Important information for GP practices across Kent and Medway
Tuesday, 17 August 2021
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Covid vaccination programme
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Anti-vaccination protests
A range of information has previously been provided to support vaccine services in managing potential disruption from anti-vaccination protestors.
This information for vaccination services has now been put together by the CCG as a single briefing point for staff and volunteers working in vaccination teams.
Please make sure staff working in vaccination teams read it in full. If you have questions there is a contact email at the end.
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Actions for all practices to support vaccinating eligible 12-15 year olds
Further to the NHS letter of 5 August following the updated JCVI guidance for vaccinating children and young people, this letter provides detail on the actions that all practices need to take to help identify eligible 12-15 year olds (cohort 13) by 23 August 2021.
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Vaccinating children and young people
All providers offering Covid 19 vaccinations can now place orders for the following two leaflets:
The NHS has recently circulated these Frequently Asked Questions that will help you answer enquiries from patients both at vaccination clinics and at the practice.
Further resources relating to the vaccination programme are available on the government website.
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Thanet vaccination team partners with European Tour
Following their vaccination success at The Open, the Thanet Saga Covid-19 Vaccination Team has yet again delivered vaccines with golf's European Tour medical team.
Vaccinators, coders and volunteers from Dr Ash Peshen’s team swapped their Thanet-base for a conference room at Donnington Manor Hotel, Sevenoaks.
Players, caddies and their families, all came along to grab a jab last Monday (9 August) ahead of the Cazoo Classic at the London Golf Club.
Watch our team in action in this video shared on the European Tour's Twitter.
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Vaccinations for staff entering care homes
The Department of Health and Social Care has published guidance on new regulations which make COVID-19 vaccination a requirement for NHS staff entering care homes. This includes all staff in NHS commissioned services going into care homes. The regulations will come into force on 11 November to give care homes, services, and staff time to prepare.
While most NHS staff have been vaccinated, there are exemptions for those who have not, due to medical reasons. The guidance details the exemptions, which also include health service staff deployed for emergency response. Further advice for the NHS will follow. If you have any questions please email england.ageingwell@nhs.net.
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Clinical advice and support
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Change to requirements to self-isolate
From 16 July, fully vaccinated adults in the UK no longer have to self-isolate for 10 days if they're told they have been in close contact with a person who has Covid. This rule also applies to everyone under the age of 18 years.
Additionally in England, you do not have to self-isolate if you:
- are taking part (or have taken part) in an approved Covid-19 vaccine trial
- are not able to get vaccinated for medical reasons
If you are in any of these categories and you are in the middle of a self-isolation period, you do not have to continue.
You still need to self-isolate for 10 days if you:
- test positive for Covid-19 or start showing symptoms
- are an adult who has not been fully vaccinated and you are identified by contact tracers as a close contact of someone who has tested positive
- are an adult who lives with someone who tests positive (or has covid symptoms) and you are not fully vaccinated
- arrive in the UK from a red list country
- are an adult who has not been fully vaccinated and you arrive in the UK from an amber list country
Read the updated guidance for NHS staff from Public Health England.
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Bank holiday arrangements in primary care
We have previously asked practices who normally provide Extended Hours on a Monday to complete a very short questionnaire here.
This will provide us details of plans to deliver this capacity in either the week before or two weeks after the 30 August 2021.
We have also asked Extended Access (Improved Access) providers to advise us of the cover being provided over the August bank holiday weekend.
Thank you to those who have already completed the questionnaire. We would really appreciate if others could please arrange to complete it by this Friday (20 August 2021).
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NICE consultation on services for disabled children and young people
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has put out some draft consultation guidance regarding integrated service delivery for disabled children and young people. This can be found via the link here.
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Support while waiting for a dementia diagnosis
As waiting times for the memory assessment service are currently longer than usual, the Dementia Change Action Network has developed a Next Steps website to provide support to people and their families while waiting for their appointment.
There are four sections to the website:
- what to expect from a memory assessment
- taking care of wellbeing
- access to support, and
- what happens if a diagnosis of dementia is made.
The website is: https://www.nextsteps.org.uk
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The Kent and Medway Medical School - first year update
Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS) opened to its first cohort of 108 students in September 2020. Here is a report of the evaluation of the feedback given by the very first Medical Students based in the PCNs across Kent and Medway. Having read this report Professor Christopher Warwick, Primary Care Dean at KMMS, has sent this message to colleagues:
"I have just had the opportunity of reading a summary of the evaluation provided by the first cohort of KMMS Medical students placed within Primary Care and I would like to take this opportunity of congratulating you and to thank you for providing such a positively viewed experience for the students."
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New NHS cervical screening management system
NHS Digital continue to prepare for a smooth transition to the new NHS Cervical Screening Management System due to go live at the end of October, 2021. The next step is to issue software updates in the coming weeks – these are required for smartcard access. NEL have issued this IT update [LINK?] that has more information for practice managers.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the Cervical Screening Implementation team on screening.implementation@nhs.net or NEL RA service on the self-service portal https://crc.nelcsu.nhs.uk/MSMSelfService.
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Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley
Urgent Treatment Centre at Gravesend Community Hospital
The new community Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) at Gravesend Community Hospital (GCH) opened on 15 July 2021. The GCH UTC is now open from 8am-8pm, 365 days a year. Full details of the services available are in this briefing for GP practices.
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Please share this update with colleagues who are welcome to subscribe to the mailing list.
Previous issues of the GP Practice Update are available online
If you have any feedback or ideas to make the updates more useful to you please email.
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Useful links
Produced by the communications team, NHS Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group
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