Update: NHS England advise gradual return to normal Becton Dickinson container stock
On 29 November NHS England issued its latest update on the Becton Dickinson blood test container supply problem. Previously, NHS England advised that Becton Dickinson containers should only be ordered "little and often", with the aim of practices holding no more than one week's stock at any time. This update suggests that organisations can slowly return to business-as-usual stock levels, but over a period of 6 weeks to avoid additional supply pressures.
The best practice guidance for primary care and secondary care regarding the use of tubes is due to be updated in December. Restrictions placed on testing, will be removed and organisations will be able to return to their previous ordering routes. Those currently using BD US products should continue, but this will be phased out pending further advice.
The NHS England advice for practices issued 17 September, should continue to be followed until the update:
- Continue testing activity in primary and community care in line with stocks permitting.
- Avoid over-testing,
- Check what tests have been conducted recently in another care setting,
- Check if the test can be added on to a recent (past days to week) sample,
- Review the frequency of tests that are done for monitoring purposes (thyroid, B12 etc),
- Reduce non-essential (non-urgent) testing including rescheduling routine health checks and in most cases stop vitamin D testing,
- Rotate stock to avoid out of date wastage,
- Stop ‘double-tube’ practice and use a single blood tube for all biochemistry tests,
- Avoid an immediate surge in demand for tubes beyond June and July 2021 baseline levels, working through any backlog of tests over a period of at least eight weeks, prioritising as required.
Last updated : 10 Dec 2021
GMC publish new consent guidance (21 Oct 2020)
The GMC have updated their guidance in relation to consent – the guidance comes into effect on 9 November 2020 and can be accessed at the link below: Guidance...Health Select Committee pandemic report (21 Oct 2020)
Amongst other things,Parliament’s Health and Social Care Select Committee called for improvements in referral handling at the primary/secondary care interface, better staff testing (including for GPs and staff) and quoted...Tips of the Month October 2020 (21 Oct 2020)
We provide weekly tips based on common queries which come through to us from London GPs and practice teams. These are shared via social media and collated for...Londonwide LMCs' October 2020 Newsletter (21 Oct 2020)
...NHS 111 First roll-out (21 Oct 2020)
By 1 December NHS 111 will be able to book appointments at emergency departments (EDs) within all London hospitals. This will coincide with a campaign encouraging patients to contact NHS...Calling all general practice managers, business managers, HR managers, finance managers, operational managers, managing partners and site managers (24 Sep 2020)
As part of our Practice Manager Development project, we are able to offer you an opportunity to take-up a fully...Appraisal resumes and GMC to consider Coronavirus impact during investigations (23 Sep 2020)
NHS England has instructed GPs to resume the appraisal process from 1 October, although this will be in a form which is intended to reduce the amount of paperwork involved,...Coronavirus protection for London general practice (23 Sep 2020)
As the only truly independent voice for London general practice, Londonwide LMCs continues to provide constructive challenge on behalf of GPs, nurses and the whole team in each and every...London level Coronavirus response (23 Sep 2020)
We continue to provide an active voice for London general practice, working with the Mayor’s Office, London Assembly and London Councils to raise awareness of the needs of GP practices...Guidance
We provide expert guidance for practices in our guidance section, as well as an archive of other materials you may find useful.
GP Support
Contact our GP Support team if you need help or advice.
The team provide professional and pastoral support to GPs and practice teams on a broad range of issues.
follow us on...
