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GOOD AFTERNOON and welcome to my weekly patient safety update. This week we look at the problems in General Practice, language on ‘normal births,’ the NHS Digital Strategy and whether we should be worried at the slight increase in Covid cases we are starting to see. GENERAL PRACTICE The Select Committee held an evidence session on the future of general practice in which we heard about the importance of the non-doctor workforce within primary care which is important not just because of GP shortages but also because of the wider move to MDT working. Heather Randle from the RCN explained how nurses were feeling ‘invisible’ and ‘unsafe’ in primary care. We heard a strong defence of the partnership model from 3 GPs who argued that the NHS would become less innovative if we abandoned it - something I have always agreed with. What I hadn’t appreciated was how property risks associated with ownership of GP premises could make the partnership model unviable, not least because it deters younger GPs. If we want the model, surely now is the time to consider a scheme similar to that in Scotland to allow partnerships to sell their properties back to the NHS over time. We also heard fascinating evidence from Sir Robert Francis about what patients are currently expecting from their GP - not just access issues but… CONTINUITY OF CARE which is rapidly becoming my patient safety theme of the year. I raised this issue with the Secretary of State during Health and Social Care oral questions yesterday and he promised to read the Norway study that demonstrated the incredible benefits (fewer hospital visits and 25% lower mortality rates) from seeing the same GP over a number of years. He made the often repeated point that some people don’t mind seeing a different GP if they can see someone quickly. That may be true in terms of patient preference - but what about the prevention agenda? If we want to keep people healthy so they do not develop long term conditions then continuity of care matters for occasional patients too. LANGUAGE MATTERS Some interesting new guidance from the Royal College of Midwives on language to use in maternity care. The survey carried out to inform this guidance found that “spontaneous vaginal birth” was preferred over alternative terms such as ‘normal’ or ‘natural’ birth. Let’s hope this becomes the reason to stop used the very loaded ‘normal birth’ once and for all. Changing language can often change culture. NHS CONFED EXPO As I write this I’ve just left Liverpool where I was flogging copies of my book Zero at the NHS Confederation Expo. I am pleased to say I sold out which meant I missed hearing Sajid Javid look ahead at priorities for the rest of the year. We can expect to see a Digital Health and Care Plan, Health Disparities White Paper, 10-year plans on cancer, dementia, and mental health, a reset of the NHS Long Term Plan, HEE’s framework 15 followed by the long-awaited workforce strategy. It is this last one that is most needed and I am afraid I am not optimistic the Treasury will allow it to contain the crucial modelling that will tell us if we are training enough doctors and nurses. DATA STRATEGY Published on Monday this sets out how patients are going to have better access to their data, how researchers will be able to use it to drive innovation, how the NHS will use data to increase efficiency, and plans to digitise 80% of social care providers’ care records by March 2024. Someone told me this morning we should remove all GDPR restrictions on data being shared across the NHS but instead allow patients to control preferences directly though their NHS app which I thought was intriguing. CANCER REFERRALS A really good innovation that should hopefully speed up cancer referrals is this new pilot that will see pharmacists able to refer patients for tests and scans rather than them having to wait to see a GP. COVID LATEST The ONS has said that there are small signs of an increase in cases in England. Around 1 in 70 people had the virus in the week ending 2nd June which is the same broad number as the previous week. The dashboard seems to bear this increase out as cases in the first week of June were up 65% and hospitalisations are up 33%. Deaths thankfully are still heading down so no one is pressing the panic button (yet). THE PLUG Why not forward this email to a friend and get them to sign up here? You will be helping patient safety messages reach the parts other emails do not… Jeremy Hunt
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