Event: NHS Spine supplier event in Leeds

Are you a supplier who accesses or consumes NHS products and services? Do you integrate with our core Spine products, such as our MESH (Message Exchange for Social Care), Event Management Service (NEMS), Spine Directory Service (SDS) or National Record Locator (NRL)? 

If so, please join us at our Leeds office (7 & 8 Wellington Place, Leeds, LS1 4AP) on Friday September 15 from 10am to 1pm.

The aim of this session is to understand how you use these products, the barriers or challenges you face in gaining access, the gaps you would like us to address and what you would like us to focus on in the future.

Product owners, subject matter experts and members from the wider Spine Futures team will be attending, and we will explore the following themes across our product set:

  • onboarding and assurance

  • sharing data

  • technical integration

If you are interested in joining the discussion and helping shape our future direction, please register your interest by 17 August.

We are limited for space so, should we be oversubscribed, we may limit attendance per organisation.  We hope to be able to accommodate everyone who wants to attend but we will confirm on 18 August if you have a place.

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For action: Update on next steps to switch on access to online GP records

You can request EMIS to automatically enable your patients access to their records. This will save you considerable time, as the alternative will be to enable each patient record individually.

There are only 2 sessions remaining in September and October where EMIS are running these ‘bulk enablement’ processes for participating practices. To add your practice to the list, please book a slot as soon as possible.

You can update your system yourself by following this user guide (FutureNHS login required). St Chad’s and Chilcompton Surgery has already used the guide and reported it took about an hour and was easy to follow. Our support team is available to help you.

The updated GP contract requires all practices to provide their patients with online access to new (prospective) health information in their GP records (unless exceptions apply) by 31 October 2023. 

The only exceptions are people who have asked to opt out or individuals identified as at risk. This means the application of SNOMED CT exclusion (104) code should only be applied to those individuals.

More information about enabling access can be found on the NHS Digital website. If you need any help or advice, you can contact our dedicated support team.

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Additional information for digital leaders – August 2023

We are working with the British Computer Society to develop draft role profiles for several IT operations and technical job families. To help shape and define the profiles further, we are inviting feedback from colleagues working across these roles.

You can access the profiles and feedback form on the FEDIP Hub (registration is required).

Yinka Makinde, Director of Digital Workforce at NHS England is joined by Dr Navina Evans, Chief Workforce, Training and Education Officer at NHS England, to discuss the upcoming Digital Workforce Plan and the significant role it will play alongside the newly published NHS Long Term Workforce Plan. 

Listen to Building a sustainable health and care workforce, now and in the future.

An updated paper patient registration form is available to all GP practices offering the Register with a GP surgery online service. The new form uses the same standardised question set as the online service and can be used instead of the GMS1 form.

Register with a GP surgery is a free service for GP practices to use and is also available in the NHS App. It is reducing variation in patient experience and has been designed using feedback from patients and practices.

Find out more about both registration formats and how to enrol in the service.

The revamped toolkit helps to encourage patients to use the NHS App. The toolkit contains posters and leaflets, images for social media and websites, and messaging templates to help explain to patients how the NHS App can benefit them.

Please share the toolkit among your network to help promote the NHS App.

Most prescriptions are still paper-based in secondary care. Business analyst Andy Harrison describes the technical groundwork we’ve laid to allow these settings to go digital.

Susie Day, Programme Director for the NHS App, looks at what’s changed since the app’s launch in January 2019 and how its services are evolving post-COVID.

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Event: NHS Secure Boundary webinar

Join our NHS Secure Boundary webinar on Thursday 3 August from 11am to midday.

We’ll show you how the product works and discuss how signing up to the centrally funded service will help you secure your NHS organisation.

Register to attend. 

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Additional information for pharmacy and digital medicines professionals – July 2023

The Summary Care Record Application (SCRa) is closing on 29 September 2023. After this date you will need to use the National Care Record Service (NCRS) instead.

Switching to NCRS is straightforward. You will need to have NHS Credential Management and NHS Identity Agent installed on your machine and use a modern browser. NCRS does not work in Internet Explorer or Internet Explorer compatibility mode.

View our switchover guide to plan or start to move today.

As part of ongoing research, we would like to get feedback about the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) to improve digital information available to patients and healthcare professionals in the future.  

Prescribers and dispensers interested in giving their experiences of using EPS can take part in research carried out through workshops, telephone interviews or short online surveys. 

Find out more and register your interest.

Having an NHS App ambassador in your pharmacy ensures you are up to date with the latest information about the NHS App. Ambassadors join a community sharing tips on how best to promote the NHS App and have the chance to ask questions directly to the NHS App team at our quarterly webinar.

If you, or a member of your pharmacy, would like to become an NHS App ambassador, please contact appambassadors@nhs.net.

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New feature in the National Secure Data Environment

With the new Import Reference Data feature, researchers can request to import non-patient level data, such as code lists and look-up data, that complement existing datasets available under their Data Sharing Agreement. Our input-checking team reviews all files before they are available in the environment.

To find out more about this feature or the Secure Data Environment, please email nhsdigital.businessdevelopment@nhs.net.

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Additional information for technology suppliers – July 2023

We have published new information about how we’re updating the NHS dm+d ‘<DRUG_FORM>’ coded attribute within the Virtual Medicinal Product concept class following feedback from stakeholders. The page now contains more detail about the changes, including examples and timeframes for the work. Please refer to it when searching for the latest information about the changes.

Updating the <DRUG_FORM> attribute will begin with a sample batch. The sample batch will include the new drug forms for ‘Ointment’ and is expected to take place at the end of August 2023. The exact date of the changes will be confirmed closer to the time in the Weekly release notes for dm+d.

You can contact our team if you have any questions.

We are developing a new national service, Notify a patient, which sends a message to a patient to confirm that their registration with a new GP has been accepted.

Notify a patient is currently being piloted in some integrated care boards for use with patients transferring between GP practices.

 Later this summer, we will begin rolling out this centrally-funded service further and aim for it to be available to all GP practices by the end of the year.

With messaging being handled centrally, practices may be considering how they manage the confirmations they currently send. 

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New service to confirm GP registration status

We are developing a new national service, Notify a patient, which sends a message to a patient to confirm that their registration with a new GP has been accepted.

Notify a patient is currently being piloted in some integrated care boards (ICBs) for use with patients transferring between GP practices.

Later this summer, we will begin rolling out this centrally-funded service further and aim for it to be available to all GP practices by the end of the year.

If your ICB would like to join the current pilot, or if you have any questions, please contact our team.

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Additional information for GP practice managers – July 2023

We are developing a new national service, Notify a patient, which sends a message to a patient to confirm that their registration with a new GP has been accepted.

Notify a patient is currently being piloted in some integrated care boards for use with patients transferring between GP practices.

At the beginning of August, we will begin rolling out this centrally-funded service further and aim for it to be available to all GP practices by the end of the year.

If your practice would like to join the current pilot, or if you have any questions, please contact our team.

A new tool is available to help you quickly audit the usability of key patient journeys on GP websites and help determine if they meet the requirements set out in the GP contract. Audits usually take about 90 minutes.

The tool is designed to be used in conjunction with the creating a highly usable and accessible GP website for patients guidance.

Making online journeys easier for patients is a key priority of the delivery plan for recovering access to primary care. Read more on FutureNHS (login required).

We have expanded the range of settings supported by the former GP IT Futures programme and developed a new model to reflect this wider remit.

The Digital Services for Integrated Care model will continue to help primary care settings to choose and deploy assured tech solutions that meet their needs – but is extending its coverage beyond primary care.

The new model will support suppliers to develop digital solutions that connect together care settings across Integrated Care Systems.

You should continue to use the Buying Catalogue to  identify the products and services that best meet your needs.

As part of ongoing research, we would like to get feedback about the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) to improve digital information available to patients and healthcare professionals in the future.  

Prescribers and dispensers interested in giving their experiences of using EPS can take part in research carried out through workshops, telephone interviews or short online surveys. 

Find out more and register your interest.

Having an NHS App ambassador in your practice ensures you are up to date with the latest information about the NHS App. Ambassadors join a community sharing tips on how best to promote the NHS App and have the chance to ask questions directly to the NHS App team at our quarterly webinar.

If you, or a member of your practice, would like to become an NHS App ambassador, please contact appambassadors@nhs.net.

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Additional information for digital leaders – July 2023

We have expanded the range of settings supported by the former GP IT Futures programme and developed a new model to reflect this wider remit.

The Digital Services for Integrated Care model will continue to help primary care settings choose and deploy assured tech solutions that meet their needs – but has extended its coverage beyond primary care.

We are setting out standards and capabilities for suppliers to develop systems that meet the needs of the workforce across integrated care systems and that help primary care to integrate more closely with other settings.

A new tool is available to help you quickly audit the usability of key patient journeys on GP websites and help determine if they meet the requirements set out in the GP contract. Audits usually take about 90 minutes.

The tool is designed to be used in conjunction with the creating a highly usable and accessible GP website for patients guidance.

Making online journeys easier for patients is a key priority of the delivery plan for recovering access to primary care. Read more on FutureNHS (login required).

Locum pharmacist Faraaz Hussain describes his experience of using the new National Care Records Service, the successor to the Summary Care Record application.

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