Month: December 2021

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Primary care networks – the PHM X factor

How primary care networks are critical to the success of population health management: Andi Orlowski, director of the Health Economics Unit at Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit and senior adviser to NHS England on population health management, shares his insights in Pulse PCN magazine.

The winter issue of the magazine for primary care network (PCN) clinical directors includes an interview with Andi about the benefits of a population health management approach and how PCNs are critical for successful deployment.

PHM ensures the right care is given at the right time by the right person and allows primary care a greater opportunity to partner with other organisations to help address the health of the population.

You can read the full article in the latest issue of Pulse PCN, available on the PULSE website: www.pulsetoday.co.uk

If you’d like to find out more about how the Health Economics Unit could help you with PHM then please do get in touch.

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Derbyshire commissioners choose MLCSU support

We are delighted to announce that the Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit (MLCSU) will continue to work in partnership with Derby and Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to provide individual patient activity (IPA) and continuing healthcare (CHC) services in Derby and Derbyshire. Following a competitive tendering process MLCSU have been successful in securing the contract for a further two years from 1 April 2022 with one more optional year after that.

Dr. Sam Gower, IPA/CHC Clinical Service Director at MLCSU, said:

“We are excited to continue working with the Derbyshire health and social care system to ensure value for money and quality service for patients, carers and commissioners. This decision by the Derbyshire health system will allow us to continue improving pathways and developing the use of technology to increase accessibility and inclusion.

“We invest heavily in innovation aiming for both improved experiences for patients and their families and cost efficiency. These innovations have included working in partnership with adam HTT Ltd to develop electronic referral systems and management, an electronic case management system and a range of services supporting personal health budgets with virtual wallets and more.

“Our dedicated team in Derby and Derbyshire has been supporting IPA/CHC activity since April 2017 allowing us to develop and sustain effective relationships with health system leaders. Derby and Derbyshire CCG’s choice to continue their partnership with MLCSU is testament to our staff who approach each case with compassion and care and help individuals and families through what can be very difficult times. We look forward to continuing to find innovative ways to support the people of Derby and Derbyshire and make services as accessible and inclusive as possible.”

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Improving use of medicines across Merseyside

Our latest report is out on the impact of the Pan Mersey Area Prescribing Committee (APC) on the appropriate use of medicines across Merseyside. See the report in the links at the bottom of this article.

The Pan Mersey APC is a professional group consisting of GPs, pharmacists and other key healthcare professionals. It seeks to identify and champion the best use of medicines taking into account cost effectiveness, quality, equity and above all, patient safety.

The Committee is responsible for making recommendations of medicines, especially high cost medicines, across the Merseyside and Warrington footprint.

Impacts over the past year include, amongst others:

28 NHS organisations are APC members
A website created to offer national and regional information on COVID-specific medicines issues 
22 new medicines reviews and policy statements
1 guideline and 5 formulary updates produced by safety subgroup
11 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology appraisal reviews. 

We have been working in collaboration with the APC providing medicines commissioning support.

To learn about how our Medicines Management and Optimisation team can support your APC, visit our new site at https://medsopt.midlandsandlancashirecsu.nhs.uk/.

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Free access to medicines optimisation advice

Welcome to our new web product where you can access free content to help improve medicines optimisation support. Visit the new website at https://medsopt.midlandsandlancashirecsu.nhs.uk to learn about opportunities for improving your current services.

Content is regularly updated and packed full of useful resources such as case studies and reports which detail how to achieve best practice outcomes. There is a wide range of innovative projects we delivered while working with integrated care systems, primary care networks and other organisations in the healthcare, government, voluntary and private sectors.

Under our ‘Services’ and ‘Publications’ sections, you can learn more about service improvement opportunities, for example:

* Implementation of new medicines services such as electronic repeat dispensing and national Community Pharmacy Consultation Services (CPCS)
* Assurance and professional support to get the best from your primary care network’s pharmacy team
* Support for improving medicines use in care homes.

Find out about our range of support and keep up to date with our latest offering:

* Project consultancy delivered by working in collaborative partnerships
* Area Prescribing Committees
* Medicines Safety Assurance Tool (MSAT)
* Primary care rebate schemes
* Care home services including training webinars and educational programmes
* High cost drugs validation/Blueteq management
* QIPP implementation service
* Prescribing analytics at scale
* Prescribing newsletter
* And much more.

Whether you’re an existing customer or would like to learn about our full suite of services, the ‘Contact us’ page provides a convenient way to get in touch directly for more details.

Finally, if you are an NHS or private sector medicines management professional, the dedicated ‘Careers’ section will help you understand the diversity of our portfolio and why working for the Midlands and Lancashire CSU’s Medicines Management and Optimisation team will be a great next move in your career development.