Welcome to January

Hello & Welcome to the January 2024 edition of Academy Matters - Your IT Training Team (North) Newsletter.

Training Team - Facebook Page

Medical Students Yr3 & 5 and ST Intake

Do you know that we offer additional Clinician New starter training to coincide with trainee intake periods?

With ST's and Medical Students Years 3 & 5 having an intake in February the following extra clinical sessions are running:

31/1/24 10am

1/2/24 10am

2/2/24 10am

7/2/24 10am

21/2/24 10am

22/2/24 10am

23/2/24 10am

Visit the Academy to book your place

Medicines Management - Protocols 

We have recently been busy collaborating with the HSJ "Improving Medicines Safety Award" winning MLCSU Medicines Optimisation Team to design and import a suite of medicines safety protocols in GP Practices across Central Lancashire.

We are delighted to now be able to share the Clozapine Protocol which was a finalist in the HSJ Patient Safety Awards 2023. The clozapine safety protocol reminds prescribers of the potentially fatal side effects of treatment, signposts them to the relevant support if needed and improves the overall safety for patients prescribed clozapine.

We are also pleased to be able to share a second medicines safety protocol which highlights the potentially fatal interaction between methotrexate and trimethoprim.

A third medicines safety protocol to improve the safety of patients prescribed lithium is also being worked on. This will be shared in early 2024.

For further details and links to download these protocols can be found on the Academy.

SMS Smart

SMS messages to patients offer convenient, quick communication, but their costs can accumulate. SMS costs across Cheshire and Merseyside ICB alone are currently in the region of £650,000. To use them efficiently, it's crucial to balance their convenience with awareness of expenses, considering prioritisation for critical messages and exploring cost-effective plans or alternative platforms for less urgent communication.

Click here to read our guide and download the poster

MS SharePoint - Check who has viewed files

Have you ever wanted to see exactly who has viewed a document and when? Use the SharePoint Viewers feature, which allows you to see who has viewed your documents in SharePoint.

By default, when you hover over a document in SharePoint, it shows how many people have viewed a file.  But it doesn’t show you who those people are.

However, if you change the settings for your SharePoint site, you can easily see who has accessed your files.  You must be an Owner of the SharePoint site to change the settings.

Access the MS SharePoint - Check who has viewed files guide for details on how to change activate the SharePoint Viewers feature.

Pharmacy First Advanced Service

The NHS Pharmacy First Service incorporates the previous Community Pharmacist Consultation Service and builds on it to enable community pharmacy to complete episodes of care for seven common conditions following specific clinical pathways.

This will enable the management of common infections by community pharmacies through offering self-care, safety-netting advice, and supplying certain over the counter and prescription only medicines via clinical protocol and patient group directions.

For more information please follow the link to the NHS England resources

Introducing Our Newest Team Member!

We are thrilled to welcome Nicola Reader to our team. Nicola will be our SystmOne specialist so look out for SystmOne offerings on our Academy!

Since starting on January 2nd, she has been getting to know us and familiarizing herself with our operations and will be reaching out to her allocated practices in due course.

You will undoubtedly cross paths with her during our Online Academy training courses in the near future.

Ashley Conway - Baby News

Final Notes

We have been producing Monthly newsletters since July 2020 and we hope that these continue to be helpful - it is your newsletter and we are your IT Training Team, so if you have any issues that you would like covering, then please do get in touch.

There are many ways you can get in touch with your IT Training Team (North) including via the Academy Portal and as ever we continue to be available directly via the details below.

All practices in Lancashire and Cheshire have an allocated IT Training Team (North) Trainer at their disposal - if you are in doubt who this is please get in touch with any of us and we'll be able to point you in the right direction.

Don't forget if you would like to join the mailing list for this newsletter please click on the link

Meet the MLCSU IT Training Team 

Our IT Training Team is here to support GP practice staff in the NHS by providing expert-led training on the latest healthcare technologies.

Our team is made up of experienced professionals who have a deep understanding of the unique needs and challenges faced by GP practices. We offer a range of training options, including in-person sessions, online courses, and one-on-one coaching, to ensure that our training is accessible and tailored to the needs of each practice.

With our support, GP practice staff will be equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to confidently use technology to improve patient care and streamline their daily workflows.

Contact your practice's designated trainer for more details.