9 April 2020
All attachments can be found here
Dear colleague
Please find below the latest GP update regarding Covid-19. You will find this update with links to the files on the new North West London password-protected site page.
You can also review the full list of Covid-19 related service changes, to ensure you have not missed any notices.
Website: https://www.nwlondonccg.nhs.uk/professionals/coronavirus-clinical
Password: NWLCovid-19
Today’s update includes:
Easter Arrangements for General Practice in North West London: Update
ACTION: Treat Good Friday and Easter Monday as normal working days. The process for claiming additional costs over the Easter Bank holidays will be sent to practices asap, please keep your evidence/information in a safe place until you receive details.
We updated you on the 3rd April that NHSE/I had confirmed that the GP contract had been amended to identify Good Friday and Easter Bank Holiday Monday this year as normal working days for General Practice. This is so the NHS can manage the increasing demand together and ensure that all areas of the service are aligned to support that.
Practices should treat Good Friday and Easter Monday as normal working days providing essential services 8am to 6.30pm, managing non Covid-19 patients themselves using a total triage model and provide face to face consultations where deemed necessary. Practices should use the local referral pathways into their local Escalated Care Clinic arrangements for known or suspected Covid-19 patients.
Last night NHSE/I released details of levels of reimbursement for additional staff costs necessarily incurred on Good Friday and Easter Monday to maintain services as normal.
The additional reimbursement is for staff costs over and above the staff costs usually incurred for normal days.
It includes:
- Sessional GPs: up to a maximum of £250 a session or £500 per day;
- Overtime for salaried GPs in line with the individual’s contractual arrangements;
- Additional capacity from GP Partners to recognise up to two additional sessions on each of Good Friday and Easter Monday at a rate of £289 per session plus applicable employer National Insurance and pension costs;
- Overtime for non-GP practice staff in line with the individual’s contractual arrangements.
The process for claiming additional staff costs over the Easter Bank holidays will be sent to practices ASAP, so please keep your evidence/information at the ready until you receive those details.
All other areas of the NHS are also working as normal on Good Friday and Easter Monday and below are some key contacts should you need them.
Pharmacies
Patients should be using the My Health London website to find out about pharmacy opening times etc. Here is the link: http://www.myhealth.london.nhs.uk/
This will be updated later today to have the most current details (all will be updated by 19:00) to reflect the Bank Holiday hours.
IT Support
The Service Desk will be open Friday and Monday throughout the day, as well as on Saturday
morning (until 1pm). There will also be members of the Primary Care Systems Team available to support practices with EMIS Web and SystmOne on the Bank Holidays.
NW London Primary Care Team
The team will be available and as usual we would ask that you contact the generic mailbox in the first instance with queries nwlccg.lon-nw-pcc@nhs.net
Your CCG - Addresses & Contacts
CCG staff will be working across the bank holidays and we would recommend contacting your CCG generic email address with your queries as usual.
Guideline on emergency oxygen therapy to treat hypoxic patients with suspected Covid-19 within primary care
ACTION: View covering letter and guidance in full here using the password at the top of this email
As you will see from the covering letter and the guidance, please find attached Emergency oxygen guidance for primary care settings produced by the London Respiratory Clinical Network. This guide was produced for health care professionals working in hot sites with guidance on the use of emergency oxygen therapy to treat patients with hypoxaemia associated with suspected or confirmed Covid-19. It has been developed using the British Thoracic Society guidelines for Emergency Oxygen1 and expert clinical consensus across London.
Message from NHSEI: Update on identifying highest risk patients
On 3 April we wrote to you about the updated process for identifying your patients that are at highest clinical risk and need to shield.
Letters for any additional patients that have been identified centrally are now in the post and IT system suppliers are updating patient records to reflect this now. If you cannot already see the flags in your patient records, a letter to confirm how to access your flags will follow this bulletin. So that all highest risk patients are both identified and able to register for government support, please can you complete the review of your patient records by the end of Monday 13 April if you already have the flags in place.
Society for Endocrinology advice for patients who take replacement steroids
ACTION: View advice in full here using the password at the top of this email
The Society for Endocrinology has published advice for patients who take replacement steroids (hydrocortisone, prednisolone, dexamethasone or plenadren) for pituitary/adrenal insufficiency. Colleagues in the NHS have been in touch looking for advice relating to Covid-19. These resources should be useful for anyone using or caring for some using steroid replacement therapy for pituitary or adrenal disease.
Pharmacy opening times over Easter
The best way for members of the public to check local pharmacy opening times is to visit the 'My health London' website (the address is www.myhealth.london.nhs.uk), and type in their postcode. The service that they need, a list of what is available locally, and the relevant opening times will all be displayed.
