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GP
flu remuneration 2002/03
Last year’s
agreement on influenza remuneration will be repeated for another
year. Under this agreement, GPs receive a B rate item of service
fee for every patient aged 65 and over who was immunised against
influenza, as well as the personal administration fee for each
dose of vaccine.
Adopting best
practice of setting up risk registers will help GPs improve uptake
among all the risk groups.
Primary care
trusts (PCTs) may agree local incentives for GPs to immunise at-risk
patients under the age of 65, using local development schemes
or local variation to PMS contracts.
PCTs will
be given a budget to supplement PMS contracts to ensure that PMS
GPs are adequately rewarded for immunising the over-65s, in line
with the level of achievement of individual pilots.
For details
on this winter’s flu campaign, please see www.doh.gov.uk/flu
For queries on flu remuneration, email Mark.Smith@doh.gsi.gov.uk
or tel 0113 2546385.
‘Get
the right treatment’
The Department
of Health’s winter campaign, ‘Get the Right Treatment’, is now
in its fourth year. The primary objective of the campaign is to
promote the various health care options available to the public
and encourage their appropriate use.
The campaign,
which starts this month and runs until March 2003, aims to:
• improve
awareness and understanding of the full range of health care options
available
• explain
how to access health care services, when to use them and how to
use them responsibly
• raise
awareness of the role of the pharmacist
• build
the public’s confidence to self-treat where appropriate.
The campaign
will feature PR and advertorials in national magazines, aimed
at women aged 22 to 45 who have child care and other carer responsibilities.
Guidance and support materials have also been issued to NHS communication
leads.
A national
leaflet in support of the campaign is available. Aimed at the
general public, it asks questions such as ‘have you tried your
pharmacist or chemist?’ and ‘have you called NHS Direct?’ Copies
are available by calling the NHS Responseline on 08701 555455
and quoting the product code 25793.
If you have
any queries on the campaign, contact Rachael Mullan, Tel 0113
2545842 or email rachael.mullan@doh.gsi.gov.uk
Tackling
violence towards GPs and their staff
NHS chief
executive Nigel Crisp wrote to all primary care trust (PCT) chief
executives on 18 June seeking their personal support for action
against violence in general practice. The letter set out PCTs’
responsibilities for assessing the risk of violence to GPs and
their staff, and for putting in place action plans to tackle the
problem. Nigel Crisp has asked PCTs to ensure that local action
plans are in place by 31 October 2002.
Local action
plans should include agreements with local providers that ensure
all GPs are able to refer to, or have access to, a secure facility
for the treatment of violent patients. Local arrangements for
such facilities will vary, and might include an arrangement with
the local police, an acute hospital trust or a security firm.
PCTs have been asked to ensure that local GPs are notified of
these arrangements by 31 January 2003.
A small working
group has been set up to oversee the NHS zero tolerance zone campaign
in primary care. The group includes representatives from PCTs,
the BMA’s General Practitioners’ Committee and local leads from
the Improving Working Lives programme.
Further information
on the campaign, with examples of local best practice in tackling
violence in primary care, are at www.nhs.uk/zerotolerance
Copies of
the letters to PCTs on this issue are available on the Department
of Health’s publication database at www.info.doh.gov.uk/doh/point.nsf/Publications?ReadForm
For further
information contact: Meena Paterson or Eileen Calline, NHS Employment
Policy, email meena.paterson@doh.gsi.gov.uk
or eileen.calline@doh.gsi.gov.uk
Tel 0113 254 5758 or 2546131.
Tobacco
advertising and sponsorship
The Department
of Health is consulting on various regulations it intends to make
on tobacco advertising and sponsorship. These concern advertising
at point of sale, brand sharing and transitional arrangements
for tobacco sponsorship. Details are at www.doh.gov.uk/tobaccoregsconsult
Comments should
be made by 15 November to Penny Allsop, Department of Health,
Room 646 Wellington House, Waterloo Rd, London SE1 8UG, email
penny.allsop@doh.gsi.gov.uk
NHS
leadership qualities framework
The qualities
to which all NHS leaders should aspire are set out in a new ‘leadership
qualities framework’ launched by the NHS Leadership Centre.
The qualities
include a range of social, cognitive and performance skills, grouped
into three categories: personal qualities, setting direction and
delivering services.
A 360º assessment
tool has been derived from the framework which can be used to
support development for individuals and organisations. The NHS
Leadership Centre is working closely with the Department of Health’s
directorates of health and social care (DHSCs) to support implementation
and development of good practice. This work will initially take
place at early implementation sites. Workshops and training in
accreditation of use of the assessment tool will be available
nationally and locally.
The framework
is available at www.NHSLeadershipQualities.nhs.uk
A limited number of launch packs are available on request - Tel
0207 725 2609.
Those wishing
to become early implementation sites should contact their DHSC
lead or the Leadership Centre:
• DHSC
North: Talib Yaseen, Tel 01925 704224, email talib.yaseen@doh.gsi.gov.uk
• DHSC
South: Anne Rainsberry, Tel 020 7725 2797, email anne.rainsberry@doh.gsi.gov.uk
• DHSC
London: Sandra Hatton, Tel 020 7725 5534, email sandra.hatton@doh.gsi.gov.uk
• DHSC
Midland & East: To be advised via the NHS Leadership Centre
• NHS Leadership
Centre: Catherine Guelbert or Heather Corlett, Tel 020 7725 2609
Report
on chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis
An independent
working group’s report on chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis
was published in January 2002. The Department of Health is currently
developing a strategy to take the group’s recommendations forward.
Pending decisions
on this, Action for ME, a leading voluntary organisation active
in this field, has produced a useful eight-page summary of the
issues, Guidance on the management of CFS/ME.
The guidance
is online at www.afme.org.uk
Hard copies can be obtained from Action for ME, PO Box 1302, Well,
Somerset BA5 1YE, Tel: 01749 670799, email admin@afme.org.uk
e-health:
the wider picture
A broad view
of electronic health initiatives will be offered at a conference
organised by the Medical Devices Agency on Monday 11 November.
The London
event will feature key Department of Health staff involved in
the development of e-health, and aims to address how e-health
will change the way clinicians practise medicine.
All healthcare
providers are welcome to attend. For further information, including
the application form, visit www.medical-devices.gov.uk
You may also contact the organiser, Ian Chell, Tel 020 7972 8166.
Workplace
health and wellbeing
The Health
Development Agency has created a new web-based resource giving
information on workplace health matters.
‘Workplace
Health and Wellbeing’ (www.hda-online.org.uk/workplacehealth/)
was launched on 14 October, at the start of European Week for
Safety and Health at Work. It aims to help directors and senior
managers with responsibility for workplace health get an overview
of the wide range of issues that contribute to workplace health
and well-being. The web section will also be of interest to staff
working in health and safety, human resources and occupational
health.
Launch
of the Emergency Care Collaborative
The first
wave of the new Emergency Care Collaborative was launched on 8
October by health minister David Lammy and national clinical director
for emergency access Professor Sir George Alberti. The launch
was accompanied by a series of case studies on improving emergency
care.
Run by the
NHS Modernisation Agency, the collaborative is a national programme
for reducing delays and improving the patient and carer experience.
It will focus on the whole system of emergency care and will help
all A&E departments in England to meet The NHS Plan
target - a maximum of four hours from a patient’s arrival to admission,
transfer or discharge.
Speaking at
the launch David Lammy said: "I don’t believe patients have
serious doubts about their clinical care in A&E, but we do
know they are concerned about the time they have to wait for it
and about the overall quality of the A&E environment. I hope
the collaborative can help to improve both."
The goal is
for local teams to make improvements in their organisations by
looking at how they work, learning from others and making changes
that benefit patients. Organisations will work together to exchange
best practice and find out what systems work best. The focus of
the collaborative is on the whole system of emergency care across
the local health and social care community rather than on individual
departments. Therefore, there will be participation from relevant
departments in acute trusts, the ambulance service, social services,
primary care, NHS Direct and others.
The programme
will run until August 2004 in six waves of roughly 35 sites each.
Each wave will last 14 months. Some will overlap so that every
site can complete its work and contribute to meeting The NHS Plan
target by the end of 2004.
Front line
staff will be directly involved in leading, testing, implementing
and measuring changes that benefit both patients and staff. Sir
George said: "People who provide emergency care haven’t had
enough time to stop and think about how they could change things
for the better. The collaborative is a big step forward and I’m
looking forward to watching it develop over the next year or two."
More information
can be found at www.modern.nhs.uk/emergency
Models
of emergency care conference
The models
of emergency care conference focused on progress being made towards
reforming and modernising emergency care, with key speeches from
David Lammy MP, Dr Stephen Shortt and Dr David Dawson.
Dr Stephen
Short, a Nottingham GP, focussed on designing models based on
avoiding the need for hospital admission.
To read the
speech summaries visit www.doh.gov.uk/conferences/mod-emerg-care-con.htm
Primary
Care magazine
This month’s
Primary Care magazine can be found at www.nhs.uk/nhsmagazine/primarycare
The November issue will cover GP quality, focusing on how to set
in place standards and structures in light of the Shipman Inquiry.
It will also include features on allied health professionals and
nurse prescribing.
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