21 August 2020

All documents can be found here

Dear colleague

Please find below the latest GP update regarding Covid-19. If you are receiving this update as a practice manager, please make sure you do share it with your colleagues, including sessional GPs.

You can view the North West London password-protected GP extranet homepage using the details below.

As always, you are advised to review the full list of Covid-19-related service changes, including restarts, on a regular basis, to ensure you have not missed any notices.

Website: https://www.nwlondonccg.nhs.uk/professionals/coronavirus-clinical

Password: NWLCovid-19

Today's update includes:

• Reminder: review of children on the shielded patient list 
• Message from Dr Fenella Wrigley, Chief Executive, London Ambulance Services
• North West London IT PCN workshops
• CLCH SPA phone line experiencing technical issues

Reminder: review of children on the shielded patient list

ACTION: Please ensure you have reviewed children on the shielded patient list (SPL) who are cared for within primary care with no on-going acute input, and removed them from the SPL as appropriate. View full protocol document and summary here.

- In a letter sent to acute providers and GPs on 8 July, the Department of Health and Social Care requested that GPs and hospital teams review all children on the shielded patient list over summer 2020, in light of new evidence from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) which shows the risk of serious illness for children and young people is low, and only those with the most severe conditions should now be considered clinically extremely vulnerable. Therefore, following clinical review, most children would be able to be removed from the shielded patient list. 

- As shielding guidance is currently paused in most of the country, children considered clinically extremely vulnerable have been advised since 1st August that they can return to school or education.  However, it is important to undertake this review and remove children from the list who no longer meet the more stringent criteria, so they are not asked to shield again in the future if there are local lockdowns or surges which reintroduce shielding.

- NW London acute trusts have a large role to play in the review and have been undertaking reviews with their patients over the last few weeks, providing weekly progress updates to the NW London-wide working group. 

- The specific ask to practices/PCNs is to use the WSIC Shielded Radar or GP records to examine the list of children (under 18 years of age) on the shielded patient list, and review those cared for within primary care with no on-going acute input, taking action to remove them from the SPL if appropriate, in line with the guidance in the linked document. For most practices this will be a very small number of children.

- A primary care summary of the full protocol has been created to aid completion of the process. Both the summary and full protocol are here.

- Advice and guidance is available from local paediatricians via telephone. There is also the opportunity to attend a ‘drop in’ session on MS Teams with representatives from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health if you have specific clinical questions about how to apply the guidance or example patient cases to present. This is taking place on 26 August from 4-5pm. Please email claire.wilson49@nhs.net to be added to the invite or click Join Microsoft Teams Meeting to join at the time of the event.

Message from Dr Fenella Wrigley, Chief Executive, London Ambulance Services

ACTION: Read the letter in full here

Following in the path of other English Ambulance Trusts, LAS will be moving from a paper Patient Report Form (PRF) to an electronic Patient Care Record (ePCR.). Neighbouring ambulance Trusts, namely East of England Ambulance Service and South East Coast Ambulance Service, use the same ePCR provider – Cleric ePCR – which has been well-received across both Trusts. 

For GPs in particular, there will be a number of benefits which include: 

• Allowing GPs access to a clear, concise and immediately digitised record of treatment and advice by LAS clinicians. 
• Providing secure electronic transfer of ePCR via a unique Case Summary Access Reference and PIN number, which can be supplied to GPs by LAS crews on scene with the patient. 
• Patients will be left with details of this access to their ePCR which they will be able to share with GPs. 
• Ability to record patient appropriate photos, e.g. skin lesions. 
• Care homes will also be provided with access to the ePCR.

North West London IT PCN workshops

ACTION: Sign up for the workshops as below

Our anticipation is that these workshops will help us to:

• jointly develop a detailed understanding of the core and emerging digital requirements of Primary Care Networks (PCNs) in NW London
• inform our strategic plans for the digital development of PCNs
• identify opportunities within existing systems and support structures
• highlight and articulate any challenges that will need to be addressed. 

We welcome participation from PCN Clinical Directors and colleagues working within PCNs who would like to contribute to these workshops. 

If you or your colleague/s would like to attend, please can you reply to Local Services at nwlccgs.localservices@nhs.net indicating in the table below which workshop/s you would like to attend and your preference for time of day. 

In preparation for these workshops, it would be helpful if you could share any existing plans, ideas and opportunities that your PCN is either already pursuing or would like to pursue, in respect to digital development. 

CLCH SPA phone line experiencing technical issues

ACTION: Use the email address below instead of the phone line until further notice

CLCH Single Point of Access Team is facing technical difficulties with its phone line (0208 102 5555). The senior technical colleagues are working on resolving the problem as a matter of urgency. In the meantime, CLCH asks external parties for enquires related to Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster boroughs to contact our team via CLCHT.SPA.Referral@nhs.net.