Barnet Federated GPs News – April 2023

Chair Update

Dear Members, Colleagues & Patients,

I hope you’ve all managed to enjoy some time with your families over Easter, Pesach and Ramadan. It was great to see everyone this week at the first Pan Barnet meeting in 3 years.

I was able to tell you about the achievements of the Fed since it’s inception in 2015 from delivering a high quality, GP led extended access service, supporting the establishment and infrastructure needs of our PCNs to rapidly operationalising clinical services at short notice through the Covid-19 Pandemic. In addition we have been able to provide a single voice and representative function for general practice in the borough. None of this would have happened with out the continued support of you our members, our hard working team at the Fed and the many local clinicians who have provided high quality clinical care day in and day out. Thank you to you all.

Times change however. As the EAS contract has transitioned into the EA DES delivered by PCNs (with the majority now able do this without any input from the Fed) and with the establishment of the GP Cabinet providing a voice and representation for practices, there is a recognition that we need to reduce the size of the organisation at every level to provide the smaller number of existing contracts we hold to a good standard. The NHS commissioning landscape has changed since the establishment of ICS’s with fewer new procurements occurring. Nevertheless we will of course continue to be on the look out for new services that need to be delivered at scale in primary care. We will take strategic direction from the cabinet on which services make sense to bid for and how they can best be delivered collaboratively.

I will of course continue to update on developments but rest assured that the Federation will still be here in some shape or form to support practices, PCNs and Cabinet as we face uncertain future for general practice both locally and nationally.

Finally I’d like to thank Thiv Thiruudian as his term on our board comes to an end. His drive and enthusiasm was instrumental in getting the Fed up and running. His insight and innovative approach will be missed by the board. However he will continue to be working with us closely on the workforce agenda as Clinical Lead for the Training Hub.

It just remains to wish you all well until next month. As ever please get in touch with me or any of my team if there is anything we can try and help you with.

Dr Ahmer Farooqi

Headlines

PCN EA Update

The Federation are delivering some activity on behalf of PCNs 1D and 6.
Reporting on available slots has been implemented on EA subcontracted activity and the information is being shared three times per week with PCN colleagues.

BFG Recruiting for Sub-contract Services

We are actively recruiting all types of clinicians and health professionals to work in our sub-contract services
We provide competitive rates of pay and offer a varied selection of weekday, evening, and weekend shifts
Opportunities exist for home working in some circumstances
Please contact barnet.federation@nhs.net if you would like to know more

Date for your diary – Pan Barnet Event

Wednesday 3rd May 2023 at 13.00 – the London Ambulance Service

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

SMI Physical Health Checks

We are pleased to announce the rollover of the top-up offer for the first quarter of 2023-24. The activity allocations will be shared.
Discussions are ongoing with commissioners regarding the new service specification for 2023-24.

Phlebotomy

Commissioners have confirmed continuation of funding arrangements for the phlebotomy and the activity allocations will be shared with the PCNs that the Federation is holding the contract on behalf of.
For those PCNs that the Federation is holding the contract, there will be a light-touch performance reporting requirement that will be communicated shortly.

Training Information and Opportunities

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

Face to Face Pan Barnet Event a great success!

We held our first face to face Pan Barnet meeting on the 20th April. With a fantastic multidisciplined audience in attendance a variety of updates were delivered from Barnet Federation, NCL ICB, LMC, Barnet Safeguarding, Mental Heath – Springwell Unit and Medicines Management Team. A special mention goes to Dr Anisha Sodha who coordinates and leads on these events and to essentially medical who helped coordinate sponsorship and venue to allow the face to face event to take place. Don’t worry if you missed it, you can access the slide deck as well as attend out virtual monthly sessions recommencing on Wednesday 3rd May at 1300-1400. Check your calendars and emails for the full details of the topics.

Please click here to view the slide deck presented on the day.

Should you require more information, please email: Barnet.cepnadmin@nhs.net

Completion of the Barnet & Enfield Training Hub GP Assistant course 22-23

We completed our online 6 month GP Assistant course – a joint programme between Barnet and Enfield Training Hubs. We had the pleasure of getting to know 28 of our non clinical colleagues completing topics on 6 key clinical areas combined with medical terminology, Quality Improvement, shared practice, digital triaging and making every contact count. We are now marking and giving feedback on their individual learning portfolios and we cannot praise their hardwork enough. We wish them all the best as they continue their work in primary care and look forward to working with them in the future.

If you have any questions or queries, please email: Barnet.cepnadmin@nhs.net

NCL LTC LCS: Model of Care webinar

Date and time: Thursday 4 May, 13:00 – 14:00 

Audience: All practice staff in NCL to help in their understanding of the new LTC LCS model of care

This session will cover various elements of the LTC LCS service specification (e.g., proactive/personalised principles, case for change, and each step of the model)

Book now: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ltc-lcs-model-of-care-webinar-tickets-615513014997

Barnet Pharmacy Education sessions with the Training Hub and Medicines Management Team

We are pleased to have launched a series of education sessions for our Barnet Pharmacy Workforce. The Training hub working with the Barnet Medicines Management team will deliver monthly educational webinars based on current practice, shared learning, pharmacy guidelines and local pathways.

The first one delivered in April on Anticoagulation was well attended and an engaging session presented by Kaziwa Lateef –Clinical Pharmacist (lead clinical pharmacist at Barnet FedAnticoagulation) at Oak Lodge. Our next session is on the 10th May at 1300-1400 on CQC, ADHD interactive cases plus sharing of PCN projects presented by Nisha Patel (ICB Medicines Management Pharmacist). See you online on the 10th May 1300-1400.

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

Commencement of Prescribing Clerk course for 2023

We are pleased to be launching our 4th Prescribing Clerk course. We are running our bespoke online Prescribing Clerk course for our non clinical teams in Barnet. We kick off on the 11th May for 6 months, covering the prescription journey, repeat prescriptions, medicines management, digital technologies and more. The key outcomes of the course is to upskill our non clinical teams to support patients and practice in managing prescriptions, signposting and improved practice. We shall keep you updated as the course runs.

Should you have any questions or queries, please email: Barnet.cepnadmin@nhs.net

NCL Training Needs Analysis Survey

Closing date: Wednesday 10 May

Audience: GPNs, paramedics and physiotherapists, Clinical Directors,

North Central London Training Hub is undertaking a training needs analysis for all GPNs, paramedics and physiotherapists working in primary care in NCL. We are also inviting PCN Nurse Leads, Practice and PCN Managers as well as Clinical Directors to provide their expert input into the CPD needs of these professional groups. The survey is designed to evaluate our current offer and identify any new needs. We want to reflect individual training needs, changing population health needs as well as business needs and improve access to our training.

Submit your responses here: https://forms.office.com/e/NPPK9nhKdV

Applications open for the Digital Health Leadership Programme

Application deadline: Sunday 14 May

Colleagues working across the NHS, including within primary care are encouraged to apply to the Digital Health Leadership Programme, to become an expert influencer and the driving force behind strategic, large scale, digital change, and transformation across their organisation.

Applications are now open until midnight on the 14 May. Click on the link below to find out more and join one of the application support webinars to hear from previous alumni and ask questions about the Programme.

Find out more: Digital Health Leadership programme information

We say farewell and happy retirement to GPN & Nurse Educator Chris Greene

Chris Greene, one of the Training Hubs most experienced nurses has retired after many years of service to Barnet. Chris has mentored and supported many Barnet nurses in training, as well as being an active member of the Faculty of Educators.

The event was marked celebrating with her Training Hub and Barnet Nurse friends and colleagues.

We would like to thank Chris for all her dedicated work and wish her a long and happy retirement.

Research

Research Studies for Barnet GP Practices

The Barnet Research Network kindly invite you to participate in the following survey (which should not take more than 5 minutes of your time) regarding your understanding of research in primary care: http://bitly.ws/Dshx

Current studies

IBPI

Aim: To assess whether providing parents with bipolar disorder (BD) with online parenting support leads to their children having fewer behaviour problems.

Benefits: Remuneration of £200 + additional screening costs

Practice involvement: Database search, participant screening, recruitment text-out

Interact2

Aim: A semi-quantitative data study aiming to identify the prevalence of social isolation & loneliness in the community using e-surveys.

Benefits: Remuneration of £200

Practice involvement: Database search, recruitment text-out

UNITY (PrEP in Pharmacy)

Aim: Investigating the attitudes and perceptions of pharmacists and the general public towards the provision of PrEP in community pharmacy, to gauge understanding with specific emphasis on BAME groups using eSurveys & interviews.