Here is the May issue of the Nottingham City CCG newsletter

The latest CCG News Issue 25 May 2013
CCG
2 Organisational News
Connect
CCG on firm foundations for new financial year
It doesn’t seem like a year has passed but
here we are again – in the throes of Statutory
Accounts completion and entertaining external
auditors!
It has been another good year for the CCG (working in
shadow form alongside the former PCT) delivering a
surplus of just over £3.1m in line with our agreed plan.
I’d like to extend my personal thanks to everyone for
their help, support and commitment to maintaining our
strong underlying financial position.
In the current climate we don’t need to look too far to
find financially challenged NHS organisations; always
under the media spotlight; burdened with intensive
monitoring regimes; threatened by mergers or takeovers;
all of which prove a major distraction from what should
be the main purpose for NHS commissioners: securing
excellent cost effective healthcare for patients.
We have recently received positive assurances from
NHS England (the new name for the National NHS
Commissioning Board) on our 2013/14 plans that
balance the need to meet key indicators of
performance, progress new service initiatives in
line with our strategy and deliver challenging but
achievable QIPP savings.
Over the coming year, we will continue to think of
innovative ways to drive up quality whilst managing
cost and will continue to work with our patients to
highlight where improvements need to be made.
On this note, I am delighted that the CCG’s new
People’s Council is up and running and will meet for
the first time this month (see page 2). It will be a rich
resource to us as a CCG to have a group of passionate
patients and carers engaged on
a regular and structured basis.
Their experience, ideas and
insight will not only inform
discussions at our Governing
Body and sub committee
meetings but will also have
a direct impact on our
commissioning.
Terry
Sharing best practice – with New Zealand
NHS England hosted a delegation
of GPs, nursing leaders and senior
managers from New Zealand last
month and asked Nottingham City
CCG to provide a seminar as part of
their visit. Maria Principe (Director
of Primary Care), Dr Hugh Porter
(Chair) and Dr Margaret Abbott (GP
Lead) gave presentations focusing on
the Practice Visits Programme and GP
engagement. Dame Barbara Hakin,
National Director of Commissioning
Development at NHS England, had
recommended our organisation be
included in the visit for its strong focus
on engagement with practices. NHS
England also intend to set up an
international virtual learning exchange
with primary care colleagues in British
Columbia, the US, Sweden and New
Zealand.
Working together for a healthier Nottingham

2 Issue 25 May 2013
Organisational and Commissioning News
CCG working with
the local media
The CCG works with the
local media to promote
new services and initiatives
and encourage patient
involvement in our work.
The Nottingham Post has recently
increased the number of pages
it produces each day and has
expanded its coverage of health
issues. As part of the larger
health and wellbeing section
the CCG is working with the
Nottingham Post to provide more
information about the services it
commissions, how patients can
access services and where to get
the right advice and treatment.
The CCG also provides a regular
‘Doctor Q&A’ column on a
Tuesday. GP Executive Lead and
GP at the Windmill Practice in
Sneinton Dr Margaret Abbott
answers questions on a different
health topic or concern each week.
Look out for her column and also
contact the Communications
Team on 0115 912 3384 or email
sarah.hewitt@nottinghamcity.nhs.uk
if you have any news to share or
initiatives to promote or for help and
advice on how best to get publicity.
Putting patients at the centre –
CCG launches its
People’s Council
The CCG has recruited 17 members
to its new People’s Council which
will meet for the first time on
16 May 2013 at Bulwell Riverside.
The People’s Council is chaired by Maxine
Davis, Lay Member for Patient and Public
Involvement and Equalities Lead (pictured),
supported by Independent Committee
members Rebecca Peirce and Jasmin Howell.
The People’s Council will help the CCG to set priorities, plan, shape,
develop and improve local health services in Nottingham City and will hold
the organisation to account for the decisions it makes about commissioning
by reporting to the Governing Body and its sub-committees. Members
include patients, service users, carers and representatives from voluntary
sector organisations in Nottingham City.
The People’s Council is just one of the ways the CCG engages with
patients, carers and the public. For more information on other ways
to be involved, visit the ‘Have Your Say’ section of our website at
www.nottinghamcity.nhs.uk.

3 Issue 25 May 2013
Help shape the JSNA
The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)
is a local assessment of health and wellbeing
need carried out jointly by the NHS and the
local authority.
Its primary purpose is to inform
commissioning to reduce
inequalities and improve
outcomes. However, we
know it has also been
found useful beyond this
original purpose. It can be
found on the Nottingham
Insight website at
www.nottinghaminsight.
org.uk/insight/jsna/jsna-home.aspx.
Nottingham City Council is currently carrying out an
audit of JSNA use and would find it really helpful if
CCG colleagues and GP members could complete
a quick questionnaire. It will only take a couple of
minutes – only seven questions! It aims to help the
council understand whether people find the JSNA
useful, what they are using it for and what improvements
– if any – they would like to see made. This will help to
inform the JSNA workplan for the next 12-18 months
and help to justify continued resources: therefore the
more information you can provide, the more useful
a resource it can be. The survey is available at
www.surveymonkey.com/s/S9XTY6Q and
responses should be submitted by 15 May 2013.
CityCare seeks views
on Health Visiting
The Health Visiting service in Nottingham is embarking
on a transformational change to meet the holistic
needs of families and children aged 0-5 in Nottingham.
CityCare has consulted with families on their views
for a modern, transformed service and they are now
looking for feedback from commissioning staff and
CCG member practices to help shape a vision for
health visiting in Nottingham.
CityCare is asking all those with an interest in health
visiting to complete an online survey which should
only take about five minutes – by Wednesday 7 May
2013 please.
Complete the survey at http://bit.ly/15WTgYF.
Please forward to others you know who have an
interest in this agenda.
News for GPs and Practices
New disease partnership looks for questions to answer
A new partnership has been set up to improve the management
of hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) through research.
HS is a chronic skin disease which occurs in the apocrine gland-bearing areas,
such as the armpits, breasts and groin. It is a recurrent, inflammatory and
painful disease which is often overlooked by clinicians and society.
Current management of HS is often unsatisfactory and more research is needed to understand the condition.
The UK Dermatology Clinical Trials Network (UK DCTN) has now set up a priority setting partnership to tackle this issue.
UK DCTN believes that future research into the management of HS should focus on the questions that matter to
people with HS, those who care for them and the health professionals who treat them, and the partnership
includes patients (including The Hidradenitis Suppurativa Trust www.hstrust.org), carers, dermatologists,
dermatology nurses, GPs, surgeons, and psychologists. They are now collecting HS questions from healthcare
professionals and other interested parties.
To get involved in shaping the future of HS research please visit the UK DCTN website and fill in the short questionnaire
at www.ukdctn.org/trials/prioritisation/hidradenitis or for more information email UKDCTN@nottingham.ac.uk

4 Issue 25 May 2013
New details for complaints, patient advice and advocacy
With the NHS organisational changes that came into effect on 1 April, a number of changes have also
been made to the arrangements for access to GP records, complaints, patient advice and advocacy.
Complaints
All primary care (GP, dentist, pharmacy, and optician)
complaints transfer to NHS England. Please direct all
primary care complainants to the NHS England
Customer Contact Centre on 0300 311 22 33
or email england.contactus@nhs.net
NHS Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group
investigates complaints about commissioned services –
contact 0115 883 9570 or email
patientexperienceteam@nottinghamcity.nhs.uk
Complaints advocacy
ICAS no longer provides advocacy; this is now
provided by POhWER. Please direct all advocacy
requests to POhWER on 0300 020 0093
or email yourvoiceyourchoice@pohwer.net
Patient advice
The Patient Advice & Liaison Service (PALS) function is no
longer provided by the CCG. Healthwatch Nottingham
now provides a similar service to PALS including, for
example, providing information about GP registration
and NHS dentist contact details. Patients and carers can
contact Healthwatch Nottingham on 0115 859 9511
or visit www.healthwatchnottingham.co.uk.
Look out for more information about
Nottingham HealthWatch in the June
issue of Connect.
Information
NHS Nottingham City Clinical
Commissioning Group also has an advice
and information line for patients –
call the Patient Experience Team on
0115 883 9570.
New arrangements for access to GP records
Previously when access was
requested to old GP records (usually
by the next of kin of a deceased
patient or by a non-registered
patient), the records were retrieved
from store by the PCT and reviewed
by the Medical Director before being
authorised for release (with any third
party details, sensitive information,
non-NHS external reports or anything
deemed detrimental to the wellbeing
of the patient having been redacted).
This process has now changed
and these requests are now being
forwarded to the last GP with whom
the patient was registered. Some local
GPs already accept receipt of some of
these requests and this already
happens in most of the country.
GPs are legally responsible for their
recorded medical information even
if the patient is no longer on their list.
It is acceptable for the last GP – or a
GP from that practice – to authorise
release of information recorded by
previous GPs as well as by themselves.
A small charge can be made for this.
Records should never be released
without a medical review of them.
Details in long psychiatric letters are
common sources of information that
is appropriate to redact, or suggest
requesting those separately from the
originating mental health provider.
Social services notes should not be
copied; the requestee should instead
be directed to the relevant local
authority for that information.
If a patient or next of kin requests
access to records from a dispersed
practice, or if for some other reason
there is no appropriate local
responsible GP, then the Derbyshire/
Nottinghamshire Area Team Head of
Primary Care will be responsible in
liaison with the Area Team Medical
Directorate – not the CCG.
The paperwork that the PCT was
using is now available in the GP
Portal at www.nottinghamcity.
nhs.uk and may be helpful for
keeping the necessary records.
The DH 2010 Guidance on Access
to Health Records is also available
in the GP Portal.
The arrangement for current patients
who wish to see their GP records
remains unchanged and is the
responsibility of the GP practice.
If you have any queries regarding
patient access to records please
contact the Primary Care Contracting
Team based at Birch House on
0300 300 1234.

5 Issue 25 May 2013
Measles and MMR
catch-up programme
A national catch-up
programme to
increase MMR
vaccination uptake
in children and
teenagers was
announced at the
end of last month by
Public Health England.
Plans are being drawn
up locally to reach
unvaccinated young
people through GP
practices and schools
and nationally the
GPC is working with
NHS England on this
programme.
In the meantime, primary care clinicians are being asked to actively identify
young people that have not received MMR as well as offering it to
unvaccinated patients when they visit for other reasons.
The catch-up programme aims to reach as many unvaccinated and
partially vaccinated children (particularly those aged 10-16 year old) as
possible in time for start of the next school year in September. It follows
a high-profile measles outbreak in Mid and West Wales, which has seen
942 cases since November. Nearly 600 cases have also occurred in
England during the first three months of 2013 – mostly in the North
West and North East. Almost 20% of measles cases have been
admitted to hospital.
It’s important to note that if patients over 16 approach your practice
requesting the MMR vaccine, a practice is fully entitled to vaccinate
anyone if they believe there is clinical need – see the measles chapter
in the Green Book (Immunisation Against Infectious Disease) available
online at http://media.dh.gov.uk/network/211/files/2012/09/
Green-Book-updated-140313.pdf for more information on this and
other details about MMR vaccination.
Despite recent improvements in MMR vaccine uptake in the City we are
still below the MMR targets of 95 per cent for first and second MMR
vaccinations (90.2 per cent and 82.7 per cent for quarter three
respectively). The CCG is really keen to work with NHS England to
increase coverage through the catch-up programme, especially in the
10-16 group. Please do all you can to capitalise on the national media
coverage and use this to start conversations to encourage parents to
get their children protected from measles, mumps and rubella.
Support clinical
audit work
Over the next 12 months the
Clinical Audit Support Unit
within the Health and Social
Care Information Centre will be
writing to GPs to ask for
permission to extract data from
primary care clinical systems
for audit.
The unit works collaboratively
with clinical specialists to develop
standard audit information systems
and functionality for data collection,
validation, analysis and dissemination
in primary and secondary care and is
commissioned to run a number of
audits.
The letter will outline the purpose
of the audit, the data required, how
the data will be used and reported,
the security and governance
arrangements in place, what the
practice needs to do, where to find
further information and how to
contact the audit team.
Please take note of this letter when
it arrives and do your best to support
the audit work. Quality information
is vital to the success of organisations
implementing NICE guidelines and
is key to improving services for
patients.
For any more information about
the Clinical Audit Support Unit
and the individual audits visit
www.hscic.gov.uk. For general
enquiries you can also call 0845 300
6016 or email enquiries@hscic.gov.uk

6 Issue 25 May 2013
Calling all new GPs and locums
The CCG is keen to involve all GP members in the City in its
commissioning projects but is particularly keen to hear from
newly-qualified GPs, locums and those who have a specialist
interest, experience or skills that they can bring to service
development and redesign. Increased clinical input is a key part
of our commissioning strategy and involving local doctors in our
work streams and planning will ensure that services are more
responsive to patient need and ensure increased quality and
clinical effectiveness.
We are trying to improve our
communication channels so that
we are sure we are reaching all GP
members, newly-qualified GPs and
locums who regularly work in
the City. Please pass this issue of
Connect on to colleagues in your
practice who may not receive it
and encourage them to get in touch
with their contact details so we can
add them to our distribution lists
for news and information
(email sarah.hewitt@
nottinghamcity.nhs.uk).
If you are a GP who
would like to get more
involved in a particular
area of the CCG’s work
please email Maria
Principe, Director of
Primary Care:
maria.principe@
nottinghamcity.nhs.uk
New improved access
for patients requiring
contraception
The new Improving Access to Contraception
and Sexual Health (IACCs) pilot was
launched on 1 May. Eight practices in the
Norcomm Cluster are opting to provide a
service across the City to offer coils and
implants to patients who are happy to travel
to a neighbouring practice if a service is not
currently provided by their own practice.
The existing practice does not need to issue
a prescription in advance as the patient will
be assessed by the receiving practice.
This one-year pilot was recently approved
at the Norcomm board meeting.
The practices providing this service are:
• Beechdale Surgery, Aspley
• The Alice Medical Centre,
Bestwood Estate
• Bilborough Medical Centre
• Derby Road Health Centre
• Grange Farm Medical Centre,
Bilborough
• Churchfields Medical Practice,
Old Basford
• Hucknall Road Medical Centre
• Deer Park Family Medical Practice,
Wollaton Vale
For further information please contact:
hazel.wigginton@nottinghamcity.nhs.uk
New training course offered for leading health researchers
The long established ‘gold standard’ course for leading health researchers in this country
is taking place this July – and registrations are now being accepted. The UK Systematic
Review Course 2013 is aimed at skilled researchers who wish to undertake a ‘Cochranestyle
review’ – a review which looks at several different research studies on a health topic
and attempts to draw an overall summary of opinion and insight.
It takes place at the University of Nottingham from Tuesday 2 to Friday 5 July and
includes small group work, interactive tutorials, workshops and practical computer
sessions. Subjects covered include writing a research protocol, planning a review,
searching for studies, extracting and handling data, and using specialist software. A course
fee of £699 includes all learning materials, lunch and refreshments plus evening meal on the Thursday.
The course is run by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international non-profit organisation that publishes systematic
reviews of randomised health research trials. For further information and booking details contact Lindsey Air on
0115 823 1287 or email lindsey.air@nottingham.ac.uk

7 Issue 25 May 2013
Safeguarding survey
The Nottingham City
Safeguarding Children Board
and Nottingham City Adult
Safeguarding Partnership
Board (NCSCB and NCASPB)
are undertaking a survey
of staff across all agencies
to assess the level of
safeguarding knowledge and
awareness of practitioners,
managers and strategic leads.
The results of the survey will be used
to develop training and programmes
of support within the NCSCB the
NCASPB, and across partner
agencies.
The surveys should only take ten
minutes to complete (by Friday 31
May please) and are accessible
through the links below. Please
make sure you use the link most
relevant to your role, either
Children or Adults.
Adults
www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/
adultsafeguardinghys
Children
www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/
safeguardingchildrenhys
International Clinical Trials Day
International Clinical Trials Day is marked each year on 20
May to raise awareness of the importance of research
in health care and to highlight the vital involvement of
patients and health care professionals in the conduct of
high quality relevant research.
Clinical trials are generally considered to have originated from James
Lind, a Scottish naval surgeon who, in 1747, conducted his now-famous
experiment at sea. His research found that sailors who were given lemons
and oranges in addition to their normal rations recovered from scurvy.
More than 250 years on, research is part of the core business of the NHS
and is essential in order to continually improve patient care, health
outcomes and the effectiveness of health services.
NHS Nottingham City CCG is an active partner in regional research
and innovation networks including the Primary Care Research Network
(PCRN). The PCRN works with GP practices to support them to take part in
high quality clinical research studies. By getting involved, GPs offer patients
the opportunity to participate in research that is of relevance to them.
Most research isn’t complicated or time-consuming for the practice
and funding is available to cover the practice costs of getting involved.
For more information on current and forthcoming research contact:
• Lisa Atkinson, Local PCRN Clinical Studies Officer,
on 0115 748 4204 or lisa.atkinson@nottshc.nhs.uk
• Katie Robinson, Local PCRN Clinical Studies Officer,
on 0115 748 4206 or katie.robinson@nottshc.nhs.uk
• Dr Alastair McLachlan, CCG Exec GP lead for research
on alastair.mclachlan@gp-c84078.nhs.uk
• Rachel Illingworth, Head of Research and Evaluation at the CCG
on 0115 883 9556 or rachel.illingworth@nottinghamcity.nhs.uk
Tea break surveys
The findings of a recent short survey on ‘Innovation in the NHS’ have now been published. Questions included In
which area is innovation and fresh thinking most required within the NHS? and What one thing would MOST
help the NHS to innovate and improve the way care is delivered? and 266 people took part. For more details
about the results please email tina.johnston@nottinghamcity.nhs.uk.
A new survey is now being undertaken in collaboration with Primary Care Commissioning (PCC) which focuses on
the engagement of patients and the public: ‘patient and public engagement: still an aspiration?’.To take part and
share your views visit http://bit.ly/11D3J44
And finally
As always, we want to hear your views on the developments of the Clinical Commissioning
Group for Nottingham City. Please do continue to give us your ideas and thoughts. You can
contact the CCG Executive Team via email at contact.ccg@nottinghamcity.nhs.uk.