Barnet Federated GPs News – September 2022

Chair Update

Dear Colleagues , Members & Patients,

I wanted to thank everyone, including our patient representatives, for attending  our AGM earlier this month. Apart from approving our financial accounts we were able to reflect on our achievements over the previous year, particularly through the pandemic and recovery phase when we were able to mobilise various services rapidly to support patients, practices and the wider system. 

We also looked ahead to a future where CCGs are a distant memory and ICS’s (Integrated Care Systems) have come into existence, where PCNs have been handed responsibility for the delivery of Enhanced Access (EA) and will eventually evolve into Integrated Neighbourhood Teams and a realisation that that any additional funding for primary care will no longer come directly to practices but will be expected to be delivered ‘at scale’ (across PCNs or the Borough). We need to understand what our members require from the their Federation as these changes come about. 

Over the coming months we will work with our colleagues in the GP Cabinet and continue to engage with our membership to understand how the Federation needs to adapt to continue to help support practice resilience, enable PCNs to deliver the DES and IIF targets and remain integral to the GP Cabinet. We will of course continue to identify opportunities to build on our existing portfolio of contracts in order to maintain our financial stability and demonstrate the strength of primary care ‘at scale’. 

As I had mentioned earlier, responsibility for delivering the new EA DES will fall to PCNs from the 1st of October. We will be supporting some PCNs with this, where asked. The DES does not cover weekends and bank holidays, however we have been commissioned to plug this gap for the next year. 

Finally, as we enter what is likely to be an extremely busy autumn and winter, remember to look after yourselves and each other. 

Dr Ahmer Farooqi  

Headlines

New PCN Enhanced Access (EA) Service Update 

From 1st October 2022 the existing Federation EAS service will be replaced by PCN Enhanced Access (EA) services, based on the PCN Direct Enhanced Services (DES) specification.

GP appointments will continue to be telephone/video consultations in the first instance, and the patient will be booked for a face-to-face appointment if needed.

Patients will still be able to access the service by calling NHS 111 and the Federation call centre number (020 3948 6809). These appointments have been commissioned separately and are not part of the PCN EA service.

For more information on the new booking process and your respective PCN arrangements , please read the Support for our Practices section below. 

BFG Recruiting for BFG EAS service

BFGs will be onboarding new sessional GPs into the EAS service. If you would like to find out more about the onboarding process as well as sessions and how to book them or would like to join the Federation, please email: barnet.federation@nhs.net

Date for your diary

Wednesday 5th October 2022 at 13.00 on the Hepatology Pathways

Click here to join the meeting  

For further practice support, training information and research updates please see below

Support For Our Practices

Welcome to our vacancy board – Do you have a vacancy or looking for a role in Barnet?

Advertising job opportunities via the Federation website!

Practices and professionals seeking job opportunities in Barnet can advertise through our website on our Pan Barnet Noticeboard: https://barnetfederatedgps.org.uk/pan-barnet-recruitment/

Salaried GP

Ongoing recruitment for Salaried GPs to work primarily in EAS and other Federation services. If you are interested and would like to be considered, please refer to the attached Job Description for more details, or email: barnet.federation@nhs.net.  

New PCN Enhanced Access (EA) Service Update and updated Appointments Booking Process 

From 1st October 2022 the existing Federation EAS service will be replaced by PCN Enhanced Access (EA) services, based on the PCN Direct Enhanced Services (DES) specification.

Some PCNs are subcontracting part of their service provision to the Federation. This information and the user guide apply to the Federation service provisions only. For information on the arrangements in your PCN, please speak to your PCN Clinical Directors or Business Managers. A separate communication has been shared directly with practice that can access Federation sub-contracted services.

GP appointments will continue to be telephone/video consultations in the first instance, and the patient will be booked for a face-to-face appointment if needed.

Patients will still be able to access the service by calling NHS 111 and the Federation call centre number (020 3948 6809). These appointments have been commissioned separately and are not part of the PCN EA service.

Please see here the user guide for booking into EA appointments.

Training Information and Opportunities

For all Barnet Training Hub events and training opportunities, please visit: https://www.barnetcepn.org.uk/

Barnet Training Hub presents:- Employment Law training update for Barnet GP Practice Managers with LMC Law LTD

Employment Law Training Update for Barnet GP Practice Managers delivered by LMC Law Ltd on Wednesday 12th October 1100-1300 .The learning outcome is proposed as: The practical application of employment law in general practice.

The topics we are covering include:

• Information governance
• Recruitment and selection
• Contracts, probation, employment checks
• Managing employment issues
• Removal of staff
• TUPE
• E&D

The event will NOT be recorded nor the slides shared so attendance is critical.

For further information please contact: Barnet.cepnadmin@nhs.net

Barnet Training Hub launches its Bitesize Learning series for Recep and Admin Workforce

Barnet Training Hub is thrilled to launch its Bitesize learning series for their Admin and Recep workforce.  3 sessions have been run already on the NHS APP, Patient Empathy and Medical Terminology for beginners.  Another 5 sessions are planned for Sept and October with more topics planned for Nov and Dec such as Safeguarding, Domestic Abuse, QOF and Quality Improvement.

The sessions are an hour long and are recorded for easy access.  The teams do not need to book – they just click on the link and enjoy.  See the programme for Sep and October here – Non Clinical Bitesize Learning Series 2022 | Barnet PCT Hub (barnetcepn.org.uk)

For more information, please email: Barnet.cepnadmin@nhs.net 

Barnet Training Hub welcomes new Pharmacy Trainees to Barnet

Barnet Training Hub has hosted an induction to Barnet Primary care for their 8 new Pharmacy Trainees.  They are being hosted across 2 of our PCNs and Pharmacy Lead Bhavik Hirani welcomed them to Barnet.  The induction covered an introduction to Barnet Primary Care along side an overview of their training for their GP Placement. One of our previous trainees joined the session too to share her insights into completing a successful GP placement.  We wish them well in their training and welcome once more to Barnet Primary Care.

If you would like to find out more, please email: Barnet.cepnadmin@nhs.net

Barnet and Enfield Training Hubs present GP Assistant Programme for non-clinical staff

The next cohort of the GP Assistant programme for non-clinical staff will be starting Wednesday 12th October with an introductory session for GPAs and their GP mentors. Then will follow 8 sessions via MS Teams between Nov 22 – March 23

GP assistants will be trained to:

• Sort and priorities clinical post – extract & code relevant information
• Improve confidence in digital consultation triage
• Independently deal with routine clinical post
• Facilitate follow-up appointments and onward referrals.
• Complete straightforward (non-opinion) forms for GPs to approve and sign (e.g., Insurance forms)
• Help GP to liaise with outside agencies e.g., arranging for on call doctors to provide advice on the phone, or to arrange admission, allowing the GP to continue with their consultation(s)
• Support the GP practice team with population health monitoring/ QOF data
• QI work to support the GP practice team

For more information, please contact Emily on: barnet.cepnadmin@nhs.net

Barnet Personalised Care ARRs roles Workshop

Calling out to GPs Partners/PCN Managers/CDs and Practice Managers plus other interested parties:

• Have you got a Care Coordinator/Health & Wellbeing Coach / Social Prescriber in post within your PCN?

• Would you like to know more about how to best utilise them?

• Have you questions around implementation/embedding/supervising/work plans for these roles?

• Would you like to extend your workforce and increase capacity and resilience within your teams?

Please come along to our Barnet Personalised ARRs roles Workshop on Thursday 29th September @ 12:30-1430 to join a forum where we will dissect the issues surrounding these exciting, innovative roles which aim to add the much-needed capacity to our primary care workforce.

Click here to join the meeting

For further information, please email Dr Rafif Mansour – r.mansour@nhs.net

NCL TH Lunch and Learn workshop: PINCER

Date and time: Wednesday 12th October, 13:30 – 14:15
Audience: Pharmacists, Pharmacy technicians, GP’s and GP trainees, Practice Managers

The Pharmacist-led Information Technology Intervention for the reduction of Clinically important Errors in medicines management (PINCER) has been recommissioned by NCL until 28th February 2023 to improve patient safety and the quality of prescribing in primary care.
This is a tool which can be utilised to prioritise patients for the IIF SMR01 indicator worth 26 points.
Therefore, it is important to attend the PINCER session so you can improve the quality of prescribing for your practice(s) but also help reach your IIF targets.

This training session will provide NCL staff with an overview of PINCER, highlight the key benefits of utilising the PINCER tools and share examples of good practice.

Book: https://www.ncltraininghub.org/events/lunch-and-learn-pince