GP2GP issues

If you notice unknown members of staff in File Maintenance with the initials GP2GP next to them this is because a GP2GP message you have received contains this person. In order to maintain the audit trail functionality this member of staff has to be transmitted across and held in the staff database.

We would also advise the practices not to use Master File Maintenance as this module is no longer being maintained and will shortly be removed. In preference you should use Vision Control Panel which contains a File Maintenance module within it - offering the same functionality as the old Master File Maintenance module did. 

Within Control Panel and File Maintenance GP2GP related staff members are hidden.

There is currently a known issue related to this that has resulted in some external staff appearing in the responsible partner drop-down list. This issue will be fixed in a later DLM, for now the workaround is to inactivate the staff member in question.

Additionally, many practices will have noticed that they have had difficulties exchanging messages with EMIS sites. This was becuse EMIS were switching on GP2GP on a PCT by PCT basis when all practices were ready. This has now changed and you should see many more transfers with EMIS practices.

QMAS version 10 in Scotland: An Update

Further to the notification of 8th November, we have received advice from NHS National Services Scotland that due to delays in testing Scottish QMAS release 10 (READ Code update) all GP practices will find that submission of their November reports will not be acknowledged or confirmed until w/c 10^th December 2007.

We expect to recieve an update from them on 10th December and will keep you posted once we have further information.

Adding Tetanus Allergies

How can I add an Allergy to Tetanus when there is not an active drug available?

In consultation manager go to Add-Drug Allergy/Adverse Reaction. Pick the appropriate Read Term for Allergy. For example 14L5. H/O: vaccine allergy or TJJ4 Adverse reaction to tetanus vaccine. Double click on the Drug entry box and type ‘Tetanus’ in the Name box. You will need to put a tick in Discontinued before clicking find. After clicking find, pick one of the tetanus Vaccines from the list and ok. You can then also fill in the rest of the information as appropriate.

Why is Tetanus Discontinued?

The Tetanus Vaccine is no longer available as a single vaccine just as part of a combined vaccine. Please see the latest Green book on Vaccs/Imms for details (December 2006).

Therapy Update

What is Therapy Update?”

Therapy Update checks existing therapy records for drugs whose “action group” (previously known as “BNF Chapter”) has changed in this release.   It then updates the existing records, so that if in the future you do a search by action group, it will find all relevant records, whether they were added before or after the dictionary update containing action group change was installed by DLM.

How do I run Therapy Update?

This “Therapy Update” process can be run by any Vision user, whilst other users are on the system and multiple/all months updates can be applied with one click.

To run the process, click on the Modules option on the menu bar on the front screen of Vision and select Drug Dictionary Utilities. Within the Drug Dictionary Utilities module, click on the File option on the menu bar and select Therapy Update. Make sure all the versions listed are highlighted, and click Upgrade.

If there are no versions to be upgraded, you will see a message to this effect.

I thought that the Drug Dictionary installation was done automatically via DLM?

The DLM install does update all of the relevant files to enable you to prescribe the new drugs in each dictionary update.   However the Therapy Update re is a function which should be run following a successful drug install.

How do I know when I need to run Therapy Update?

When DLM completes a Multilex Update, a message that reads as follows is displayed in the relevant section of the Mail Gateway Screen.

“0 MDI successful.  Now run the Therapy Update”

However this message is only displayed until DLM runs again the following evening.

You can check at any time whether there are updates waiting to be processed by following the procedure in “How do I run Therapy Update” above.

National Vision User Group Conference

The National Vision User group Conference is currently taking place at the Holiday Inn Stratford-upon-Avon.

As in previous years, INPS have an exhibition area - below you can see Karl Wood (Customer Services Director) and Philip Doyle (Helpline Manager) who are among the many company representatives in attendance.

For more information on the National Vision User Group, see here.

Patient Reminders in Appointments

Following a discussion on the NVUG Forum, I thought it might be useful to post this as a Tip of the Day for those who hadn’t seen it. 

If you want a reminder note to appear on a patient’s record when you book them in for an appointment, rather than as a yellow Post-it note in Consultation Manager (for example, to remind the receptionist to book a longer appointment for them), then you can add this information in the Patient Notes field.

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PDS Problems Resolved Again

UPDATE AT 13:40

BT advise that service has been restored however system stability continues to be monitored.

(read the rest of this article…)

Adding & Amending Views in Appointments

If you need to amend an existing view in Appointments, or create a new one, the following instructions will show you what to do.

(read the rest of this article…)

QMAS version 10 in Scotland

We have received notification from NHS Servies Scotland that, due to a number of technical problems at their end, testing for QMAS release 10 (READ Code update) has not yet been finalised for QMAS Scotland.

A number of practices who have already been updated to QMAS version 10 (included in the DLM 240 release) may find that submission of their October report will not be confirmed and will not be updated when they log into QMAS.  As a result of this, practices may also experience some QoF rejection messages in GP Communicator for reports submitted recently.

We expect to receive confirmation as soon as QMAS release 10 has completed testing and will notify you here on the blog.

Spine Maintenance 9-11 November

NHS Connecting for Health is carrying out planned essential maintenance on the Spine over the weekend 9 - 11 November.

Systems that are dependent upon the spine (PDS, GP2GP, ETP, C&B) will be unavailable or will have reduced access\functionality during this period from 22:00 on Friday 9th November to 10:00 on Sunday 11th November. In addition you should not use GP2GP from 22:00 on Thursday 8th November as transfers can take 24 hours to complete.
 
Connecting for Health have produced  “Frequently Asked Questions” and  “Impact and Mitigating actions” documents which can be accessed from the links below:

Frequently Asked Questions
Impact and Mitigating Actions