OCCG Weekly Bulletin
Wednesday 21 October 2015
Included in this bulletin:

Oxford University Hospitals
Directly Bookable Services

Temporary Closure of the
Horton Endoscopy Unit

Email Advice October 2015

‘Stay Well This Winter’

Update for Caldicott Guardians
on New Rules for Sharing
Patient Data for Direct Care

Physician Associate Training
Placements

Return of Q2 Quit Forms
Clinical Policies & Procedures
Oxford University Hospitals announce two new directly bookable services:
From Monday 19 October 2015, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust (OUH) is offering directly
bookable appointments for:
 Nephrology outpatients and
 Neurology outpatients
GP practices can generate an appointment referral request with appropriate priority (urgent or
routine) for the service on the E-Referral System (CaB) and UBRN in the usual way. Read more
about the changes for each service individually here For how to book, see the demonstration
slides here
Email Advice October 2015:
These email addresses attached have all been recently verified as active with the recipient(s) and
timescale of replies as stated in the table.
There are other email addresses I am aware of and to whom the test email was sent but I
Did not receive a reply. If you have other emails which work, or find any of the above cease to
function, please submit them to merlin.dunlop@oxfordshireccg.nhs.uk
Corporate Information
Update for Caldicott Guardians on New Rules for Sharing Patient Data for Direct
Care:
Two new duties come into force on 1 October 2015 as part of the Health and Social Care (Safety
and Quality) Act. These are:
 A requirement for health and adult social care organisations to use a consistent identifier
(the NHS number) for sharing data for direct care of a patient
 A legal duty requiring health and adult social care bodies to share information with each
other for the direct care of a patient.
The Act reinforces existing good practice and obligations on health and social care professionals, and
provides statutory support for the seventh Caldicott principle that:
“the duty to share information can be as important as the duty to protect patient confidentiality”
For a person’s direct care, the default position should now be to share as long as the information
can be lawfully shared (i.e. there is patient consent or some other legal basis to share) and the
sharing is in an individual’s best interest.
Further guidance is available on the Information Governance Alliance information sharing page.
Other Information for Practices
Temporary Closure of the Horton Endoscopy Unit:
The Horton Endoscopy Unit is being closed for five months to redevelop the Unit in order to bring
it up to the highest (Joint Advisory Group for GI Endoscopy) standards. It is necessary to close the
Unit due to the extensive work being undertaken. During the redevelopment work Horton
patients will be treated in the main Endoscopy Unit at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS
Foundation Trust. Inpatients requiring endoscopy will be treated in the Horton Theatres.
It was not possible to provide a mobile unit on the Horton site due to their being no mobile
Endoscopy Unit available nationally until the end of 2016.
The redevelopment started on Monday 12 October. It is planned to be a 25 week project,
finishing on 4 April 2016.
All patients will be sent the attached leaflet with their appointment letter. They will also receive a
courtesy call one week before their procedure. If there are any concerns regarding transport to
Oxford, a dedicated phone number has been made available (featured on the leaflet) to discuss
transport options. These options will include a taxi direct to and from Oxford University Hospitals
NHS Foundation Trust from the Horton hospital.
If you have any queries please contact laura.carter@oxfordshireccg.nhs.uk - Senior Commissioning
Manager – Planned Care.
Stay Well This Winter:
Public Health England and NHS England launched the largest flu vaccination programme marking
the start of NHS ‘Stay Well This Winter’ campaign.
It started with a national flu vaccination programme for children, which this year seeks to help
over three million 2-6 year olds, as the programme is extended to children in school years 1 and 2.
The NHS ‘Stay Well This Winter’ campaign urges the public to:
 Make sure you get your flu jab if eligible
 Keep yourself warm – heat your home to at least 18 degrees C or (65F) if you can
 If you start to feel unwell, even if it is just a cough or cold, then get help from your
pharmacist quickly before it gets more serious
 Make sure you get your prescription medicines before pharmacies close on Christmas Eve
 Always take your prescribed medicines as directed
 Look out for other people who may need a bit of extra help over the winter
Please click here to view the materials, which include digital screen displays.
Physician Associate Training Placements:
Reading University is seeking practices who would be willing to host one or two trainee Physician
Associate students in their practice for their year 1 placements. The Year 1 placements are
scheduled to take place from the week commencing 7/3/16; the second rotation of these would
commence on 16/5/16. We are hoping that practices will have a student for both of these 10
week blocks. Funding is available for these placements and further information about the
training requirements is attached If you have any other queries please contact
rosie.rowe@oxfordshireccg.nhs.uk
Return of Q2 quit forms:
Stop smoking advisors need to make sure Q2 quit forms (1st July 2015 to 31st September 2015) are
returned to Solutions4Health by the 11th November 2015, in order to be included in time for
HSCIC reporting deadlines and December’s payment run.
Postal address – Fao Naseem Mushtaq, , Solutions 4 Health, Smokefreelife Oxfordshire Services, 1
Thames Court, 2 Richfield Avenue, Reading, RG1 8EQ
For any queries please contact Kate Eveleigh on Kate.eveleigh@oxfordshire.gov.uk or 01865
323866.
To give us your feedback please email: OCCG.GPbulletin@nhs.net
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