COVID-19: 26th January round-up for primary care
We know that in communities across the country, general practice and community pharmacy colleagues are working effectively together to provide care to the communities they jointly serve to support them through the pandemic, and we thank you for that. We are also hearing of fantastic collaboration between GP and pharmacy-led vaccination services in getting their local populations vaccinated as soon as possible.
We ask that both general practice and community pharmacy continue to support each other in this important joint programme. The Essential Service for general practice and the Local Enhanced Service for community pharmacy mirror each other as closely as possible, the item of service fee and training requirements are the same, clinical supervision is required for both, and both are working to the same standard operating procedures. By working together, we can ensure capacity and resilience in the system so that all communities can get access to the vaccination as quickly as possible.
Pharmacy Local Vaccination Services appointments are offered alongside appointments at the larger Vaccination Centres to patients booking via the National Booking Service. We are also trying to expedite the vaccination of frontline health and social care workers by allowing pharmacy Local Vaccination Services to vaccinate this cohort.
Thanking your colleagues
The Countess of Wessex spoke at the Lincolnshire GPN conference last week. She warmly thanked GP nurses and the NHS for the vaccination programme, and for the personal effect this has had for her.
Previously, we notified you of a ‘thank you letter’ template from Dr Nikki Kanani, addressed to the children of primary care colleagues. We have now developed a further three letters (for practice staff, front line staff and colleagues) which are also available to download and share. Each letter thanks our NHS colleagues for their continued support and dedication to the NHS and patients throughout the pandemic.
Community Champions to give COVID-19 vaccine advice and boost take up
The Government has announced over £23 million of funding has been allocated to 60 councils and voluntary groups across England to expand work to support those most at risk from COVID-19 and boost vaccine take up. The funding will also support areas to tackle misinformation and encourage take-up as the vaccination programme expands across the country.
New COVID-19 vaccine easy read leaflet
Public Health England has produced a COVID-19 vaccination easy read leaflet for people with a learning disability and their families and carers.
COVID-19 vaccine communication resources
Our communications resource pack includes key messages, guidance, templates and resources to share and engage with different audiences. It’s especially important to ensure that both patients and staff, when eligible, are getting the COVID-19 vaccination. This pack includes considerations for communicating with Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities about the vaccines.
Public Health England’s Campaign Resource Centre has lots of materials to communicate the progress and delivery of the COVID-19 vaccines which can be used to help increase take up of the vaccinations.
Supporting pharmacy professionals through the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England Keith Ridge, along with the UK’s three other Chief Pharmaceutical Officers and regulators, has written to the profession thanking colleagues and acknowledging the extreme pressures that pharmacy teams may be working under during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The joint letter asks employers, statutory education bodies, professional bodies and national NHS and health and social care organisations to continue to support pharmacy professionals at this time and thanks colleagues for their support of the COVID-19 vaccination programme and continued provision of essential services to patients and the public.
It also emphasises that frontline pharmacy workers are among the high priority groups identified by the JCVI for receiving a vaccine and health and care services are working hard to get this to them as soon as possible.
COVID-19: 28th January round-up for primary care
Nadhim Zahawi, Minister for COVID Vaccine Deployment, and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, have written to primary care staff to thank you for your incredible work delivering the COVID-19 vaccination programme, and specifically for rescheduling countless appointments with the change in dose interval policy. There are now over 1,000 Local Vaccination Services delivering the vaccine and the letter goes on to acknowledge the huge pressure you have been under as you worked at an extraordinary pace to deliver this hugely important programme.
We wrote to local vaccination sites yesterday to set out the next steps to vaccinate people living in older adult care homes and thank colleagues working in general practice who have made major progress vaccinating residents and staff.
In the last issue of the bulletin we also mentioned that the Countess of Wessex has thanked GP nurses and the NHS for the vaccination programme, and for the personal effect this has had for her. You can view this video here.
Vaccinating health and social care staff including those with no NHS number
We have written a further letter from all the chief professional officers to all frontline health and social care staff encouraging workers to protect themselves and others by getting the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible.
Vaccinating our frontline teams against COVID-19 is an absolute and immediate priority, as part of our shared commitment to offer the first vital dose to 100% of those within the first four JCVI priority groups by the middle of February.
NHS staff do not require an NHS number or GP registration to receive a vaccination and should never be denied one on this basis, either in person when presenting for a vaccine, or through design of booking systems. Please take immediate action to ensure this is not the case in your organisation.
If a member of staff does not have an NHS number, then employers should vaccinate now, record locally via a paper system and ensure that that the vaccination event is more formally documented later. NHS England and NHS Improvement are working to agree a longer-term solution, but employers should not wait for this before vaccinating.
Locum, agency and bank staff in qualifying roles must be given equitable access, and the contracting organisation has a duty of care to ensure these staff are offered a vaccination alongside substantive staff.
Helping locum staff to get their vaccination
The Pharmacists’ Defence Association has established a new portal to ensure that locum pharmacists are put forward for priority vaccination as frontline health and social care workers.
Pharmacist locums are being invited to register with the portal so that their details can be shared with the relevant CCGs so that locums can be contacted and called for vaccination alongside other frontline health and social care workers. This is to ensure this workforce is not missed. Locums and agencies concerned that locums may not have been picked up through other routes can use the portal to guarantee these frontline workers are captured. Pharmacy employers should be working with CCGs to identify their frontline health care staff for priority vaccination.
All locum/agency/bank staff across the health and care system can access vaccination via the local hospital hub. They may also be vaccinated alongside the clinical teams where they are working or in a pharmacy-led Local Vaccination Centre. We have asked appraisal teams to be aware of local booking links, so contact your appraisal office if you are having difficulty. A letter has also been sent to appraisals teams to contact all GP locums and was also addressed to CCGs to inform them to take into account locums for vaccination.
The NHS England and NHS Improvement letter and associated standard operating procedure makes clear that hospital hubs vaccinating frontline health and social care workers should work with CCGs which are responsible for collating information on eligible staff in all other healthcare settings, including primary care and independent providers in their systems. Both pharmacy and GP-led Local Vaccination Services can also offer COVID-19 vaccinations to eligible frontline health and social care staff.
Updated PCN vaccine planning and progress tracking tool
A new version of the PCN vaccine planning and progress tracking tool has now been launched on the LVS workspace in Foundry.
This updated version supports PCNs to plan their COVID-19 vaccination programmes for the AZ and Pfizer vaccines and users to calculate weekly vaccination capacity for each vaccine based on site and workforce scenarios. The tool also enables users to track progress with vaccination, including filters for different cohorts, delivery at each site against plan and progress with cohort coverage for PCNs, grouping population across different delivery methods (LVS, Hospital Hubs, Vaccination Centres). Users can also compare maximum daily historic delivery against peers in their STP as well as regionally and nationally.
A user guide is available to help you:
- get access to Foundry
- find the tool and utilise it
- feedback any challenges or suggestions for improvement
Please get in touch with simon.munk@carnallfarrar.com with any feedback or questions about the tool.
