Kenny's Update January 17th 2021

January 17 th Lincolnshire LDC Update Number 41

Dear all,

I know there has been much concern and anxiety as to when the vaccination programme

will be rolled out in Lincolnshire. For NHS Practices, the expectation to increase activity

levels and the financial penalties, if these targets are not met, has further added to levels of

stress. Thank you to those practitioners who have contacted the LDC directly over the last

few weeks and I hope we have been able to reassure you and answer your concerns.

Vaccination Programme in Lincolnshire

As I have explained previously, our vaccination programme is organised by Lincolnshire CCG. The following is the email I received as LDC Chair from the CCG on Friday night, outlining the steps involved.

“Dear All,

The Lincolnshire Vaccination Cell is happy to confirm the process for pharmacy, optometry & dental staff to access a COVID-19 vaccination in Lincolnshire.

The vaccinations for all primary care staff, including your staff groups, will be managed and delivered through the PCN Local Vaccinations Service (LVS). Each PCN in Lincolnshire has a vaccination centre where your staff members will be invited to attend. This will be within the PCN footprint in which they work and not where they live.

Each PCN will chose one of the two following booking processes to adopt, depending on their delivery model:

Option 1 – Each PCN, using the Simply Book system, will circulate a link in an email to each

practice/business in their footprint similar to that used in Derby. The link would then be shared with each staff member of that business to access and book their own appointment on a first come/first serve basis. Further batched of appointments on additional links would be shared until all staff have had the opportunity to book a vaccination in their PCN.

Option 2 – PCNs receive a list of Pharmacy ,Optometry and Dental practices/businesses by locality and they are responsible for contacting those businesses and booking staff into clinic slots. This could be done on an individual basis with details provided in advance or by block booking of clinic slots given to those businesses.

Each PCN will be communicated with over the weekend and asked to confirm their model of delivery early next week. Please bear in mind that some PCNs will have only started to vaccinate this weekend and therefore they will not all be able to provide capacity immediately.

Each business or practice will be contacted on behalf of their PCN to invite staff to book a

vaccination by one of the processes above. Please can we ask members not to contact the practice or PCN directly as they are dealing with huge volumes of demand during this unprecedented time.

Would you all be aware, and make your members aware, of the constraints of GDPR and the

responsible management of their employees personal information in line with current regulation and legislation. It is for this reason that we will not be collating a list of individuals working within your sectors to provide to the PCNs on behalf of the practices/businesses.

You are welcome to share the content of this update with you members over the weekend I would be very grateful if you be able to act as conduits for any questions arising from this update and to escalate these to me as you see fit.”

So how will this affect dentists and their teams?

Firstly, it means we are underway but please wait to be contacted. Do not contact your GP.

You will receive an email or if very short notice a telephone call.

Secondly, the vaccination programme is for everyone in your practice and when booking

slots become available, these are taken on a first come, first served, basis.

Thirdly, things happen quickly!

On Friday night, due to an unexpected cancellation, I was contacted at 5:30 pm to try and

get 18 dental team members to a medical centre in Lincoln in 20 minutes before the centre

closed. We managed 12.

On Saturday at 11:30am, I was informed of the possibility there may be 50 places available

at Mablethorpe for today. By 1:30 pm this had changed to 300 and so an email was sent

with a link to book an appointment. For those who attended today, I hope everything went

well.

For those who missed a slot, or were unable to travel or read the email too late, other times

will become available this week. To avoid disappointment, you must look at your emails

regularly and be quick to act. This may mean altering your schedule and cancelling patients

at short notice, but I’m sure they will understanding.

At lunchtime today, we were given very short notice that slots would be available this

afternoon at Skegness and Mablethorpe ……………but these were taken very quickly. Sorry if you were disappointed but please remember we are competing with Optometry and

Pharmacy as well.

When you attend your appointment, please bring ID (it is not always asked) but most

importantly, you will need your NHS Number and this number should be at hand when you

book your appointment on line. If not to hand, your NHS number can be found on the NHS

APP.

I can assure you the LDC are doing everything in our power to enable you to be vaccinated

as quickly as possible. Please remember however, that we are in the second group in terms

of priority and I know for certain there are many over 80 year olds and their Carers, as well

as front line medical staff who are still not vaccinated.

As more PCNs mobilise this week, expect to hear more but I cannot stress this enough………..you should monitor your emails frequently and be able to act quickly.

One final note - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Had a comment back just now from the CCG stressing that the link should not be shared unless to an employee of the practice. Please read in the update their email to me . We are concerned that the link may get into the public domain or social media. If this is the case or the link is shared inappropriately, we may have to stop this programme which is detrimental to all.

Activity Levels in NHS Practices

I followed the debate in Parliament on Thursday with interest.

This was a House of Commons debate, sponsored by Fleur Anderson MP, on the impact of

COVID-19 on dentistry. The BDA has worked closely with Ms Anderson to secure this debate

which was granted after 36 MPs from seven parties came together to call for it.

Following the BDA campaign calling on members to contact their representatives, many

MPs quoted testimonies of their local dentists, stressing how the targets threaten patient

safety and the stability and viability of practices. The BDA’s greater support for private

practices including business rates relief were echoed, alongside funding for ventilation

equipment to help bring down fallow time, priority access to COVID-19 vaccination, and

wider reform of the failed UDA system.

The Minister, Jo Churchill MP, refused to abandon the new target but offered assurances

that an exceptions process was in place which would take into account circumstances such

as staff sickness and patient non-attendance. She confirmed dentists and their teams would

have priority access to the COVID-19 vaccine and reiterated her commitment to long-term

reform of the NHS dental system.

As LDC Chair, I wrote to my own MP, The MP for Lincoln Karl McCartney, but did not receive

an acknowledgement, let alone a reply. This was disappointing but not surprising and we

had a similar response from his office in the first lockdown.

My own view is that the 45 % target is unlikely to change and whilst I would definitely log

missed appointments, staff illnesses or self-isolation and any other exceptional items, I am

not sure just how meaningful this documentation may be.

The concerns being expressed in the profession are many and the expectation that more

patients will attend our practices is contrary to Government advice. I would urge a word of

caution in how you express your concerns to patients however . The following advice is

from FGDP and here is the link

https://www.fgdp.org.uk/news/safety-not-activity-targets-must-be-priority

Associates Agreements

This was mentioned last week. It is vital that separate agreements should be in place for Q4

and that all parties should know the financial arrangements, if individual and whole practice

targets are not met. These agreements can be downloaded from the BDA.

Business Interruption Insurance

On the 15 th January, The Supreme Court handed down judgment in the Covid-19 Business

Interruption insurance test case of The Financial Conduct Authority v Arch and Others.

Herbert Smith Freehills acted for the FCA who advanced the claim for policyholders.

The Supreme Court unanimously dismissed Insurers’ appeals and allowed all four of the

FCA’s appeals (in two cases on a qualified basis), bringing positive news to policyholders

across the country that have suffered business interruption losses as a result of the Covid-19

pandemic.

Positive news for practices still waiting to be paid out.

And Finally ………………..

As more PCNs become active this week, I expect the vaccination programme will ramp up

significantly. For all concerned, the sooner we are vaccinated the better.

Take care and best wishes

Kenny Hume Chair Lincolnshire LDC