Dr Nicky Davies, Primary Care Medical Director BCUHB has asked us to share this information:

We are grateful for your hard work in BCUHB. We wanted to have a place to post BCUHB updates as we appreciate communication can be difficult to receive as a locum.

North Wales LMC

North Wales LMC represent all GPs in North Wales and they offer support, help and share local and national communication. They wish to share their email address northwaleslmc@nwlmc.co.uk. If you are in agreement, please email them so they are able to securely store your data and share communication.

MPox

Please see attached for the latest Mpox pathway. GP Practices received the following information:

Whenever possible, conduct remote triage to assess symptoms and the risk of Mpox to avoid presentation in primary care. If you suspect Mpox, please contact the local infection service Public Health Wales on 0300 003 0032 to arrange testing and further assessment.

However, if a patient presents at your practice unannounced, the current recommendation is to utilise level 3 PPE (which includes FP3 mask) when dealing with a patient with suspected or confirmed MPox Clade 1 infection. Unfortunately, the government scheme for free PPE provision to health and social care sectors in response to Covid-19 no longer exists, so, for now, independent contractors will need to source their own PPE .

FIT testing

Requests now available on WCCG Results must accompany referrals with the following exceptions FIT is not required for patients with anal ulceration or anal/rectal mass prior to referral or patients with an abdominal mass suspicious of malignancy should have a FIT undertaken alongside investigation (eg CT abdomen) or suspected cancer (USC) referral. We appreciate this may not be straight forward as a locum but a system may be in place within the Practice to aid with this referral request.

Wales USC (Urgent Suspected cancer)

Departments have requested to highlight the following:

Clinicians are gently reminded that the "2 week wait" that applies in England does not exist in Wales and that promising such timeframes to patients can lead to heightened anxiety for all.

 Bariatric Surgery

Patients who have had private bariatric surgery can now be followed up for 2 years on the NHS via the BCUHB Weight Management, please send referrals to BCU.AdultSpWeightMgmt@wales.nhs.uk

Cancer of Unknown Primary

This service up and running in Central and West BCUHB 

Unknown Primary Service - Home (sharepoint.com)

NICE Primary Care

Monthly summary available here: NICE Implementation within Primary Care

The BCUHB weekly bulletin can be found here: Weekly Bulletin - Home

If you have any queries, please direct to

Dr Nicky Davies nicky.davies2@wales.nhs.uk

Primary Care MD BCUHB