In this bulletin:
- COVID-19 Vaccination Programme Update
- COVID-19 Vaccination Status Service
- COVID Vaccines Highly Effective Against Indian Variant After 2 Doses
- COVID-19 Lateral Flow Device Testing
- CQC Mythbuster of the Week
- CQC Strategy Launch
COVID-19 Vaccination Programme Update
More than 20 million people in England have been fully vaccinated against COVID, with almost 2.4 million people getting their follow-up dose in the last seven days. People aged 30 and over can now get the COVID-19 vaccine, if they’re aged 30 or over or will turn 30 before 1 July 2021.
COVID-19 Vaccination Status Service
The COVID-19 vaccination status service is now live, and people can access their vaccination status via the NHS App, through https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/ or by requesting a letter from 119 (the COVID-19 vaccination service).
It’s possible that GP practices could see an increase in interest from patients for access to their online health records but accessing vaccination status does not require patient access to the detailed coded record.
People who contact 119 to request a vaccination status letter but where this cannot be issued, for example due to missing or incomplete vaccine information, will be sent a letter with an error code advising them to contact their GP practice. Further guidance for GP practices includes error letters, error codes, a description of the codes and suggested communications (including suggested text for Practice websites, social media and telephone wording) for practices to be able to take the appropriate next steps.
However, NHS England appreciates that GP practices may not be able to address all of the errors on behalf of patients, so the guidance does provide contact details for the vaccines support desk (0300 200 1000) and the vaccination data quality support team email address ([email protected]).
As a reminder, any changes to a patient’s vaccination record should only be made in the Vaccination Point of Care system and not in the GP Clinical system.
COVID Vaccines Highly Effective Against Indian Variant After 2 Doses
A new study by Public Health England (PHE) shows that 2 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective against the B.1.617.2 variant first identified in India. Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said “It’s clear how important the second dose is to secure the strongest possible protection against COVID-19 and its variants – and I urge everyone to book in their jab when offered. You can read about the study here.
Lateral Flow Device Testing
Although about 90% of NHS healthcare workers have now received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine there are still thousands of people, including staff working in patient-facing NHS roles that have not yet been vaccinated.
Therefore, it’s important that all staff continue to maintain regular asymptomatic testing, by carrying out a lateral flow test twice a week at home and keep following infection prevention and control guidance to stop onward transmission. Any positive lateral flow tests must be followed by a confirmatory PCR test.
Detailed guidance, including a demonstration video, is available in the QCS COVID-19 Testing Policy and Procedure.
CQC Mythbuster of the Week
GP mythbuster 97: Responding to coronavirus (COVID-19) – 13 May 2021
In this mytbuster, the CQC gives guidance on mandatory training during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, notifications to the CQC e.g. deaths, and ‘hot hubs/red sites’ registration applications and notifications.
Case study examples of notifications which must be made to the CQC are included and they have updated their notification of deaths form to include whether or not the death was caused by suspected or confirmed coronavirus.
A full list of CQC tips and mythbusters by latest update can be found on the CQC website.
For further information about mandatory training requirements, training matrix and how QCS can help please listen to the QCS GP Podcast where were explain why Practice Managers need a staff training strategy.
CQC Strategy Launch
The CQC is changing how it regulates to improve care and services for everyone. Their purpose and role isn’t changing but they’re responding to how services are changing, particularly since the pandemic, but how they collect and review data and inspect will be different.
The strategy will be based on the following four interlinked themes:
- People and communities
- Smarter regulation
- Safety through learning
- Accelerating improvement
We will provide a summary about the new CQC strategy, but you can watch the recording of their launch webinar here.