10 December 2020

Action: Read the latest information online or attached about wave one mobilisation of the covid-19 vaccination programme, shared by NHSE with PCN leads

The NHS will be the first healthcare system in the world to offer the COVID-19 vaccine to those most at risk. We recognise the scale and the complexity of this vaccination programme make it one of the greatest challenges the NHS has ever faced, and we are grateful for your continued efforts.

It is crucial we start to activate local vaccination services to allow priority patient cohorts to start accessing the vaccine. The attached documents outline how this will be done locally and timeframes for doing so.

• Action: Read the letter sent to each PCN nationally from NHSE here
• Action: Read the template sent to each PCN nationally from NHSE, to be used as a contract for those practices willing to be part of the vaccine programme. This contract is called the COVID-19 ES Vaccination Collaboration Agreement
• Action: Read the enhanced service specification for the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines

Action: Roll out of the Covid-19 vaccine is imminent in NWL London, starting with at risk groups (including teams visiting care homes to administer vaccines). See the latest summary below.

When the NHS in NW London receives the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine, the vaccinations will start with at-risk groups and will take place at the most appropriate settings to encourage uptake. This will include the teams visiting care homes in each locality to administer vaccinations.   

Early quantities of vaccine available are limited and as more vaccines become available we will be in contact with staff and local residents for the next stage of the rollout. Prioritisation of the vaccine will follow advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

Action: If your GP practice needs additional flu vaccine stock, order using the link below

The initial allocation of QIVe, QIVc and QIVr (Flublok) which was allocated to GP practices has now been ordered by them. In response to this demand, additional doses of QIVc have been made available. If GP practices need further stock, they should now order Adjuvanted Trivalent Influenza Vaccine (aTIV) for those over 65 years old or QIVc (cell-grown quadrivalent influenza vaccine) for all those under 65 years old, including at risk patients.  If a practice has obtained stock of QIVr (Flublok), they can use this for all cohorts.

Click here to order additional stock

Seqirus are the only provider with stock available so we urge practices who may require more to order asap i.e. today – please see page 8 of the link for ordering details.

Action: Share the Your COVID Recovery resource with patients who have symptoms of long Covid-19

Progress is being made on establishing support for people experiencing symptoms of Long COVID, including Long COVID assessment services and the Your COVID Recovery interactive web-based programme, developed to support the recovery of individuals recovering from COVID-19.

Your Covid-19 Recovery is an online platform, with two offers:

• General information on all aspects of recovering from COVID-19 including physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing.
• An online, interactive rehabilitation platform specifically for patients with post-COVID syndrome, that is tailored for individuals and requires referral and face to face assessment from a healthcare professional.

NICE, SIGN and RCGP are due to publish guidance on Long COVID before the end of the year. You can read more about what this guidance will cover on the NICE website.

Action: Read the updated anticipatory medication guidance for NWL, which includes new information on community pharmacies and national and local guidance.

Patients coming towards the end of life may experience new or worsening symptoms for which they require urgent medication. It is essential that these patients and the healthcare professionals looking after them have immediate access to the medicines that can help them if their condition deteriorates or symptoms occur suddenly.

For this cohort, it is important to ensure that suitable anticipatory medicines and routes are prescribed as early as possible. The attached guidance explains details around this medication and management planning.

Action: Share the translated mythbuster documents and videos to help promote the flu vaccine (Somali, and Arabic can be found here)

We have new videos in English, Arabic, Somali and Polish and translated mythbusters available to support your promotion of the flu vaccine for adults, pregnant women, those with LTHC, and children aged 2-3.

With many thanks to our GPs and clinicians for their support with production of these videos, please see links below and translations attached. See video links also included below

English

Dr Owuama (GP) – flu immunisation for adults: https://youtu.be/09i4Qn_YNc8

Dr Ranj Singh (NHS & TV doc) flu jab for pregnant women: https://bit.ly/drranj-flu-pregnancy

Dr Yasmin Razack (GP) – flu and long term health conditions:  https://bit.ly/drrazak-flu-lthc

Dr Vicky Cooney (GP) nasal flu spray for children: https://bit.ly/VickyCooneyFlu2-3

Vanessa Andreae: (practice nurse) flu jab for adults: https://youtu.be/ng06Ympr0B0

FirstCare HIYOS practice in Hounslow (GP team) flu jab for adults: https://youtu.be/uYIA-usDZbM

Arabic

Dr Bashir (GP) – flu jab for adults: https://youtu.be/ET_q764ctGA
Dr Bashir (GP) – nasal flu spray for children: https://youtu.be/H-3N1LLGR3Q  

Somali

Salma (Practice Nurse) – nasal flu spray for children: https://youtu.be/B2XOznQLEKI

Polish

Marta (care coordinator) – flu jab for adults: https://youtu.be/CflkMU3p2b0  

Marta (care coordinator) – nasal flu spray for children: https://youtu.be/GlgkWbD57eM  

Action: Use interim code for 50-64 cohort with vaccination

Whilst awaiting instruction from NHSE on coding to use for the 50-64s patient group, NWL suggest using the following coding in the interim to avoid any coding confusion with the under 65s at risk group.

Action: Read the key messages from the NHS and primary care in NW London here

This week we would like to flag the upcoming online training sessions

Date: Friday 11^th December

Time: 2-3pm

Title: Diagnosing ovarian cancer

Provider of training: Gateway C, a free online cancer education platform

gatewayc.org.uk

Register: sign up here https://bit.ly/3pZFAZf 

The webinar will cover:

• The challenges of diagnosing ovarian cancer in primary care
• Common symptoms and presentations of ovarian cancer
• Key risk factors
• Essential primary care investigations

 There will be live Q&A session at the end.

Date: Monday 14^th December

Time: 7-8pm

Title: NWL Covid-19 - the Pathways

Location: MS Teams Live here

The webinar will cover

• Testing 
• Remote Monitoring 
• Long Covid
• Vaccination &
• Xmas cheer!

Date: Monday 14^th December

Time: 19:00 – 20:00

Title: Webinar on Hot Hub and Respiratory Packs

Provider of training: WLCCG Training Hub for NWL

Topics will include:

• Hot Hub and Respiratory Pack
• We will also be covering pathways & long Covid-19
• Live Q&A

Presented by Dr Sarah Elkin, Clinical Director of Integrated Care ICNT & SRO for Respiratory Medicine

Please join the meeting via this link:- Link to Hot Hub and Respiratory Pack webinar