, education and training.

Learn about top ten ways you can help to combat AMR and promote safer antimicrobial use and join awareness events in a document.

Lunch and Learn Cardiac Rehab webinar

The North London Cardiac Operational Delivery Network is excited to invite you to a Lunch and Learn Cardiac Rehab webinar on Tuesday 9 December 2025, 12 - 1pm. 

Join expert cardiac rehab specialists for a practical, case-based session designed for community and primary care colleagues across London on what every primary care team should know about cardiac rehabilitation. 

Find out more and book now via Teams Events.

Lipid management in primary care - recent updates

You are invited to join this upcoming webinar on Wednesday 26 November 2025, 1 - 2pm. 

In this session, we will focus north west London lipid guidelines ensuring alignment with current standards of care, and the associated novel therapies, amongst other areas. You will hear from Dr Mohammed Haidar, North West London ICS Clinical Lead for Cardiovascular and Renal Disease and Dr Jai Cegla, Consultant in Metabolic Medicine, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and NHS England clinical advisor. 

Find out more about the session and register now.

Lung cancer screening webinar

Join Dr Mohsin Choudry, GP Prevention and Screening Lead and Jane Derbyshire, Senior Project Manager at RM Partners, to learn more about:

• progress on roll out and coverage
• reach and outcomes across 14 boroughs
• the GP toolkit and management of incidental findings
• patient experience and pathway case studies.

The webinar takes place via Teams on Tuesday 25 November 2025, 1 - 2pm. Book now on the South West London Training Hub website.

Addressing systemic discrimination sessions

RM Partners north west London and South West London Cancer Alliance are delighted to organise additional (CPD Accredited) Addressing Systemic Discrimination and Reducing Inequalities Across the Cancer Pathway development sessions delivered by Health Innovation Network South London and Brap. These sessions are open to all those working in general practice across north west London and south west London boroughs.

The sessions will take place on 4 and 5 February 2026. The poster contains further information and booking information.

Non-clinical practice staff cervical screening webinars

Non-clinical staff are welcome to learn about new developments in cervical screening and refresh their knowledge.

Various dates/times available. Please share the leaflet with practice staff.

Free Microsoft training links on digital and data information

The ICB Workforce Transformation Programme has compiled a list of free Microsoft training links on digital and data information.

The links are available in accordance with your level of digital training needs such as the Microsoft 365 Training Centre, Teams training, Outlook training, data analytics, Azure and much more.

Take a look at this learning resource for more information.

Join learning sessions - embedding the people promise in general practice

Whether you're new to this work or already beginning to embed the People Promise, these sessions offer an opportunity to learn, gain expert guidance and connect with others to share experiences and best practice.

There are various sessions taking place over the next few months. A document contains further information and session booking details.