COVID-19: 10th November round-up for primary care
COVID vaccination programme
Rapid progress is being made on the development of a Covid vaccine and primary care will play a critical role in the national roll out. NHS England and NHS Improvement has agreed with the BMA General Practitioners Committee that a vaccination service will be nationally commissioned as an enhanced service (ES).
Our plans for deployment of a COVID-19 vaccine builds on the tried-and-tested rollout plans for influenza vaccine, which we deploy every autumn. Given the uncertainty over whether, and when, a vaccine may be approved, we are planning to be ready from any date from December.
Where a practice agrees to participate in this enhanced service, it will need to work collaboratively with other practices to deliver vaccinations in PCN groupings, and we anticipate at least one site being designated initially per PCN grouping. Those sites will need to collaborate with other community vaccination providers, as part of a co-ordinated local approach.
We are asking PCN groupings who wish to participate to submit (using the specified form) to the CCG no later than Tuesday 17 November 2020.
Further details on the designation process and the key features of the specification are on our website. We know you will have lots of questions and we will do all we can to support you to deliver one of the most important vaccine programmes the NHS has ever delivered.
We will be holding a webinar on 12 November at 7pm to talk you through the initial planning.
We also see community pharmacy playing an important role in the vaccine programme and we will have further information on this in the coming days.
Thank you in advance for your commitment and support.
Mink-variant SARS-CoV-2 virus in Denmark
Denmark was removed from the UK travel corridors list on Friday 6 November and any travellers from Denmark returning to the UK will now be required to self-isolate for 14 days according to the national guidance and legislation. A new CAS alert was issued to highlight some immediate actions for the NHS, including all primary care providers.
The National Health Service (Charges and Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 - changes to the terms of service for pharmacy contractors
A number of changes to the terms of service for pharmacy contractors came into effect on 9 November 2020. These include requirements regarding accessing the Summary Care Record, updating NHS website and Directory of Services profiles, accessing NHSmail and facilitating remote access to services. Contractors must register their premises specific NHSmail account with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to receive Central Alerting System (CAS) notifications. We have managed a bulk upload of premises specific NHSmail accounts to the MHRA CAS system and will be following up outstanding pharmacies who will have a requirement to register manually. We will be producing further guidance on these changes.
Importance of flu vaccinations for people with a learning disability
Community pharmacy teams are being asked to ensure people with a learning disability (and autistic people in an at-risk group) receive their flu vaccinations as a priority cohort alongside people over 65 and pregnant women. Particular attention is being paid this year to making sure that everyone with a learning disability who requests their free flu vaccination within a community pharmacy setting receives one. New easy read resources have been produced to help with communications.
COVID-19 vaccination in community pharmacy
Sir Simon Stevens has announced that community pharmacy will have a role working within primary care networks in delivering a COVID-19 vaccination programme when a vaccine becomes available. A COVID-19 vaccination is likely to be commissioned as a local enhanced service in the first instance. Further details will be published in the near future.
Self Care Week 16 – 22 November
Self Care Week is an opportunity to promote self care messages and help people to ‘live self care for life’. We are encouraging community pharmacies across the country to support their communities to take care of their health and wellbeing through self care.
The Self Care Forum has provided resources for download which include posters, fact sheets, leaflets and a ‘last minute activity guide for pharmacists’.
COVID-19: 13th November round-up for primary care
Yesterday marked the beginning of Diwali, a five-day festival of lights. It symbolises "victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance" which is an incredibly powerful and important message. We’d like to wish the millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains around the world who celebrate this festival a happy Diwali filled with love, hope and happiness.
COVID-19 update and guidance
The Chief Medical Officers, the General Medical Council and Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and ourselves, have written to doctors including general practice providing a COVID-19 wave two update and collective support to the profession. Similarly, the Chief Dental Officers have written to the dental profession with a similar message and a letter from the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer will be sent to community pharmacy colleagues.
COVID-19 Vaccination Programme 2020/21
Due to an error, the site designation form has been updated and is now available on our website. PCN groupings will need to submit this form to the CCG no later than Tuesday 17 November with the details of the site (or sites) initially being nominated for designation and the names and contact details of all of the practices collaborating within the PCN (and with other local non-PCN member practices or PCNs as Classification: Official Publication approval reference: 001559 appropriate) who have agreed that the nominated site will be used to administer COVID-19 vaccinations to their patient population under the Enhanced Service.
Reminder of dates:
- PCN groupings to advise CCGs of nominated site for designation Tuesday 17 November
- CCGs complete designation assessment process for nominated sites and submit recommendations to NHS England and NHS Improvement regional teams Thursday 19 November
- NHS England and NHS Improvement decision communicated to PCN groupings along with formal commissioner offer to practices with access to an approved designated site to sign up to deliver the Enhanced Service Monday 23 November
All the documents associated with the above can be found on our website.
The CQC have also published some advice on registration requirements for those delivering the flu and COVID-19 vaccination programmes.
We will be hosting a webinar for primary care networks, general practice, CCGs and community pharmacy on Wednesday 18 November at 1pm to talk in more detail about the COVID-19 vaccination programme. If you have previously signed up to our general practice webinars, there is no need to sign up again but for those who have not joined us before, please register for this event.
Further information on the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme
This workspace provides a community for colleagues across the country who are working to deliver the COVID-19 vaccination in primary care. We will be regularly updating the space with resources, webinars, links to key policy document and for you to ask questions, learn and share from others using the discussion forum. If you are not already a member, please register to join the platform using an NHS or similar professional email address by emailing: P_C_N-manager@future.nhs.uk.
World Antibiotic Awareness Week: 18 – 24 November 2020
World Antibiotic Awareness Week (WAAW) aims to avoid the further emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance by improving awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance through effective communication, education and training.
Community pharmacies can make a big difference to antimicrobial stewardship. Public Health England has produced a campaign pack for community pharmacies as part of the ‘Keep Antibiotics Working’ campaign. Further resources can be accessed on the World Health Organisation website.
COVID-19 messaging resources available for community pharmacies
Community pharmacies are being encouraged to use the NHS patient-facing communications assets which have been produced to support pharmacy teams during the COVID-19 pandemic. The resources include images for use on in-pharmacy digital screens, websites and social media channels, and some key messages. These include: ‘safe distancing’, ‘please treat staff with respect’ and ‘order your usual quantities’ messages.
Flu vaccination messaging resources available
To help answer questions you may be getting on flu vaccine availability, Public Health England has created a new two page leaflet. It explains there is enough vaccine available for all eligible groups and why, if a person is eligible, they may be asked to wait for their vaccine. Assets to support the flu vaccination campaign are still available to download on the Campaign Resource Centre.
Video consultations – translated resources now available
Translated versions of ‘Video consulting with your NHS’, a quick guide to video consultations for patients, have been added to our website. This is a visual resource intended to support patients use video technology for their appointments, the guide is relevant to any technology and any clinical setting and is now also available to download in Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Italian, Polish, Punjabi, Romanian and Urdu.
Dates for diary: Wednesday 18 November, 1pm - 2.30pm.
COVID-19 vaccination programme