Primary Care Coronavirus briefing – Coventry and Warwickshire – 13 April 2020 (Issue 18)
13 April 2020
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Sent on behalf of the COVID-19 Incident Management Team for Coventry and Rugby, South Warwickshire and Warwickshire North CCGs
Primary Care Coronavirus briefing – Coventry and Warwickshire – 13 April 2020
**Please find below the latest daily primary care coronavirus briefing.**
Information provided by NHS Coventry and Rugby CCG, NHS South Warwickshire CCG and NHS Warwickshire North CCG in line with Public Health England guidance.
This information may change rapidly as the situation develops. For the latest information for primary care, visit: https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/primary-care
1. Action required – Shielding our Vulnerable Patients - GP Practices – Action required by 14 April 2020
We remain grateful for all the work that is ongoing in general practice in relation to all the changes and actions that practices are undertaking at this time. We recognise the pressure that you are all under but need to draw your attention to some urgent actions that are required from practices to support our most vulnerable patients.
You will have all seen this alert via CAS on 9 April 2020 that provides an update on the management and shielding of patients who are at the highest risk of severe morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 following the letters issued on 21 March and 3 April. This accompanying letter now confirms the specific tasks that GPs are asked to complete in this process, unfortunately the timescales in this letter are extremely short and this is acknowledged by both the national team and the CCGs.
The letter asks all practices to complete the work involved for them in parts 1-3 of the patient identification process, as set out in the letter as soon as possible, and by no later than 17:00 Tuesday 14 April.
The key actions for the shielded list are:
1. Run the search for patients flagged as “Patients at high risk of complications from Covid-19 infection” within your system
2. Review this list and identify any patients who you feel are medium or low rather than high risk
3. Flag any additional patients that you are aware of that are high risk but have not been identified with the high risk code.
The aim of reviewing this list is to ensure that our vulnerable patients can access the Local Authority support offer and now the new pharmacy delivery service. The sooner flags are applied the faster individuals can be offered shielding support. We are aware that this is very short timescale and we have escalated this nationally to the NHS Digital Hub who have confirmed that updates will be processed daily and so additional updates received after 14 April will still be processed.
Frequently asked Questions on this matter are also available for practices (updated 11 April) and also patients (updated 11 April).
EMIS Health has now updated most sites with new searches that identify the shielded patients that are outlined above. Ardens Health Informatics has developed this guide for the EMIS system. We are aware that the Vision codes may not be available until later this afternoon.
Once again we thank you for all that you are doing to support these very high risk patients.
Today’s topics – use the links to jump to each section
**Latest local picture**
**Local updates**
**Latest updates for each PLACE (Coventry and Rugby, South Warwickshire, Warwickshire North)**
Latest national picture
Communications from NHS England
Actions for Primary Care
Today’s attachments
• 20200410 A letter to General Practice from Dr Rosie Benneyworth, Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care.pdf (item 1)
LATEST LOCAL PICTURE
Please remember: we are issuing daily (Monday to Friday) communications via: warnoccg.covid19primarycarecommunications@nhs.net. We would also ask that if you have questions or concerns relating to the current situation around coronavirus and COVID-19 you use the same address: warnoccg.covid19primarycarecommunications@nhs.net. Please keep us updated with any issues that you may be having so we can try to address them.
Local picture (as of 12 April)
• 945 cases now confirmed in Coventry and Warwickshire (+34 / +3.7% from yesterday)
• 305 of these are currently admitted (+8 / +2.7% from yesterday)
• 692 beds still available (-17 / -2.4% from yesterday)
• 27 ITU beds occupied by Covid patients (-2 / -6.9% from yesterday)
• 181 reported deaths in a hospital setting (+18 / +11.0% from yesterday).
Care Home Cumulative Position up to 12 April
• No. of residents affected: 295
• No of confirmed cases: 61 (note this number will always be lower than residents affected as once a care home has two cases confirmed testing stops and residents with symptoms are assumed positive and reported in the number of residents affected)
• Covid related deaths: 52 (note these are in addition to the hospital deaths detailed above)
• Total deaths in care homes: 62
LATEST LOCAL UPDATE
2. PPE Guidance
An updated video showing users how to safely don (put on) and doff (take off) PPE, an FAQ, and a series of tables that the use of recommended PPE for different settings, are now available on the PHE website. These include:
• Healthcare workers by secondary care clinical context
• Primary, outpatient, and community care
• Ambulance, paramedics and pharmacists
• Plus additional considerations for COVID-19
3. Home delivery of medicines and appliances service during the COVID-19 outbreak
A letter and updated guidance published on April 10 announces that, while patients meeting the COVID-19 shielding criteria need to stay at home and away from community pharmacy and dispensing doctor premises, they must be offered a home delivery option for their prescription items unless a family member, friend, relative or volunteer can collect the medicine for them.
4. A letter to General Practice
Please find attached a letter to general practice from Dr Rosie Benneyworth, Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care (shared Thursday evening, 9 April). It addresses a range of issues and concerns related to providing care during the COVID-19 pandemic, including:
• CQC’s regulatory approach during COVID-19 outbreak, and
• what good looks like in the current climate, including prioritisation of clinical care and leadership and governance.
(Attachment: 20200410 A letter to General Practice from Dr Rosie Benneyworth, Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care.pdf)
5. NHS Volunteer Responder referrals
NHS healthcare professionals and social care staff can now refer people for help from NHS Volunteer Responders through an easy-to-use weblink: goodsamapp.org/NHSreferral. The service is for patients who need to self-isolate due to health reasons and need support to do so via collecting shopping/medication, transport home from hospital and to medical appointments, and ‘check-in and chat’ phone calls to prevent loneliness. Further details are available here: https://bit.ly/3e5vOPj.
6. Microsoft Teams
NHS Digital has introduced Microsoft Teams for all NHSmail users, to support new ways of working during the Covid-19 response. Teams is a secure communication tool to allow instant messaging and audio and video calling. If you want some more guidance / help, please visit the NHSmail support site, where you’ll find lots of handy guides to help you make the most of this tool.
LATEST UPDATES FOR EACH PLACE
UPDATES FOR Coventry and Rugby and Warwickshire North – 13 April 2020
No updates this issue.
UPDATES FOR South Warwickshire – 13 April 2020
No updates this issue.
UPDATES FOR Warwickshire North – 13 April 2020
7. Rapid Response Service
The Rapid Response service which was a pilot service in the rural area of North Warwickshire is now a 24 hour service across the whole of the area. This service is contactable on 07584 557366.
We would like to advise that we offer GPs advice and support for End of Life Patients, we are able assist with bolus doses of medication and we can complete the verification of death procedures. If you require any further information please contact me 02476 865441.
Bernadette Evans, Clinical Services Referrals Co-Ordinator
Mary Ann Evans Hospice
LATEST NATIONAL PICTURE
• As of 9am on 12 April 2020, 350,575 people have been tested in the UK and 84,279 were confirmed as positive. As of 5pm on 11 April 2020, of those hospitalised in the UK, 10,621 have died. (Please note: the figures for test results and for deaths are compiled from different sources. This is why the figures for deaths are reported from an earlier point in time than the figures for test results.)
• The most up to date government advice on coronavirus is available online.
• The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, statement on coronavirus (COVID-19) delivered via a press conference on 12 April 2020, detailing the government’s response to coronavirus. The briefing is available to view online.
• The press conference slides and datasets used by Dr Yvonne Doyle in the daily coronavirus press conference on 12 April 2020 can be accessed online.
• More than £14 billion from the Coronavirus emergency response fund will go towards public services, including the NHS and local authorities involved in the fight against Coronavirus, HM Treasury confirms today (13 April 2020), full release.
• UK leads global fight to prevent second wave of coronavirus, further details online.
COMMUNICATIONS FROM NHS ENGLAND
8. NHS England Primary Care Bulletin – new edition – 10 April
COVID-19: latest guidance for general practice is issued in the NHS England Primary Care Bulletin (10 April) and contains the action required to Identify highest risk patients, COVID-19 staff absence tracker and right to work verification for returning doctors. This regular COVID-19 Primary Care Bulletin is from Dr Nikki Kanani and Gabi Darby and you are encouraged to sign up here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/email-bulletins/general-practice-bulletin/.
9. Primary care webinar
If you missed the last webinar, it is available to view online (login required).
10. Media enquiries
Our communications team is here to support you if needed. If you are approached by the media, please forward on to your local communications team: agem.communications@nhs.net. Outside of working hours the communications team can be reached via 01522 537887.
ACTIONS FOR PRIMARY CARE
Review the details of the shielding letter contained in item 1 and action accordingly.
