Additional information for GP practice managers – November 2023

The Buying Catalogue provides a shop window to view and procure centrally-assured, clinical IT systems.

We’re inviting primary care professionals responsible for the procurement of IT solutions to provide feedback and help shape the functionality of the catalogue. This will help us make the Buying Catalogue more user-friendly and intuitive.

If you’re interested, please complete this short 5-min survey or contact us directly.

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For action: Time to switch on access to online GP records

Most GP practices have now enabled their patients online access to new (prospective) health information in GP records. This is a requirement of the latest GP contract.

If your practice hasn’t done this yet, you must take the following actions as soon as possible:

  • EMIS practices – sign up to the last remaining bulk enablement session by 15 November

  • TPP practices – follow this guidance to update your systems in 3 steps

Please note an ‘opt-in’ approach does not meet your contractual requirements. You should only withhold access if the person has opted out or if the person has been identified as at-risk for safeguarding reasons.

You can visit our website or contact our support team for more information or if you have any questions.

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For action: Time to switch on access to online GP records

Most GP practices have now enabled their patients online access to new (prospective) health information in GP records. This is a requirement of the latest GP contract.

If your practice hasn’t done this yet, you must take the following actions as soon as possible:

  • EMIS practices – sign up to the last remaining bulk enablement session by 15 November

  • TPP practices – follow this guidance to update your systems in 3 steps

Please note an ‘opt-in’ approach does not meet your contractual requirements. You should only withhold access if the person has opted out or if the person has been identified as at-risk for safeguarding reasons.

You can visit our website or contact our support team for more information or if you have any questions.

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Recording of the series 9 smartcard tech event (9 November 2023)

On 9 November 2023 we held an online event about the technical implementation of series 9 smartcards and the software required to use the new cards.

Here is a recording of the event, including subtitles.

 

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Change to handling of scanned Lloyd George paper records

You are now allowed to securely destroy Lloyd George paper record envelopes, along with their contents, once they have been scanned and electronically stored in line with national standards. As data controllers of Lloyd George records, it is your responsibility to approve the destruction of these records and ensure it is done correctly.

You can read the guidance on digitising GP records (FutureNHS login required) for more information.

If you have any questions, you can contact our national team running the digitisation programme.

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Identity and Access Management roadshow November 2023

Thank you to the 600+ attendees who attended our November roadshow on 7 November 2003.

Here is a recording of the webinar, including subtitles.

You can also download a copy of the slides from the event.

Care Identity Service website

https://digital.nhs.uk/services/care-identity-service/latest-news

Our website includes:

  • latest releases
  • news and events
  • guidance on all services and software, tailored to different user groups

Registration Authority newsletter

All RA managers get this, and it is also published on our news page.

NHS England customer portal

https://www.support.digitalservices.nhs.uk/csm

Use the customer portal to report incidents and raise requests:

ESR service desk

https://digital.nhs.uk/services/care-identity-service/registration-authority-users/registration-authority-help/links-to-related-services

Use the ESR service desk to report incidents and raise requests specific to ESR.

Identity Agent Slack

https://join.slack.com/t/identityagent/shared_invite/zt-25m69u6gg-m0VLH_WDjkF1gRcwS9IbIw (link expires on 17 November 2023)

This Slack channel provides:

  • Care Identity Service announcements
  • release information
  • news and events
  • questions and answers from the IAM community
  • early insight to IAM-related problems

National RA team (Microsoft Teams)

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/team/19%3af1f1e0b169df47e0ad0e98f4b0a45f7f%40thread.tacv2/conversations?groupId=f836b9b1-eb5b-44c6-adba-e3128fcd641f&tenantId=37c354b2-85b0-47f5-b222-07b48d774ee3

This Teams channel provides:

  • Care Identity Service announcements
  • release information
  • news and events
  • questions and answers from the IAM community
  • early insight to IAM-related problems

NHS Networks

https://www.networks.nhs.uk/groups/registration-authority-community/

Discussions by RAs for RAs, including:

  • help and answers from the RA community
  • early insight to issues affecting RA roles

Care Identity Management feedback portal

https://portal.productboard.com/y4ncfqo7w6ksv8qymlimwhn6/tabs/37-cim

Feedback about what’s on the service, and ideas for the future.

CIM Feature Focus

The product and development team share the latest information about releases and get feedback from users at an early stage.

Look out for announcements on our news page.

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Drop-in sessions – unlocking smartcards in Care Identity Management

Care Identity Management (CIM) is replacing the Care Identity Service application. On 28 March 2024 users will no longer be able to access the old application. This means that all users of the Care Identity Service application must migrate to Care Identity Management before that date.

Unlockers (local smartcard administrators) can complete their full role in Care Identity Management and should be using the service now.

Web guidance

If you prefer written guidance, it is available here on our website.

Drop in sessions for unlockers

This is a drop-in session aimed at unlockers (local smartcard administrators). You are welcome to attend any or all sessions, and share with your colleagues.

Agenda:

  • Introducing Care Identity Management
  • How to reset smartcard passcodes in CIM
  • How to renew smartcard certificates that are due to expire in CIM
  • Self-service smartcard unlock
  • Questions about the service

Session schedule

There are different meeting links for each day.

Thursday 9 November
12:00 - 12:30
Microsoft Teams meeting
Join on your computer, mobile app or room device
Click here to join the meeting

Tuesday 14 November
12:00 - 12:30
Microsoft Teams meeting
Join on your computer, mobile app or room device
Click here to join the meeting

Thursday 16 November
12:00 - 12:30
Microsoft Teams meeting
Join on your computer, mobile app or room device
Click here to join the meeting

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Updates to VMP ‘<Drug Form>’ coded attribute in dm+d

Phase 1 drug form changes have been done and now appear in the dm+d data.

We are updating NHS dm+d ‘<DRUG_FORM>’ coded attribute within the Virtual Medicinal Product concept class to contain more detail and more closely align with international standards.

From 20 November, the following drug form changes (Phase 1) are due to take place:

  • capsule

  • cream 

  • foam

  • gel

  • granules

  • paste 

  • tablet

The remaining drug form changes (Phase 2) are expected to take place in early 2024.

We’ve published information for developers on how to run technical queries to identify VMP Drug Form changes from either the TRUD  or NHS England Terminology Server.

If you have any questions you can contact our UKMEDS team.

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New Service catalogue

We’re developing a new way to search for information about the national digital products and services we provide, such as the API platform, Cloud Centre of Excellence and the Terminology Server.

We are keen to hear from you about how you use the service catalogue and what you need from it.

We have started by adding filters and an in-page search to the new Service catalogue, to help you quickly find what is relevant to you and your needs.

Take a look at the Service catalogue and please let us know if you have any comments or suggestions at who.doeswhat@nhs.net.

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Additional information for digital leaders – November 2023

Prepare for the change to the new Cervical Screening Management System

We are developing a new Cervical Screening Management System (CSMS) to replace the current NHAIS-based service (which is accessed through Open Exeter).

The new service will go live by the end of March 2024, and there are some actions that need to be taken now. Please ensure your organisation is prepared for the changes by following the guidance for ICT teams, guidance for Registration Authorities and guidance for system users.

More information can be found on the Cervical Screening Management System webpage. If you have any questions or cannot complete the actions in the guidance, please get in touch with our Screening Implementation team who will be happy to help

Health and care staff who access e-RS in a web browser will need to change the browser address (URL) to https://ers.nhs.uk. The system itself is not changing, simply the URL used to access it.

Your ICT team can use our online guidance to implement the changes in your organisation. This should be done by the end of November 2023.

If you have any questions you can contact our e-RS team.

New self-service smartcard unlock tool

If your smartcard is locked, you can now use an online unlock tool instead of unlocking in person. All you need a is valid email address on the Care Identity Service.

To use the tool, make sure your smartcard is inserted into the smartcard reader, visit https://digital.nhs.uk/unlock and get an email with a security code.

Find out more about the tool and view a step-by-step guide on how to use it.

If your organisation uses the central @nhs.net tenant, you can join the NHSmail FastTrack Partnership programme. You will be paired with a dedicated partner team to help you fully utilise and benefit from Microsoft 365 products such as Intune, Phone Systems and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.

The programme is free to access until June 2026. Register your interest.

You can also use a FastTrack migration service, which offers support for organisations to migrate File Share data onto the NHSmail platform. This is offered on a first-come basis and runs until June 2024.

Find out more about the service and register your interest.

Cyber security threats are increasing in the NHS. To help you manage the risk of an attack on your organisation, we have published lots of free resources on our website as part of cyber awareness month. These include:

  • board-level training on cyber leadership and board accountability
  • cyber incident response exercises
  • Keep I.T. Confidential promotional materials to run your own cyber security campaign
  • Immersive Labs cyber security e-learning for all health and care staff

You can now access the first batch of topics for the Digital Primary Care: The Good Practice Guidelines for electronic patient records (version 5). These guidelines give you the latest information about how to use digital tools and services effectively, safely and in accordance with the law and other national standards.

You can listen to the latest podcast, where workforce leaders talk about the huge value of apprentices and graduates to NHS providers, why it’s more important than ever to grasp opportunities in the digital space, and why workforce plans are essential to the success of the NHS.

We’re developing a new way to search for information about the national digital products and services we provide, such as the NHS App, Data Security and Protection Toolkit and the National Care Record service.

We are keen to hear from you about how you use the service catalogue and what you need from it.

We have started by adding filters and an in-page search to the new Service catalogue, to help you quickly find what is relevant to you and your needs.

Take a look at the Service catalogue and please let us know if you have any comments or suggestions at who.doeswhat@nhs.net.

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