primary care commissioning guide targets the socially excluded

The seventh in the series of guides from the Department of Health's primary care and community services team - entitled Inclusion Health: Improving Primary Care for Socially Excluded People - is now available. The full list of titles is here.

To find other posts relating to similar topics, please click on the tag words below.

DH seeks views of commissioners of health and wellbeing

The primary care and community services team at the Department of Health is preparing a guide to commissioning health and wellbeing services, which will look at, among others, practical measures of support for commissioners. The DH PCCS team is running an online survey to seek the views of primary care and practice-based commissioners.

To find other posts relating to similar topics, please click on the tag words below.

Primary care commissioning for offenders

This event being held in London on 28 October will examine the challenges for improving health care for offenders in the prison and community care environment. There will be an opportunity to network with PCT primary care commissioners, police officers, probation staff and prison healthcare providers. A choice of interactive workshops will give attendees the chance of seeing and discussing various ways of tackling these difficult issues.

To find other posts relating to similar topics, please click on the tag words below.

Primary Care LIVE

Primary Care LIVE is the most significant conference and exhibition in the primary healthcare calendar. It is the only event with a truly national reach into primary care. This conference is the leading learning forum for primary care. This is most effective way to update your knowledge and skills and deliver your CPD – all under one roof. Its taking place at London ExCeL, 30th Sept & 1st Oct 2009 and Manchester Central, 4th & 5th Nov 2009. Click here for further information.

To find other posts relating to similar topics, please click on the tag words below.

NHS Live at Primary Care LIVE

For the third consecutive year, NHS Live will be at this year’s Primary Care LIVE conferences and willl be at the NHS Institute stand to hear about your projects and to demonstrate the website and project directory. The NHS Institute will have a large presence at the event, hosting eight interactive, innovative workshops and showcasing a range of products in the exhibition village.
Workshops will cover a variety of themes including Emergency and Urgent Care for Children and Young People, Thinking Differently, ThinkGlucose, Productive Improvement Techniques and many others. To find out more click here. Primary Care LIVE has national reach into primary care, to find out more about this event visit the website. Primary Care LIVE: London ExCel 30 September and 1 October 2009, Manchester Central 4 and 5 November 2009

To find other posts relating to similar topics, please click on the tag words below.

Seven steps to patient safety in general practice

The Seven steps to patient safety in general practice describes the key steps for a general practice to take to avoid harming the patients they care for. This guide is based on the full reference document, Seven steps to patient safety in primary care, and adapted specifically for general practice. Alongside each step is a set of activities that can be taken to develop policies, strategies and action plans. There are also practical hints and techniques that can be used to promote quality care. Click here to view the guide!

To find other posts relating to similar topics, please click on the tag words below.

Updated Primary Care Service Framework - Alcohol

This Framework is for adult patients who are drinking to hazardous and harmful or dependent levels. It has been updated to include recent policy changes and is supported by a range of enhanced tools to support implementation. A complementary suite of resources and supportive notes is also available. It provides examples of good practice around alcohol services in primary care and can be adapted and used as a basis for an enhanced service via a schedule within a local primary care contract or service level agreement.
In addition, the updated document supports the introduction of the new clinical directed enhanced service (DES) for alcohol, which started from April 2008 and will run for two years.
View the framework here!

To find other posts relating to similar topics, please click on the tag words below.

Primary Care Conference 2009

The Conference and Exhibition will enable you to update your skills, expand your knowledge, put you in touch with new research, treatments and initiatives and enhance your role. There are also plenty of opportunities for networking with colleagues from across the primary and community care spectrum as well as learning from examples of best practice. Primary Care 2009 is always informative, practical and above all, relevant. Its taking place on 20th - 21st May 2009 at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham and its free of charge to attend for practising health care professionals. Click here for further information and to register for your place.

To find other posts relating to similar topics, please click on the tags below.

Nursing In Practice Awards 2009 - Now Open!

For the 2009 Nursing in Practice Awards, new categories have been introduced to represent and recognise different areas of excellence and innovation. These awards have been designed to recognise excellence and innovation in the primary care setting. The categories for this year's Awards are: Cardiac Care, Children's Health, Diabetes, Mental Health including Substance Abuse, Nutrition, Palliative Care, Respiratory Care, Sexual Health, Wound Care, and Team of the Year
So what are you waiting for? Submit your entry today. For details on how to enter, and for further details on the categories click here.

Pandemic influenza: guidance for primary care trusts and primary care professionals on the provision of healthcare in a community setting in England

Pandemic influenza guidance for primary care trusts and primary care professionals on the provision of healthcare in a community setting in England. The purpose of this updated guidance is to assist primary care trusts (PCTs) in developing their plans for responding to an influenza pandemic. It is also intended to be a useful document for primary care professionals such as those working in general practice, community pharmacy and nursing, and for partner agencies providing services in the community setting.

Vascular checks - Primary Care Service Frameworks

A primary Care Service Framework (PCSF) has been published to support the high quality commissioning of the services to implement the vascular check programme. A performance management tool supporting this framework will be released shortly. Further frameworks under development and currently being commissioned for development include transient and migrant populations, commissioning of services associated with peripheral arterial disease and a framework to support the development of care planning as outlined in the primary and community care strategy. A number of frameworks covering adolescent health, alcohol, obesity, long-term conditions, sexual health and self-care are already published and you can view them here.

Practical Advice to help Family Doctors Support Carers

The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and the RCGP have teamed up to launch a self-assessment toolkit for Primary Care Teams. It is designed to help them pool knowledge/skills and build on existing good practice; put in place systems for identifying carers at the earliest possible stage; and share good practice with colleagues nationally. It comprises chapters on developing an action plan; case studies; and sources of further information.

PRIMARY TO SECONDARY ORAL HEALTH CARE PATHWAY WORKSHOP

The Primary to Secondary Oral Health Care Pathway Workshop aims to provide an opportunity for key stakeholders to jointly develop and agree referral management pathways, to identify clear pathways for patient management in different therapeutic and analgesic settings and to identify how existing providers might work more closely together to improve patient experience and outcomes.
Click here for further information.

Next Stage Review - Primary and Community Care Strategy Newsletter

Published on 2nd September the DH newsletter sets out the next steps on some of the key policies and programmes underpinning the vision for primary and community care. Read more here.

Health Inequalities Intervention Tool

This tool is designed to support Primary Care Trusts with their local delivery planning and commissioning. It builds on the previous Health Inequalities Intervention tool which provided information for Spearhead areas only, and now includes all local authorities, spearhead and non-spearhead, and provides information on within as well as between area inequalities. This tool provides information on the following: the current life expectancy in each local authority, and in the most deprived quintile of each local authority; the current gap in life expectancy between the most deprived quintile and the local authority as a whole for all areas, and between the local authority and England for spearhead areas; an analysis of the contribution of causes of death to the gap between the most deprived quintile of the local authority and a variety of comparators.

Alcohol Primary Care Service Framework

This new 'enhanced service' framework provides examples of good practice around alcohol services in primary care. The framework is complemented by an alcohol care pathway and suite of practical resources. Access the resources here.

Celebrating Improvement in Primary Care: Guy Rotherham Award 2008

The Improvement Foundation's Guy Rotherham Award celebrates quality improvement and better outcomes for patients. This year’s winning team will receive an educational grant of £3,000 and will be invited to attend two presentation ceremonies, one at the 2008 NHS Alliance Conference in October and the second at the Palace of Westminster in November. The Guy Rotherham Award is open to any NHS community-based team in the UK that is providing services to patients in primary care. The closing date for entries for this Award is 5pm on Friday 1 August 2008. For more information, please see the attached flyer or view the Guy Rotherham Award section of the Improvement Foundation website.

Quality Development Methodology - Using a Balanced Scorecard

PCTs have the responsibility to ensure delivery of Primary Medical Care to the whole resident population. As part of a process of improvement, one method of measurement is through the balanced scorecard approach. Primary Care Contracting (PCC) have produced two useful documents: Using a balanced scorecard and What does a balanced scorecard consist of?