The emergence of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, in combination with broader winter pressures, has the potential to significantly impact the delivery of general practice and wider NHS services.
The new guidance published today has been developed for clinicians working in general practice in England by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the British Medical Associations (BMA) GP’s Committee with NHS England and Improvement's support, but this advice is from the RCGP and BMA. It is intended to support practices in their planning as general practice pivots to deliver the accelerated COVID-19 booster campaign.
Following some queries from LMCs about requests from private providers relating to investigation, and/or treatment of one of the practice’s registered patients, the BMA have produced the below guidance, which includes a template letter to respond to private providers.
The UK Health Security agency has updated their guidance on COVID-19: management of staff and exposed patients or residents in health and social care settings.
Fully vaccinated GPs and practice staff no longer need to isolate for 10 days if they are a close contact of an Omicron Covid case.
Below is a summary of COVID-19 vaccination programme updates provided by the BMA this week.
Temporary suspension of 15 minute wait
A temporary suspension of the 15 minute wait for the mRNA vaccine has now been announced to allow for an increased amount of vaccinations to be carried out following successful lobbying by the BMA
CQC inspections
To support acceleration of the booster programme, the CQC are postponing all on-site inspection activity for the next three weeks with immediate effect - except in cases where there is evidence of risk to life, or the immediate risk of serious harm to people.
The Department of Work and Pensions are making legislative changes meaning that from Friday 17 December 2021 self-certification for sickness will be extended from 7 to 28 days for people accessing Statutory Sick Pay, and there will be no requirement for a fit note to access other benefits.
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You can also visit our CV19 page for the latest CV19 guidance.
