NEWSLETTER FOR THE GENERAL PRACTICE LINK OFFICE
FEBRUARY 1999 ISSUE 58
The General Practice Link Office is always looking for articles to be included in Link News. If there is anyone out there involved in General Practice who would like to submit an article, please contact us with any contributions, which will be warmly welcomed.
STOP PRESS
A publication addressing current Croydon PCG issues will be produced and distributed by Greg Cairns, CHA within the next few weeks.
CONTENTS
THE NEW GP RETAINER SCHEME
LAST CALL FOR LIZ EDUCATIONAL INCENTIVES
NO SMOKING DAY WEDNESDAY MARCH 10th
THE NEW GP RETAINER SCHEME – HSC 1999/004
The new Health Service Circular (HSC) detailing new criteria relating to the revised GP Retainer Scheme has just been published. It comes after a long hiatus during 1998 when the Retainer Scheme was frozen. The new circular deals with practices already in the retainer scheme, and those training and non-training practices who would like to be in the retainer scheme.
In Croydon there has been significant interest in the new improved retainer scheme. A few new practices were approved and included in the old scheme last summer, just before it was put on hold.
A significant number of other practices have contacted either myself or Dr R Hornung in Guildford or Mrs Joan Munt at Medical Personnel at Mayday to find out how they could be included. All the above new applicants will now be considered as soon as the scheme starts again.
Please obtain an application pack from:
Dr R Hornung, Dean of Postgraduate General Practice Education, 2 Stirling House, Stirling Road, Surrey Research Park, Guildford, Surrey GU2 5RF telephone 01483 579492 (Secretary to Dr Hornung is Vanessa Mason).
Please contact my secretary, Sue Poffley, on 0181 768 3002 to make an appointment for a practice visit after you have received your application pack from Guildford.
Dr Alex Trompetas GP Tutor
LAST CALL FOR LIZ EDUCATIONAL INCENTIVES
The above scheme is now coming to an end for Croydon. It will end for the rest of the London area on 31 March 1999, but Croydon achieved an extension of the scheme and additional funds. At the last Education Board meeting it was established that the funds allocated to the individual GPs and Practices for approved courses equal our entire allocated budget. This means that we were not able to approve proposals considered during the said meeting. Many of them would have met the criteria and were of high educational value, but we were simply unable to commit more funds.
From previous experience it is often the case that there is a substantial amount of slippage. This means that GPs and Practices do not spend up to the entire amount of money approved to them. It is now very urgent that Practices look at their LIZ allocations so that they are able to determine the level of actual spending likely to occur. The same process will be happening at the Link Office and your LEAs or the Link Office may be contacting you for an update on your utilisation of funds.
Please remember that the 31 March deadline is approaching fast. Any funds that are not utilised will be lost to Croydon forever. Please also bear in mind that a number of your colleagues have educational applications on standby pending availability of extra funds.
Dr Alex Trompetas GP Tutor
NO SMOKING DAY WEDNESDAY MARCH 10th
"Take the plunge" is the challenge for smokers this year, the sixteenth "No Smoking Day". Every year over a million smokers join in "No Smoking Day" and an estimated 40,000 quit. Last year over 100 Croydon residents pledged to give up and support will again be on hand in the Whitgift Centre on the day.
Key messages for the campaign are:
 | No Smoking Day is a good time to quit |
| There are health and other benefits to stopping smoking |
| Smokers can get help when they quit |
You can encourage your patients that if they give up on the day, after only eight hours their blood will have half the levels of nicotine and carbon monoxide.
A selected number of Leisure Centres will be offering a reduced price swim on No Smoking Day to this campaign’s successful quitters. In addition, I will be running a four week smoking cessation course starting on Thursday 8 April, from 2:00-3:00pm at The Town Hall, Katharine Street, Croydon. Please ask your patients who want additional help to stop smoking to contact me to book a place.
Further information and campaign posters, leaflets and activity sheets for your waiting rooms available from: Margaret Howard, 0181 680 2008 ext. 287.
Margaret Howard – Primary Care Facilitator
Travellers Abroad
Overexposure of sun can result in heat stroke/sunstroke.
Avoidance includes acclimatisation to the heat by taking it easy for the first few days and avoiding strenuous exercise.
Once acclimatised, water requirements/(non alcoholic) should increase to compensate for the loss of body fluids through perspiration.
People eating a well balanced diet should not require extra salt intake.
This information is brought to you from Health Information for Overseas Travel HMSO 1995 Edition via the Croydon Practice Nurse Group Committee.
CYTOLOGY UPDATE II
Follow up by VAULT SMEARS is NOT required VAULT SMEAR at six months and again at twelve months – if normal no further
smears are required. Accurate discharge summaries that include follow-up will help improve communications
and patient care. Reference; Cervical Smear Results explained by Austoker and Davey 1997. NHSCCP and
Cancer Research Campaign. REDUCING THE NUMBER OF UNSUITABLE SMEARS
IMPROVING COVERAGE To help improve coverage, you may like to inform men of the screening tests available
to women and opportunistically remind women of the need for smears.
Colposcopy Unit, Mayday Laboratories, GP Link Office Reference: NHSCSP Publications January 1999 Marianne Wood – Colposcopy Specialist Nurse
After ONE or TWO BORDERLINE smears or ONE MILDLY DYSKARYOTIC smear :- repeat
smear at six months, if normal repeat again after one year. If also normal (i.e. two
consecutive normal smears) return to 4 � yearly recall.
TOTAL HYSTERECTOMY BENIGN CONDITIONS
TOTAL HYSTERECTOMY WITH COMPLETE REMOVAL OF CIN
It is the smear takers responsibility to visualise the cervix adequately and to sample
the SCJ/TZ. Fixative – Always change fixative completely – do not just top up otherwise
the alcohol will evaporate and the slide will not be preserved. Change after x 1 week/30
smears. Use warm water only to lubricate speculum or if necessary apply K-Y jelly to the blades away
from the tip. After one scanty smear – GP may like to prescribe oestrogen therapy may be helpful. If there is obvious PV discharge (and the patient is a regular smear attendee) swab and
treat before smearing. Suggest G.U.M. Clinic for sexual health. After one or two
inflammatory smears treat as above, if persists x 3 refer to Colposcopy as per National
Guidelines. Spread cervical cells evenly along the slide and fix immediately. Two slides and one form please, if a brush sample is taken. Contact bleeding may be due to chlamydia infection – swab to virology, then treat
and repeat the smear. Audit – every smear taker must audit their own smears.
Posters and leaflets in waiting area. Using ethnic leaflets and tapes available from Colposcopy Unit. Computerising smears and flagging due date, with an accurate recall system. Personalised
invitations. Liaising with other members of the Cervical Screening Programme so that information is
as up to date as possible. Removing women who are no longer registered with the Practice. Information regarding other clinics where smears may be carried out i.e. Family Planning
Clinic, GUM Clinic, Shirley Oaks.
A new scheme has recently been launched in Croydon. Croydon Face to Face is a free, one to one, confidential befriending scheme providing emotional support to parents in coming to terms with their child’s disability or special need. The scheme supports parents whose child has any disability or special need.
Parents have expressed how much they needed to have someone who could understand how they are feeling when they found out that their child had a disability. Parents need to know that the ranges of emotions that they may be experiencing are perfectly normal.
Some families experience feelings of shock, guilt, anger, anxiety and isolation. Some parents may have suspected for a while that their child has a disability and the diagnosis confirmed their fears. And for some children their disability may never be diagnosed. Whatever the circumstances and however kind the professional, many parents say the experience left them shattered, lonely, and confused, some parents have become depressed.
As a health professional offering helpful advice and information is part of your everyday practice. Face to Face can enhance the service that you provide by offering empathy, friendship, time, and emotional support. Research has shown that if families are emotionally supported right from the start, that this can strengthen future relationships with professionals who may provide services to the family.
Face to Face provides a preparation course for parents who are interested, and have a child with a disability to become befrienders. Once they have successfully completed the course, they are then fully supported in their role whilst they are befriending.
Befrienders can offer telephone support or can visit a parent at home or meet a parent at a mutually agreeable venue. The length and type of contact is decided between parent and befriender. A befriender, if requested, can also accompany parents to any appointments that they feel they may need some support.
Croydon Face to Face has three-year joint funding from Croydon Health Authority and Croydon Local Authority. The scheme is managed by Croydon Spastics Society and has a management committee that includes representatives from parents, and both statutory and voluntary agencies. Parents can be referred with their consent to the scheme by a professional, or if given a Face to Face leaflet can contact us directly once they feel ready to do so.
Give parents the choice…offer them Croydon Face to Face.
If you require further information or would like to receive a regular stock of leaflets, please do not hesitate to contact Terri Dorman, Project Co-ordinator on 0181 688 8803.
Terri Dorman
Croydon Sutton & District Spastics Society
1a Melville Avenue
South Croydon
CR2 7HZ
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE PRACTICE
A letter to each GP practice will be circulated soon regarding a recent case review undertaken by the Area Child Protection committee. This follows the death of a baby in the north of the borough last spring.
The Part 8 Review, which is required under part 8 of "Working Together under the Children Act 1989", makes recommendations to practice which must be implemented.
The Health Authority will monitor the response to the recommendations and progress will be reported to the Area Child Protection Committee.
All staff working within the Primary Healthcare Team will be expected to follow the changes in procedure. The changes have been drawn from the independent Part 8 case review report, the overall purpose of which is to secure the best quality of services to children and their families.
The letter will explain the recommendations and how they will relate to changes in practice. Some of the recommendations are concerned with training issues. It is important that doctors and practice staff are aware of the recommendations and have an understanding of their impact on individual practice and responsibility.
If any member of the primary healthcare team would like to discuss the Reviewing Process and/or its implications, I will be pleased to be of assistance.
Briony Ladbury
Child Protection Advisor
Croydon Health Authority
Dr Saman Rahim has just completed his vocational training year with Dr Campbell in Selsdon. He is looking for locum work or a full-time partnership
Tel 0181 680 9147.
Locum doctor requiring work. Please contact the GPLO on 0181 401 3990.
The GPLO does not necessarily endorse or support any of the positions, products or people advertised herein.
Two receptionists required for friendly three GP practices at 519 London Road.
1 = 16 hours plus one Saturday in five rota.
2 = 18 hours plus one Saturday in five rota.
Normal reception duties plus some typing.
Please contact Practice Manager on 0181-684 1035.
(1) Part-time receptionists (two) required: one for 14 hrs and one for 12 hrs per week.
(2) Computer operator/administrator required part-time for 12 hrs per week.
(3) Practice Nurse part-time required for 9 to 12 hrs per week.
Please apply with CV to Practice Manager, Beddington Medical Centre, 172 Croydon Road, Beddington, Surrey, CR0 4PG. Tel No: 0181 688 8486.
Two-hour morning sessions available in the Treatment Room (one Saturday in three) at Woodside Health Centre. Also general locum nurse cover required. Please apply to Kate Giddings at Woodside Health Centre
Telephone No: 0181 655 1223.
Practice Nurse required for a doctor’s surgery in New Addington. 20 hours per week. Please apply with CV to Anagi Ratnasinghe, Practice Manager, Drs Amarasekera and Desilva, Parkway Health Centre, Parkway, New Addington, CR0 0JA. Enquires please telephone 01689-846642.
Practice Nurse required from end of March/beginning of April 1999 for 18.75 hours per week over three days (no late evenings). Friendly innovative, fully computerised practice (Emis) in new purpose built premises. Applicants should be flexible and preferably experienced in General Practice Nursing including Cytology and Family Planning. Experience in Asthma and/or Diabetes an advantage. Please apply with CV to Teresa Wallace, Practice Manager, Parchmore Medical Centre, 97 Parchmore Road, Thornton Heath CR7 8LY or telephone 0181 251 4205 for further information.
Receptionist required Thornton Heath: 23 hours/week: �5.89/hour. Sessions ranging between 8:30am and 7:30pm. Apply 0181 251 7213.