COVID-19: 1st December round-up for primary care
Planning for the delivery of the COVID vaccine continues at pace. On Friday we published details of how community pharmacy can support the vaccination programme. The guidance outlines how pharmacies can submit applications to be local vaccination centres as well as other ways to support the vaccination programme. We are looking for site submissions by Sunday 6 December.
Community pharmacy will have an important role in a potential COVID-19 vaccination programme. Please join us for our next webinar at 6pm on 2 December to find out more about the urgent preparations underway and how selected contractors will be able to provide a vaccination service from pharmacy-led designated sites. Sign up here.
Today we have published the Enhanced Service Specification for Primary Care Networks who have received confirmation that they will be local vaccination centres, alongside a letter about the next steps. Many PCNs have come forward and we are very grateful for the support and commitment to making this happen in such a short space of time.
Christmas and New Year period
We recognise that everyone in primary care has made a huge commitment this year to ensure their patients continue to access the services they need. This includes working weekends, bank holidays and through religious holidays and festivals. We are extremely grateful and recognise the need to preserve public holidays has never been more important, providing some additional and much needed time to recharge.
Your local commissioners have been planning weekend and bank holiday cover arrangements for this coming Christmas and New Year period. The possibility that all primary care (general practice, community pharmacy, dentistry and optometry) could again be asked to routinely open to meet surge demands from the combined challenges this winter has naturally been kept under review, but we can confirm there are currently no such plans. Local commissioners and primary care providers can therefore continue to plan on the basis of their planned cover arrangements. If you have volunteered or agreed to provide such cover, thank you and we hope you will find some time to recharge too!
The Enhanced Service for the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme is a seven-day service but the delivery demands of this will be vaccine supply led. While the timescale for supply remains uncertain, providers will be given 10 days’ notice.
PHE publishes COVID-19 vaccine guidance for health and social care workers
Public Health England (PHE) has published new guidance to support frontline workers in delivering the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine to the most vulnerable. The new training and information materials are designed to help train and inform the workforce who will deliver the COVID-19 vaccine. They include new COVID-19 vaccine e-learning modules, COVID-19 vaccinator training recommendations and a competency assessment tool.
Free supply of vitamin D for clinically extremely vulnerable people
The Government has written to people on the Shielded Patient List (SPL) advising them of the latest advice on how they can stay as safe as possible. Updated ‘additions’ letters for sending to patients newly added to the SPL will shortly be available on the NHS Digital website and in GP IT systems.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced that a free four-month supply of daily vitamin D supplements will be offered to those that are Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) and care home residents to support general health, in particular bone and muscle health. All care homes will automatically receive a provision for their residents, while individuals on the CEV list will receive a letter inviting them to opt in for a supply to be delivered directly to their homes from January 2021.
DHSC has published guidance on how to take these supplements safely, which all CEV patients should read before deciding whether to opt in. This includes advice that people who already take a prescription or a supplement containing vitamin D should not opt in to receive the supplement. It also advises that people with certain medical conditions or treatments should not opt in and should speak to their GP or healthcare professional at their next appointment.
The announcement also highlighted current UK government advice for everyone to take a daily 10 microgram vitamin D supplement over Autumn and Winter encouraging everyone to purchase products from retailers.
Public leaflet on the extended 2020 to 2021 flu vaccination programme for 50-64 year olds
50-64 year olds become eligible for a free flu vaccination today (1 December). Public information has been published with information about the extended programme, including a leaflet that is available to order from Public Health England.
Expediting flu vaccination for healthcare workers
We are asking all healthcare workers to make sure they have had their flu vaccination as soon as possible. Taking this easy but important step will help protect yourself, your family and our patients from flu this winter. Responsibility for offering a free flu vaccination to frontline health care workers rests with the employer, as part of their occupational health responsibility. It is recommended that NHS independent contractors, which include dental teams, general practice, pharmacists and optometrists, offer vaccination to their employed staff. A dental professional who is employed by an NHS trust would have their flu vaccine provided by that NHS trust. Staff who are in a ‘at-risk’ group will be eligible for a free flu vaccine under the flu programme.
This will also ensure the NHS is also in the best possible position to vaccinate staff for COVID-19 when a vaccination becomes available.
Supporting pharmacy professionals through the second wave of COVID-19
Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England Keith Ridge, along with the UK’s three other Chief Pharmaceutical Officers and the regulators, have written to the profession thanking it for its hard work to date and supporting pharmacy teams through the second wave of COVID-19.
The joint letter supports and recognises the pressures pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy teams are facing and reminds them to continue to use their professional judgement to ensure patients receive safe care. Employers are asked to continue to support staff to do so and to have a flexible approach.
The letter also reassures students and pre-registration trainees that their long-term prospects won’t be compromised by the pandemic.
Community pharmacy can help boost recruitment into community based COVID research study
Community pharmacy continues to play a critical role in serving local communities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. PRINCIPLE calls on the support of pharmacists and pharmacies to spread the message to help recruit participants, aged 50 and over with symptoms of COVID-19, to join a study on whether early treatment in the community speeds up recovery and reduces the need for hospitalisation.
The UK led innovative study design enables people from anywhere in the UK to register and participate in the trial entirely remotely. 2,000 participants have been recruited so far, but many more are needed. COVID-19 symptomatic individuals should not go to their pharmacy and potential participants should self-screen via the website to join the study.
COVID-19: 3rd December round-up for primary care
Following the approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, doses will be available from next week to administer to the priority list of patients and staff. This is a vital first step in the vaccination programme. We now need all parts of the system to be ready to support the rapid vaccine rollout. Further information for primary care will follow as soon as it is available.
COVID-19: the Green Book provisional guidance
The Green Book has the latest information on vaccines and vaccination procedures, for vaccine preventable infectious diseases in the UK. Public Health England has provisionally published the Green Book, chapter 14a.This chapter includes information on the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines, the dosage and schedule for the UK, recommendations for the use of the vaccine. This guidance is provisional subject to Medicines and Healthcare produces Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approval of vaccine supply.
DHSC COVID-19 related PPE Portal – update re: Christmas orders and delivery
The DHSC PPE Portal will be operational over Christmas. The portal delivery partners (Royal Mail and their Pallet Carrier) will not be delivering on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Orders made during this time should still be delivered within 5 days. However, the portal team plan to increase order limits prior to Christmas to allow providers to order more PPE in case there are any delays to deliveries over the Christmas period. The DHSC portal team have created a useful video guide for primary care providers ordering Covid-19 related PPE from the portal.
Updated documents on expansion of flu programme
A suite of documents has been updated and published on the gov.uk website to support you in delivering the flu programme for the 2020/21 season. These are:
- Guidance - Childhood flu programme: information for healthcare practitioners
- Guidance - Inactivated influenza vaccine: information for healthcare practitioners
- Flu vaccination: information about the extended programme – including public flyer
- Influenza vaccines for the 2020 to 2021 season – including ovalbumin content
- Statement on amendments to the annual flu letter 2020/21 season and summary table of which influenza vaccines to offer
- Campaign materials for the extended 2020 to 2021 flu vaccination programme for 50-64 year olds – including new marketing assets for this age group
GPhC announces dates for its registration assessment exam for provisionally registered pharmacists
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has announced dates for the registration assessment exam for those who were provisionally registered as pharmacists in July 2020, due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The assessments will take place online on 17 and 18 March at approved test centres. Candidates can apply to sit the assessment through their GPhC accounts. GPhC is creating a new assessment web page on its’ main site, which will include FAQs, details of a forthcoming webinar and practical information about the assessment and the application process, which opens in January.
