Healthcare assistants are now eligible to join the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) The region is planning to organize a conference in Spring 2009 to include guest speakers and workshops To register your interest please email helen.wiggington@rcn.org.uk For more details about rcn membership please visit www.rcn.org.uk/membership

Oxford Radcliffe Trust newsletter

www.oxfordradcliffe.nhs.uk/forclinicians/gpbulletin

Quality Practice Award

NESC funds one year pilot GPN Foundation Programme

Medical leadership competency framework available online

Licence to Practice

The GMC has recenlty published some literature on GP's Licence to Practice New

Mental Capacity Act e-learning package (chaser from Rachel Griffiths)

This isn’t a nag…well, perhaps only a very small one…
I ran a check the other day on how many people in the county had logged on to (and even completed) the Mental Capacity Act e-learning package. Results for the county were generally disappointing, but I was especially struck that, as far as I can tell, nobody in the PCT has even accessed the package.
I’m aware that various community based (and community hospital based) staff have attended training sessions with me, but there are many who have not, and e-learning is a useful resource for training new staff members and keeping existing ones refreshed.

As you know (because I keep going on about it) I’m particularly concerned about GP's in Oxfordshire, and you may remember it was hoped that e-learning would provide a more accessible form of training than face-to-face.

• The package is there, available and free
• You don’t have to complete it in one session, but can dip in and out at your convenience
• Once you’ve completed it, there’s a library of useful information available within the package for future reference

There are very real legal risks associated with failure to work within the Mental Capacity Act and e-learning is a convenient way to plug the gaps in knowledge.

The access details have been circulated, but here they are again for your convenience.

Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have problems getting logged in: it’s usually proved very straight-forward.

I’m in the process of setting up more multi-disciplinary training sessions, and will of course notify you of those when the dates are fixed…although the take-up from GP's has up to now been extremely low.

Rachel Griffiths
Mental Capacity Act Lead
Yarnton House, Yarnton, Oxford, OX5 1LP
01865 854508

To find out more about the Mental Capacity Act and how it might affect you, follow one of the links below: http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/links/public/mentalcapacity (for the general public) http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/links/public/mentalcapacityinfo (for professionals)

This site's information

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New Core Learning Unit Site more information

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The learning event of 2008:

Medley of Learning for Primary Care

to be held on 17/6/08 at the George Pickering Postgraduate Centre in Oxford. Topics to be covered will include respiratory medicine ( with a session on new inhalers), palliative care and telephone triage skills. This will be an all day event and everyone working is welcome to attend for the events of interest to them, without having to stay for the whole day. A full programme will be circulated nearer the time but please keep a note of this date and keep it free.

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GP-Care Dovedale Counselling is a support service for GP's

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Practice managers Core Skills for Practice Management
 
The NHS Alliance has published a report - the Nuts and Bolts of Practice Management - outlining the core skills and knowledge required by Practice Managers to successfully run the surgery. It contains sections on the basic principles of business; re-shaping services through initiatives (such as Practice Based Commissioning); and working with patients. It was written by Practice Managers and copies can be downloaded from the Alliance website or obtained from admin@nhsalliance.org (a fee of £10 will be charged to non-Alliance members). 

A Practice Managers Network has also been established by the Alliance, to help influence policy and procedure in the NHS by working with the DH and Government. For further information, contact w.evans@nhsalliance.org.

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