Rehab alternative to fit notes rolled out

The Government has recently pledged to reduce the number of fit notes. Practices will be able to refer patients to WorkWell to enable them to receive support to return to work. The pioneering service will provide assessments and referrals to treatments such as physiotherapy and counselling.

Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, Birmingham and the Black Country are among 15 areas in the project. In some areas, this will include “fit note trailblazers” which will test new ways of triage and signposting to employment support services.

NHS Confederation Chief Executive Matthew Taylor said: “It is fantastic that 15 integrated care systems can now start to get their WorkWell plans off the ground to provide more intensive, early intervention support to their populations. Integrated care system leaders know that with the right support, people living with poor health and long-term conditions can find that good quality work helps prevent them from becoming more unwell. This helps people to live a fuller life, which in turn reduces pressure on health services.”

Wide-ranging deal for Northern Ireland practices

GPs in Northern Ireland have agreed wide-ranging changes to their contract in spite of concerns about funding shortfalls and service pressures in the region. The deal gives practices £5 million to cover indemnity costs and an end to target-based payments. The BMA said practices would get an average uplift of £15,900 and would receive most of their funding in 12 monthly instalments. No practices will lose income.

A new Northern Ireland Assurance Framework will bring all practice regulatory, legal and statutory requirements into one place.

BMA regional GP Chair Dr Alan Stout said: “Negotiating these changes has been challenging. We have not achieved everything we know needs to be done and we will continue to work on a new fit for purpose GMS for 2025 onwards. Further progress needs to be made to make sure we are able to continue to offer GP services to patients across Northern Ireland.”

Practice numbers fall in Wales

New stark figures from the Welsh Government reveal that Wales lost one in 40 of its practices last year.

The number of practices in the country fell by nine, falling to 374. The reduction in practices was not matched by reductions in staff – although the country struggled to maintain GP numbers. The number of full-time equivalent qualified GPs fell by four to 1,588.

The figures show a 2.2% increase in administrative and non-clinical staff working in general practice in Wales, which is 87 more than in 2022. The numbers of patient facing staff increased by 32 (3.5%), and the number of practice nurses by 0.7%.

How practice data improves research

The University of Bristol claim that data from practices can significantly complement other major data-based research projects. At present, the UK Biobank database only has access to GP data for half of its participants. Researchers say individual practices may say they do not have time to participate or are worried about data regulations.

Researchers studied patient reports of insomnia, comparing GP records with the UK Biobank. 29% of patients told the Biobank they had insomnia symptoms while just 10% had this documented in their GP records. However, a quarter of those recorded by GPs as having the problem did not report it to the Biobank. The patients with insomnia tended to report similar characteristics, such as high caffeine intake, low exercise rates, smoking and poor physical and mental health. The patients in GP records were more likely to have diagnosed obstructive sleep apnoea.

App saves on texting costs

The NHS App is saving practices money through allowing messages to be sent to patients without having to use texting or post.

NHS England says the system has saved at least a million pounds in the last year. The app allows patients to receive messages by switching on notifications. In the last year, 22.5 million messages were sent in this way. More than a million people log into the app daily, while 34 million people are registered to use it.

Dr Vin Diwakar, National Transformation Director at NHS England, said: “By encouraging more people to use the NHS App, with notifications switched on, we can really start to reduce the estimated £450 million per year that is currently spent on communicating with patients.”