One of the issues we are having around chasing patients for their boosters is although there is a code for invited for Covid jab by SMS there doesn’t appear to be any codes for anything else.. e.g. phone/letter etc. so it looks like there are loads we havent invited when practices tell me this isnt the case. “
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“Also there are a dearth of codes for reasons why people arent having it. there is a generic decline which isnt helpful - is it today or for ever and there are some people who arent declining as they think it means they can never ever have one… “
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“why is this important - well when we look at PCN level its really difficult to ascertain why people arent being vaccinated and who needs chasing for what reason. is it they dont have a mobile or its out of date. is it they dont have smart phone so cant book online - is it they need convincing - is it they need a lift.. etc… we use a combination of Emis enterprise/ Apex and Ardens searches but could do with more granularity. what are others doing?”
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“#covid #primarycare
Since the challenge to do all boosters by end of dec - my amazing PCN (both the central team and individual practices) have really stepped up and we have done 6153 patients in the last week and >10000 this month with another clinic tomorrow……
just been thinking about turning on Record View in accuRx - it strikes me this would work as a very basic form of remote access for home working GPs and AHPs (at a practice level no pt consent is needed). “
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“I cant believe it would be that difficult to add the functionality to write back into the record? which would be really useful - even better would be the ability to send EPS scripts though a simple workaround would be the ability to send a task through accuRx to a user in the practice to EPS…
Had a really interesting meeting with Rapid Health yesterday - they have some really interesting AI technology and ideas - talking about doing some joint work on an innovative area to help GP workload
Im keen to hear from anyone that has sat on a NICE technology appraisal committee - Ive been invited to apply to sit on one around mobile ECG testing for certain drugs. Im not bothered its expenses only but I don’t want to waste time… Have people found it a interesting/useful thing to take part in? Or was it all paperwork and a waste of time effort?
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AI amazes me more and more every day. Did everyone but me know that when you select Bikes/Traffic lights/Cars/Buses etc on captcha to prove you’re a human security thingy - that you are actually training Google’s AI driving algorithm to make better driverless cars?? WOW! Im still not sure if im being conned here!
Locally we are thinking absolute worst case (plan for the worst and hope for the best) - if a significant percentage of all workforce is off - is there a fall back option where - we have one hub for the whole area with an appointment/triage list that any receptionist from any practice (or indeed a call centre working for practice) could book patients ringing up onto and have a virtual workforce of (well or able to work) clinicians from any local practice log on and work through.“
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“we are thinking use our extended hours hub emis system - make sure all practices have data sharing agreements in place. allow practices to book slots - make sure everyone knows how to log on from home/work to the hub system - have some protocols in place on what to do if people need seeing.. have a cloud phone solution.. can we set it up while doing 1500+ vaccines a day..
Should we be giving away free pulse oximeters? or having them available to collect from collection points? (amazon???) for people that need them?“
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“if the Tsunami of infection is coming - one of the most important markers of who needs medical care is their O2Sats. a lot of areas have a scheme whereby people can go in and get a pulseox and be monitored remotely - several Healthtech companies are providing this.. but if numbers are truly huge - doesnt each household/address need one? Just like we expect everyone to be able to take a temp - take your own pulse ox. know how to do it? and if and only if its low ask for help… might cut down on loads of visits/calls/activity..”
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“ps if you dont have one..already buy one!
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If doomsday predictions are right - there will be a lot of GP staff at home in the next few weeks - some well or well enough to work. How do we not loose this workforce? up till now we appear to have concentrated on keeping clinicians working from home - what about reception/prescribing/admin? do we have enough laptops? can we use BYOD? do we have the security/IG policies written/signed? do they have smartcard readers or can they use an alternative like ISOSEC? is it setup now and working..? Do we need a cloud telephony solution that allows incoming calls to a practice to be diverted to home workers? not just outgoing ones.. do we have enough mobiles with free minutes to give to staff home working so they arent using their own? what about worst case scenario where high percentages are off - can staff in a practice or at home work on behalf of neighboring practices? what needs to be done now to set that up?“
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“#practicemanagement #gp #nhs #primarycare
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I was in a really interesting meeting this morning where “bed blocking” came up. Lots of hospitals are having issues with patients stuck in beds for 14+ or 21+ days, medically fit but awaiting a nursing home bed (all the time getting frailer).
A really good question was asked - is there any way in which we can utilise the surge in goodwill/ volunteering that happened at the start of covid? Could we discharge to own home if volunteers did the shopping/cleaned the house/helped prepare meals etc? Could a community/neighbours/volunteers provide a reliable support network - when family/homes couldn’t? Could they support more formal care so it went further? NB: I’m not talking nursing care.
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Here is a medical/maths quiz for you. “
“A patient tests positive for a rare disease that affects 0.1% of the population. The test used correctly identifies 99% of the population that has the disease and it incorrectly identifies 1% that don’t have the disease. What is the chance (in percentage terms) that the patient has the disease? (your choices: 0% 0.1% 1% 9% 19% 90% 91% 99% 100%)
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I’m hearing that GP system suppliers are being asked to look at how GP appointment data is recorded to improve the usefulness. Partly to make sure correct type is recorded and also time from booking to appointment reflects what the patient wants, this makes a lot of sense as its currently a bit of a mess.
My personal view is that it’s about time we completely re-designed the GP appointment system from scratch. I think the market would go for a new module that had loads of modern features including some of the e-triage and SMS/comms functionality that are currently bolt-ons.
I had a really interesting meeting with Mehul Patel and Dr. Keith Tsui from Medwise.ai last week. They have a UK medical search engine that provides answers from curated national and local databases that looks very impressive. Nice roadmap and a freemium model should push adoption - I’ll be using it!
The BMA (admittedly a biased organisation) has done an analysis of the “help” announced for GPs see their view of whether any of the announcements will help?“
“https://lnkd.in/dPcYGi7a
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SmartPeakFlow gave me a Bluetooth peak flow machine to try. They have a dashboard product coming out that they kept talking about secondary care about, but they need to realise most asthma care takes place in Primary Care.
I was really impressed by the Aktiia continuous blood pressure wrist band. Alas they didn’t have one to take away… hint…but it looked really good. Their evidence seems strong for its accuracy and blood pressure is a really hot topic at moment. I need an affiliate link!
CodePilots software that helps practices find missing data and therefore money is looking good and they are offering free analysis.
First Data Bank were there with their new software that my surgery is trialling.
Ardens and PrimaryCareFirst were both there - it’s amazing to have two amazing companies not quite competing but in the same sphere pushing primary care forward.
There were several e-triage solutions. I spoke with Harry Longman from askMyGP and engage consult. It’s really difficult to know who to go with. Both appear to be offering not just a product but a change process - of course online/face to face is incredibly topical right now.
GP billing were present and we have recently successfully switched to them.
There were several other interesting stands including some GP buildings experts and GP suppliers offering cheaper consumables.
If you haven’t already, have a read of my post “is it time to rethink what GPs do?” https://lnkd.in/dCCJHPMy
this is a really interesting tool - ability to view usage analysis on any code or group of codes at practice or enterprise level.. cant wait for Monday!
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Have a read of my thoughts on should we be rethinking what we want our GPs to do. The media is “having a go” at GPs for not delivering despite the evidence showing they are busier than ever. A lot of GPs feel burnt out and many are leaving the profession and despite a pledge to recruit 5000 WTE more there are less of them - but perhaps its an undoable ask? So do we need to look at what they are doing, what they are best at and ask them to concentrate on that? #generalpractice #generalpractitioner #primarycare #primaryhealthcare #nhs
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Steve glad you are ok and thanks for sharing you bring up some really interesting questions. this is a very complex subject and worthy of discussion as new tech is developed as while it can help there are some downsides that should be considered/discussed“
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“some points - 1. as Jay says this has the potential to increase health inequalities, how do we avoid this, 2 for some tests - how often do you test? 3 in the NHS.. can we afford this.. take your point about saving costs later on.. but nhs thinks in year accounting not.. 10/20 “
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“Finally have you come across The Wilson-Jungner criteria for appraising the validity of a screening programme:”
“-The condition being screened for should be an important health problem”
“-The natural history of the condition should be well understood”
“-There should be a detectable early stage”
“-Treatment at an early stage should be of more benefit than at a later stage”
“-A suitable test should be devised for the early stage”
“-The test should be acceptable”
“-Intervals for repeating the test should be determined”
“-Adequate health service provision should be made for the extra clinical workload resulting from screening”
“-The risks, both physical and psychological, should be less than the benefits”
“-The costs should be balanced against the benefits
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Do any of the e-triage solutions have a interface for receptionists to use? We know some have apps that pts can request appointments or other on - and some have web front ends that link to practice sites - and some have both.. but these are all patient facing.. We are looking at how we introduce patient triage - but what we want is a way of dealing with patients who ring in the same way without fobbing them off and making them download an app or go to a site. I guess a receptionist could use the surgery site and fill it in for the pt but there might be a quicker way? a decicated page/form that a receptionist fills in that sits in the same inbox for the triage team to triage - our worry is we triage online requests with a clinician but anyone that rings gets sorted by a receptionist/non clinician and might get an appointment easier? thoughts?? #etriage
In this post Dr Neil Paul asks for some feedback from GP Partners.
“I’m interested in feedback from colleagues who are GP Partners. Traditionally GP Partners get paid a session per half day worked, so 4 days = 8 sessions.
A lot of argument can result inside a practice trying to make sure everyone is working the same and pulling their fair share. Do any practices out there run a different system, for example - different partners do different duties and perhaps agree to have different workloads and are happy to take a perhaps lower share? e.g. work 4 days and do 20 min appt and perhaps get 0.5 or 0.6 shares per session. Does anyone have an other ways of doing it, id be inmterested to know? “
Dr Paul has some more weekend reading for you! This is a huge change to the NHS and the big questions are, will it work? Has it been tried or tested? Or are we just changing for changes sake?
Its a great FREE resource for any primary care staff - clinician or non clinician - trying to upskill the IT knowledge in primary care! Did I mention it was my idea!
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In this post Dr Paul discusses the new report on Manchesters Integrated Care Systems (ICS’s).
“I’m really worried that one of the biggest changes to the NHS, probably on par with the Lansley reforms, is going on almost behind the scenes (how many people are talking about the health and social care act - the today programme gave it about 45 seconds yesterday - they talked about Genesis reforming for longer!)
We are rushing headlong into an integrated health care system based on a premise that Kaiser Permanente and others similar ICSs in the States work… yet the just published report on the Integrated healthcare system test in Greater Manchester says it doesn’t work and has been a waste of £450Million. https://lnkd.in/dZzQfT-k
Lessons are… too many meetings, too many organisation changes and meetings and little doing or change.“
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Does Mesh work for apps?“
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“I recently attended Leeds Festival and it struck me how bad the signal was. They have quite a clever app that sends messages and keeps you informed of what is going on. A really useful app in many ways but the signal was so bad ( or actually the upload/downlaod speed was so bad despite some signal) especially in certain areas of the site that some of the time you couldn’t use it never mind access Google or Facebook et al.”
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“Now I understand they must have a nightmare - tens of thousands uploading video to the cloud - and I guess you get what you pay for - I saw sat dishes and aerial so presumably they had paid for some extra infrastructure - though often I only got 1 or 2 bars of 4G and it appears that certain sites were blocked ?to reduce bandwidth usage? there was no wifi? ?is it better to provide 4G at events that wifi? at a o2 event in Liverpool the other day they had put in super fast wifi…. I know a lot of the vendors were annoyed as the card machines were all crashing and loads were struggling to accept card payments..”
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“anyway…it struck me that a lot of the comms going on was on site. people ringing or messaging each other and it reminded me of a story from a few years ago about the suggestion that phone to phone comms might be the solution in third world countries with poor or liable to interference by warlords /regimes or in areas prone to natural disaster. It strikes me having 100000 people in a field is a perfect place to test whether this might work? does anyone know about this?? pros cons? wifi/4g/mesh?
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So the blood bottle shortage has hit us locally - edict from ccg last night: “
“All primary care and community testing must be halted until 17 September 2021, except for clinically urgent testing. Examples of clinically urgent testing include: “
“• Bloods that are required to facilitate a two week wait referral “
“• Bloods that are extremely overdue and/or essential for safe prescribing of medication or monitoring of condition “
“• Bloods that if taken could avoid a hospital admission or prevent an onward referral “
“• Those with suspected sepsis or conditions with a risk of death or disability”
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“shouldn’t this be a bigger news story?”
“#healthcare
Really interesting meeting with Matt Taylor from Sano Physiotherapy Ltd about their PCN FCP MSK service this am. They appear to be a really switched on company with a great offering to PCNs. Am looking at how my PCN can work with them. #PCNs #generalpractice
Here is a document from 2018 - that I don’t think I’ve referenced before that has some interesting info in it about how community pharmacies and PCNs/GP practices can work together.
Im trying to use my blog and posts on LinkedIn to promote innovation in primary care IT. I spend a lot of my time meeting people from IT companies - looking at their products - giving them my thoughts on how to improve them - what GPs would want/think.
It can be difficult to find our about some companies/products and PR can help some so Im trying to create a definitive list. which Im splitting into 2 - 1) products I’ve used and recommend and 2) those that I know of and you could look into. Being on list 2 doesn’t mean the product isn’t good - just that I’m not that familiar with it!
I’m happy to hear from companies/people who would like to be listed. I’m not charging and I earn no commision.
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great meeting with Thomas Andrew Porteus yesterday - my surgery is looking to use their one contact software to trial offering direct booking to real and virtual appointment lists. #healthcare #surgery #gpaccess #primarycare
Was on a pan Cheshire GP leads call last week when serious discussion broke out about whether there was an alternative to EMIS that was viable.“
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“This is perhaps the first time Ive heard this discussed at this level. My opinion is that people are fed up of the poor performance, poor functionality and are starting to see it as a hinderance than an enabler. “
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“The current conclusion was the grass might not always be greener - is the alternative any better? But me thinks there is now a huge opportunity for some real disruptive technology. “
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“Personally I think the appointment system/module needs a complete rehaul, the internal messaging/tasks system perhaps needs linking to something like Teams and Office 365, the consultation/prescribing and document modules would benefit from some machine learning/AI and an UI refresh. Ive long wondered about whether separating the data from the interface is the way forward?
Calling all GP practice managers - could you fill in this research study and could you reshare on here and pass the link on to any forums / PM distribution lists you have locally! thanks“
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“#research #practicemanager #practicemanagement #generalpractice #primarycare #primarycarenetworks
Its perfect for use with a PC that doesn’t have a built in cam/mic but you can also use it with a laptop in a large room if you have a larger group wanting to be on the video call.
The camera is on a stalk and thus tends to be at head height so its not always giving an image up your nose. The camera comes with a remote that allows wide/tele shots and can move around to focus on different people in a room. The microphone is great quality and the speaker gets really loud again great if you are having a team meeting. It works well with teams and Ive used it with all the major GP system video suppliers with no problems.
Because its all in one - you don’t get any feedback and it just works. It has two plug one is usb and connects to your computer the other is power although if there is no socket around you can use another usb to power it.
Although over £100 the quality is great and I highly recommend. The only feature it doesn’t have is auto tracking but that would no doubt put the price up.
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How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff is a seminal work first published about 60 years ago yet still topical and relevant. https://amzn.to/3hHVeqa This should be on every school maths syllabus. I bet it is on every marketing and advertising courses’ reading list but perhaps for the wrong reasons. Changing scales, labelling axis, quoting figures selectively.. 8 out of 10 cats… If you havent read it already you must. I first came across it aged about 12 on my dad’s bookshelf and thought i’d been let into a secret world and had magic powers to see through the hype.
Lots of books emulate it but try reading the original.
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything - by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner https://amzn.to/3hAOnPa is the book that made economics sexy and spawned a whole industry of freakonomics radio podcasts and other books - the podcasts are free and well worth listening too. Unlike some series/themes/authors their next books are also worth reading and I highly recommend Super-Freakonomics and Think Like a Freak: Secrets of the Rogue Economist.
Stories I particularly like from the books are the getting hold of the drug dealers records story and the beating the exam cheats story but there are many more. The books are lighthearted easy reads, this isnt deep mathematics or statistics. Definitely on the popular science side but very enjoyable for it.
Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World by General Stanley McChrystal https://amzn.to/3ecNuu9 is an interesting book that I think has relevance for the NHS particularly in the new world of provider collaboratives and ICPs.
It it he details his thoughts/ideas and experiences on bringing together completely separate units with different backgrounds, ways of working, histories, and old rivalries. He does this in a non-centralised - devolved - way that empowers them but makes them work together. One of his tricks is to lift key staff from one unit and move them to a completely different one. Some lessons the NHS could learn? Perhaps its weakness is fighting a war is a big single outcome incentive and an easily measured and perhaps what the NHS is trying to do is more nebulous.
I was once told my an MP’s wife that head office had sent a copy of this book https://amzn.to/3r3xlwj to every MP to read and digest. To be fair its concepts are really interesting - that you can manipulate human behaviour through small unconscious ‘nudges’ which rely on certain pscyhological factors that we as westernised humans have. There is another book https://amzn.to/36urtm4 which tells how the nudge unit within government worked and some of its ups and downs. Personally I didn’t enjoy the second book as much but still worth reading.
Nudge – Books I recommend 4 “
“I was once told my an MP’s wife that head office had sent a copy of this book https://amzn.to/3r3xlwj to every MP to read and digest. To be fair its concepts are really interesting - that you can manipulate human behaviour through small unconscious ‘nudges’ which rely on certain pscyhological factors that we as westernised humans have. There is another book https://amzn.to/36urtm4 which tells how the nudge unit within government worked and some of its ups and downs. Personally I didn’t enjoy the second book as much but still worth reading. “
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The Lean Startup is a classic must read book for any would be entrepreneur. https://amzn.to/3e3Prc0
It introduces the concepts of MVP, split testing and Pivoting. It promotes a customer driven approach where use and sales are what’s important. Its of course an American book, written in that style but actually this one impacts a lot of useful concepts.
Really interesting stuff here on GP Access: https://lnkd.in/dDYP9Da“
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“they claim and i agree that demand isnt infinite - but im not sure they account enough for unmet demand..”
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“they claim that demand is predictable - and i agree with this - at scale its almost flat - the issue is at a small practice level even a small percentage variance can mean the difference between a busy and quiet day - so is working at scale the answer? i know PCNs or CCGs where all the GPs have clubbed together to deliver a on the day service across them at scale..”
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“they claim capacity is a huge issue and I agree - practice closures/ self isolating/ sickness/ short notice holidays/ variance numbers off can make huge difference.”
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“there is more….”
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“#practicemanagement #gpsurgery #primarycare #primarycarenetworks
The main concept of this book https://amzn.to/3e08Ryzis perhaps invaluable to anyone bringing a product to market and is something I find myself discussing with lots of startups I have meetings with. Without giving it all away buy and read the book - using my link! - there is a fundamental difference between those who are happy to try and test your product and the large numbers you want to buy it. An Angel investor friend of mine calls it the 200 problem. There are roughly 7000 GP practices and you can getting up to 200 to test your product is one thing getting the others to buy it - where the real money is - is different.
I was chatting with a friend recently about non-fiction books that have impacted on my life in some way - whether enjoyable, insightful or educational. Ive come up with an interesting list which I plan to share on here over the coming weeks as an intermittent distraction. Be interested to know if you have read them and if they had such an impact on you as me. First up a book that almost made me give up medicine and do physics instead. Genius - the unauthorised biography of Richard Feynman a total hero of mine. One of my claims to fame is one of my patients knew him albeit briefly - which might lead me to another book!
This is an amazon affiliate link in case you fancy buying a copy!
also by Feynman and definitely worth reading his book
Surely you’re joking and and the sequel - “what do you care” - that has a great section on the Challenger investigation and the problems at NASA :
Useful website for Cheshire & Merseyside residents still wanting a vaccine - of course the Middlewich site is the one I run… and highly recommend…. https://lnkd.in/dTvxKXg #covid19vaccination
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Interesting meeting with Dr Edwin Rajadurai (MBBS) from Servca - does NHS indemnity cover all the insurance issues that the new ways of working bring? Have the traditional indemnity companies adapted to some of the integrated/cross practice/working at scale/ new contracts? #nhs #insurance
Hopefully you know I have a blog site, which I use as an archive of my many posts and outputs? It gets quite a lot of hits despite me often neglecting it. I often post on Linkedin as its easy to do - perhaps easier than adding a blog post… and you get a lot of views/responses and feedback and the comments aren’t full of spam etc.
There is a way of embedding posts from Linkedin on my Wordpress site but it’s quite time consuming and it would be nice if it could be automated but Linkedin doesn’t really facilitate that. However I’ve just come across a Wordpress plugin that auto publishes posts to Linkedin with a link to the original post. I’ve just tested it and it appears to work quite well. So I’m going to give it a go…. adding posts to my blog and having them appear on Linkedin. Of course I will still be checking the comments on LinkedIn and engaging with them.
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Great meeting with Penny Bale from PAM Wellbeing - they have an good looking Digital health app in the mental health space that my PCN is looking to trial with them. watch this space…. #digitalhealth #healthcare #mentalhealth #patientcare #wellness #wellbeing
Looking for any EMIS or primary care IT experts who might be interested in helping us record more videos for how2.training (paid work)“
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“- perhaps you are an administrator or manager or clinician working in general practice with an interest/expertise in using IT who are willing to learn how to record videos and work with us or perhaps you are an established trainer used to recording sessions - get in touch! “
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“We aren’t looking to employ and we think this would be done as an extra to your day job - and paid for - to realise some benefits from your expertise.
Great to have myGP on board !“
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“How2 is a free to use site being run as a not for profit social venture by my company to upskill the level of IT skill in primary care - other partners welcome - we would love this to be a central training repository
Calling any private echo providers in South Cheshire or reasonable commute. Im looking to purchase some private echos on research patients. im after a couple of a month for 1-2 years. ideally id like you to come to my practice in Sandbach but we could in theory send pt to you as long as commute not too long. if you provide such a service get in touch! #echocardiography
You can now find a bundle of videos on how to use iPlato and set it up for your GP surgery on the free to use for NHS staff training not for profit website I’ve helped setup - how2.training “
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“if your company is interested in adding your training videos to our site - get in touch. over 1000 registered users in 4 weeks since launch.”
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“#nhs #primarycare #practicemanager #gp
I’ve posted this ‘need’ before but somehow validating and updating/correcting patients mobile phone numbers where necessary without the surgery having to do any work or get rung up a million times would be really useful! of course it needs to be cheap as well! thoughts?
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Has amazon done a deal with Microsoft teams? Why is it the amazon delivery man always arrives just as you are about to speak on teams? Perhaps its a clever way of decreasing their likelihood of a missed delivery? #amazon #microsoftteams
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New Practice manager wanted at my surgery - SandbachGPs/Ashfields PCC - www.sandbachgps.nhs.uk. We are looking for a new practice manager to lead our large 26.5K pt 10 partner innovative GP practice into the future. Responsible for 70 staff, reporting to the board, supported by a Finance Team (inc accountant), DPM, and others. We deliver the full range of GMS services, host a range of external clinics, have a clinical trials unit, provide extended services through LESs and an APMS contract. One partner is CCG chair, one is PCN CD and involved in GP federation and local ICP. We take a leading part in the PCN, have a full complement of AHPS inc 3 ANPs, 5 pharmacists and access to MSK FCP and Social prescribers. We are high achieving, high performing but there is plenty to do and we have to work out how to deliver care in a post covid world. The job is live on NHS jobs and will soon be advertised else where. contact as per advert or direct to me for informal chat. NOTE very short closing date. #nhs #gpsurgery #practicemanager #job
GP practices - do you think you are working harder than ever before? Here is a graph of patients seen (over the last year) by a practice that feels it can barely cope and the partners are thinking of giving up. Yes their apparent activity is down massively! WHY? Because they haven’t setup their appointment types correctly! This will be the information the government, the CCG, the regulators get on them… it is wrong because their practice manager hasn’t setup their slots correctly and it looks like they are all having an easy time. Could this be your practice? Watch our free videos on how to setup GPAD slot types correctly - its free to register - on www.how2.training. Did I mention it’s free!
Lovely quote/feedback from one of the new users on www.how2.training the FREE primary care IT training website : “Dear How2, I was recommended your website by a pharmacist colleague. I have recently moved from secondary to primary care as a PCN Clinical Pharmacist. The role is new to me and learning the IT systems in primary care has been challenging and taken me some time ( as technology is evolving rapidly in healthcare). I have to work independently across three different surgeries whilst supporting the Covid Vaccinations Hub, so finding adequate support to assist me with EMIS learning, has been challenging due to lack of staff capacity. Congratulations and a heartfelt thank you for this website. The EMIS video’s are excellent, easy to use and understand. The PDF transcript to support the video has been extremely helpful to me in my daily practice, whilst still being new to primary care. I shall be spreading the word” #pharmacist #training #AROLES
Are you a GP partner or practice manager? This service from Howbeck Healthcare Limited that helps you understand your cash flow and end of year profit predictions is being very well received - get in touch if interested #gp #primarycare #practicemanagement
After my father recently died - it made me think of the difficulties people have accessing and using tech. Despite him having taught EE&E and computer science at univeristy - failing eyesight - hearing - and peripheral neuropathy meant multi touch devices with lots of popups became really hard to use despite his love of tech. Many of these tech have accessibility features - have you ever really tried to use them or set them up remotely? do we need tech angels to help old people? see my latest digitalhealth column - out now https://lnkd.in/gDANADG #digitalhealth #technology
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Ive been reminded to do some PR about my company Howbeck Healthcare Limited One of the many things we do is turnabout/resilience support for GP practices. Some of which are struggling but some are doing ok but would like to do better in certain aspects - they might have a issue or they may feel they could be more productive/profitable. We have a great team that includes a couple of excellent practice managers, an accountant, a couple of IT people and we have a large network of contacts inc OD people and others. (feel free to get in touch to be added to our network) We do deep dives on practices, looking at their staffing, their management, their claims, their relationships, looking at the culture, the leadership etc. Its not a CQC process its collaborative with the practice and it goes down well. Its very eye opening work. We are on an NHS E framework and we usually help the practice that wants our help bid for money to buy our services so it usually costs them little other than the time involved. We have some capacity for more work - we tend to operate mainly in the north west and midlands but… might travel..
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ok - so why is the easing of lockdown in jeopardy?“
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“The Indian double mutant variant of coronavirus — B.1.617 — that has been termed as a variant of concern by the World Health Organization is moderately resistant to antibodies and is highly transmissible but has low severity among those who are vaccinated, a molecular study has said.”
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“So if you are vaccinated you are fine? So our vaccination policy is working - we can speed it up..and if you havent had one you might want to think again? but what’s the fuss? why is my holiday looking less likely? anyone know or understand?
My “how Gps get paid” article has several thousand views its based on a regular tutorial I do for GP regs but might be suitable for a wider audience. Im thinking of turning it into a workshop/course but as a tester Im also thinking of running a Free online webinar to judge demand and get a feel for what is wanted. Questions: would you be interested in watching it? What would you want me to cover? would you only watch if free or would you pay if it had a good review/reputation? do you want an intense hour? a more leisurely 2 hours. do you want it lecture based or very interactive with Q&A and finally who would be interested? only prospective partners? practice managers? GP regs? other NHS staff non NHS ie - Pharma or IT or other??? #webinar #gp #primarycare“
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My company Howbeck Healthcare Limited has been asked to provide a clinical safety officer service by a couple of companies applying for NHSd IM1 accreditation. If you might be interested in this - we have now developed a reasonably priced, robust offering that we can provide you. Get in touch if you might be interested. #im1 #clinicalsafety“
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An interesting interactive tool published on GP workforce https://lnkd.in/dcVHVTR Figures on GPs over 55 in an area and number per 100000 pts might show which areas have issues coming up“
“ #GP“
“#primarycarenetworks #primarycare
Today we launching How2.training. How2 is a learning resource providing a range of instructional videos designed to help practice staff make the best use of available Primary Care IT, and to introduce practices to new IT solutions. “
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“A lot of the content has been funded by Cheshire and Merseyside HCP but is free for anyone with a nhs.net login to use. “
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“The platform currently has around 80 videos in total, with content covering a range of IT systems, (EMIS, Docman, AccuRX, iGPR, APEX etc) and a special bundle dedicated to the GP Appointment Data (GPAD) programme which includes the latest updates. “
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“The new site has some great new features with more planned. Its our aim that it is always free for NHS staff to use.”
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“If you work in primary care we would love you to use the site. If you like the site tell others if you dont tell us!”
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“If you are a provider of software to primary care and wish to donate content to us to either demo your product or explain its usage get in touch. If you want to commission any specific videos from us get in touch we can help support local initiatives or help publicise your product. If you are training staff to work in primary care get in touch to get access to our content for your students. #practicemanager #primarycare #gptraining #digitalhealth
Do any of my contacts on here sell or recommend a Point of Care HS-CRP machine that is reasonably priced? Im involved in a cardiovascular project that may want some.. #POCT #HSCRP ps if you go get in touch!
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Just had a demo of OneContact by Thomas Andrew Porteus from Iatro and Matt Sweeney from PrimaryCareIT - looks amazing and really useful (its clever online forms you can send to pts and get info/results back - includes CDM and others - really useful for QOF but also other schemes) Dare I say it a great price too - at the price it is its almost a no-brainer. #gp #digitalhealt #pcns #practicemanager “
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Free Webinar: (Howbeck team involved)“
“Tech for dummies, boost your health and wellbeing “
“Learn more about the range of digital health and assistive technologies “
“that are available to help you boost your health and wellbeing “
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“Tuesday 30th March https://lnkd.in/dMVgnUH”
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“Monday 19th April https://lnkd.in/daAF5hu”
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“Thursday 22nd April https://lnkd.in/dtR2PKW”
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“#digitalhealth #telehealth #healthtech #telemedicine #wellbeing #webinar
OK just had a demo of Medloop Ltd. from Annabelle Sanderson - seriously impressed. Could be the next big thing in primary care - streamline management of your Chronic Disease pts. Its also PCN/multiple practice aware“
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“#PCN #GP #primarycare #practicemanager “
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My Surgery in Sandbach Cheshire is looking for one or more GPs to join our team - hours/workload flexible to suit applicant. We are a large surgery covering 26K pts, we have 15 doctors 5 pharmacists, 3 ANPs, MSK FCPs, Social prescribers and soon 3 Care Coordinators as well as a great nursing/hca/admin/reception teams. We have a range of services including minor surgery, vasectomy, joints, a DVT service, on site POCT, telederm and teleECG. We are a friendly bunch and we take pride in developing our salaried staff into partners. If you are interested in the job get in touch! I’m #hiring. Know anyone who might be interested?
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All GPs and practice managers - how to earn your practice more money in the last week of the year! QOF points have been protected while we have vaccinated 70% of the people having a jab so far. However the amount of money you get from QOF is based on Points and List Size and Disease Register size.. so its well worth using one of the many available toolkits to look at patients who are miscoded and should be on your disease registers (its also good medicine - a win win) Heart failure SMI osteoporosis dementia are the high value registers. It can make a real difference!“
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“#practicemanager #primarycare #gp
Howbeck Healthcare Limited’s Freedom to speak up service complimented in government report. #FTSU #primarycare #practicemanager “
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“We provide FTSU services to a large number of GP practices - If you are interested in our services get in touch”
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“https://lnkd.in/d_mqcUv
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My PCN uses Mark’s Holter Service (not self fit - we pay practices to fit and remove them) - uptake is great across the PCN! #pcn #practicemanager #primarycare #digitalhealth
My latest DigitalHealth Column is out - some of the fun with IT we have had setting up 2 Covid centres. https://lnkd.in/drRfZHr #digitalhealth #pcn #primarycare #covid19uk #gp
My latest DigitalHealth Column is out - some of the fun with IT we have had setting up 2 Covid centres. https://lnkd.in/drRfZHr #digitalhealth #pcn #primarycare #covid19uk #gp
Had a really interesting session today being a mini-dragon at a NW AHSN pitching event - really interesting to be on a panel with some Angel and VC funding companies trying to help health tech startups. Happy to do more of this - if anyone interested #digitalhealth #startups #innovation
Loving the new Covid Vaccination progress chart in Apex from Edenbridge Healthcare Limited - really gives you a quick visual guide of where you are up to - this is my practice..but you can choose PCN/ CCG anything that you setup“
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“# #pcn #practicemanager #primarycare #covid19uk #digitalhealth
Howbeck Healthcare Limited has been working closely with one of its local GP Federations in Cheshire to produce an easily accessible guide to the Trainee Nurse Associate (TNA role). This introductory guide explains the TNA role and what it brings to the practice team, the commitment and support required from the practice teams and the individual, and the process of accessing the funding streams available to support a TNA in practice as part of the PCN Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme. Feel free to share or get in touch for more info. #pcn #practicemanager #nurse #primarycare #arrs
Came across this really interesting article about a small software company that listened to its customers needs when they were setting up a Covid Vaccination centre and developed a bespoke solution in days. They deserve wider recognition. To any GPs or PMs running a Covid Vaccination centre if you need help with your rota’ing have a look. #pcn #practicemanager #primarycare #covid19uk #digitalhealth
Just had a good meeting with Harry Amies from Vitalsyn where I’ve been giving my thoughts/opinions/advice on suitability and placing #primarycare #digitalhealth of a new product for primary care. Happy to speak to any company or startup wanting advice/ an opinion.
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Isosec make a significant milestone. Ive used their virtual Smartcard software and it makes sense - so much easier than physical Smartcards and you don’t need the reader which must save the NHS money…“
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“https://lnkd.in/d6NNNW6”
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“#pcn #practicemanager #digitalhealth
Do we need a QCOVIDRISK calculator? that puts all your risk factors into an algorithm and generates your place in the queue based on your risk of needing ITU? Might include active measures e.g. HAD scores, QOL scores, current SAO2? Does it need balancing with your EconomicBenfit score? Ie how much would the economy/life/the world/(you??) benefit from you being back at work vaccinated? balance the two?? #pcn #practicemanager #primarycare #covid19uk
Ive had a look at my PCN data and Apex really helps you understand how you are doing. when i get time ill share some screenshots!“
“#pcn #primarycare #covid19uk #digitalhealth
You may remember me posting about UPS devices for fridges - this is the chaos that happened this week when a practice up the road lost power…. Ive bought 2 industrial UPS devices with 4 hours of power reserve.. not perfect.. but…. https://lnkd.in/d8hTWZi“
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We had the chair of the CCG and the Med Director of CWP both vaccinating today! the PR department turned up to do a video…. and filmed me and one of my managers!! #primarycare #pcn #covid19uk https://lnkd.in/deR9-98
We had the chair of the CCG and the Med Director of CWP both vaccinating today! the PR department turned up to do a video…. and filmed me and one of my managers!! #primarycare #pcn #covid19uk https://lnkd.in/deR9-98
We had the chair of the CCG and the Med Director of CWP both vaccinating today! the PR department turned up to do a video…. and filmed me and one of my managers!! #primarycare #pcn #covid19uk https://lnkd.in/deR9-98
We had the chair of the CCG and the Med Director of CWP both vaccinating today! the PR department turned up to do a video…. and filmed me and one of my managers!! #primarycare #pcn #covid19uk https://lnkd.in/deR9-98
We had the chair of the CCG and the Med Director of CWP both vaccinating today! the PR department turned up to do a video…. and filmed me and one of my managers!! #primarycare #pcn #covid19uk https://lnkd.in/deR9-98
2 questions- anyone know if a vaccine fridge will run on a UPS designed for“
“Computers? Ie one you can buy for relatively cheap Price Any advice on size power etc (wilmslow had a mains power out yesterday with a fridge full of vaccine) 2nd why done vaccine fridges come with built in ups?? Would make sense?
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Final thought for the day - is anyone capturing post vaccination side effects? I felt bloody awful for a few hours after mine - I know several people down for 24 hours. I dont seem to have seen anything about anyone recording this (might have missed it) but strikes me an app that asks people every day to record side effects and ?tracks whether they get covid at some point later might be useful info for someone.. perhaps ive just missed it with SOPs and vaccine deliveries?“
“#primarycare #digitalhealth #gp
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AccuRx is good for vaccine booking.. but I really need the ability to offer more than one site.. My PCN has 2 main sites at either end of the patch and 20K people living in a town between the two. vaccine delivery is inconsistent to the 2 sites and Id like to be able to offer more than one site. Also as per my other post a feature to verify peoples details and update the clinical system would be good.. im also wondering if some form of auto check in might be good. Ive posted about this before but a QRcode on a wall that people scan when they arrive to say they are in. we had quite a queue at the check in desk. from a big data pov might be interesting to see when people turn up compared to their booked times. or perhaps make them wait so they dont queue jump.. also.. a how many waiting function might be good. we found that at certain times a queue would build up but at others there wouldn’t be any - from a social distancing pov might be good to look and see if its busy and either wait or come down now.. some form of dynamic queue management…. esp as we get to more app literate times.. my out of the ark solution might just be to tweet – busy— quiet… every 10 mins but someone has to do that.. perhaps it doesn’t matter.. perhaps people are happy to queue #primarycare #gp #pcn
one of the biggest issues we are finding is people ringing us to check if we have the right mobile phone number for them as they know will might be sms’ing them with an invite - there is a huge opportunity for app providers to advertise their apps as a way of checking details and ?updating them to the practice’s system without bothering/clogging the surgery.. #primarycare #gp #digitalhealth #covid19innovation I’m wondering about sending an SMS to every pt on our data base saying this is the mobile we hold for you can you verify it?? issue is I probably cant put their name on it.. so while it verifies its a live sms it doesn’t help me know if its the person I think it is…..