Primary Care Clinical Digest

PRIMARY CARE CLINICAL DIGEST DECEMBER 16 2022 What is in this Issue?

COVID-19 Care in the Community Update for Primary Care

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1. COVID-19 Care in the Community Update for Primary Care 2. COVID-19: Testing Plan and Testing Guidance 3. GP23: The Conference for General Practice: Abstracts Open, Sponsor and Exhibition Prospectus 4. Update on Therapeutic and Natural Health Products – December 2022 5. National Immunisation Update December 9 2022 6. College of GPs Revised Telehealth Position Statement 7. Akina #2: Measles – Urgent Attention to Immunisation 8. National Immunisation Programme Operating Guidelines 9. Pharmac Consultation: Proposal to Fund Two New Treatments for People with Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer 10. Pharmac Notification: Decision to List Adrenaline AutoInjectors 11. Pharmac Update: Primary Care Prescribers for the week ending 9 December 2022 12. Top Weekend Viewing Please this notice and further posters in Practice News for COVID-19 Care in the Community covering: COVID-19 Antivirals - media coverage of COVID-19 antiviral medicines / Posters for general practices / Posters for pharmacies New translations - COVID-19 antivirals factsheet for the public, and COVID-19 antivirals factsheets in te reo Māori, Samoan, Tongan, Chinese (simplified) and Cook Islands Māori.

New video – explainer video on COVID-19 antiviral medicines.

The video is available for downloading and sharing from the Unite Against COVID-19 online resources toolkit.

A reminder to pharmacies and general practices to please update your details on Healthpoint about COVID-19 antivirals supply, including holiday hours.

Mpox (monkeypox) Manatu Hauora has updated its web content to reflect the recent name change from MPX to mpox along with some other changes, such as noting that medical care and therapy for the prevention and treatment of mpox is funded by Te Whatu Ora. New mpox isolation guidance means that people waiting for test results will only need to isolate if they meet specific criteria in a risk assessment conducted by their clinician when tested. Guidance for clinicians is available on HealthPathways and in the Communicable Diseases (CD) Manual. Any questions or comments, please get in touch by emailing nationalpublichealthops@health.govt.nz.

COVID-19 Care in the Community Data and Digital

See attached in Practice News for support availability during the holiday period.

COVID-19: Testing Plan and Testing Guidance

• The COVID-19 Testing Plan for Aotearoa sets out how testing will support Te Whatu Ora’s COVID-19 response here

GP23: The Conference for General Practice: Abstracts Open, Sponsor and Exhibition Prospectus

• The RNZCGP is calling for abstracts for GP23: the Conference for General Practice and to share their sponsorship and exhibition prospectus.

• The conference will be hosted in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland from Friday 21 to Sunday 23 July 2023 at the Aotea Centre.

• The theme for the conference is Connecting: Hauora, courage, and togetherness • See the following links for further information Read the sponsorship & exhibition prospectus, Learn more about the conference and what we’re looking for in an abstract • The Bill had its First Reading in Parliament on Wednesday 14 December. This was the first opportunity for MPs to debate and vote on the Bill. You can read the First Reading speeches here or check out the video • The Bill has now been referred to the Health Select Committee and the Committee has called for submissions from the public. Click here for more information on the members of the Health Select Committee.

• To lodge a submission click here. Closing date for submissions is Thursday 9 February 2023. Further guidance on making a submission can be found on the above web page.

• If you want to get in touch with the team, please email therapeuticproducts@health.govt.nz • Please see this update in Practice News which was not included last week. Covers information on o Dropbox: Webinar on addressing vaccine hesitancy and disinformation through behavioural change o Decommissioning of My Vaccine Pass • The College’s revised telehealth position statement ‘Specialist GP telehealth consultations’ is available on their website • A suite of online resources for members on how to do telehealth well is also available on the website.

• More work is currently being undertaken in the telehealth space with a focus on telehealth in rural hospitals, Open Notes and patient portals to name a few.

Update on Therapeutic and Natural Health Products – December 2022

National Immunisation Update December 9 2022

College of GPs Revised Telehealth Position Statement

Akina #2: Measles – Urgent Attention to Immunisation National Immunisation Programme Operating Guidelines Pharmac Consultation: Proposal to Fund Two New Treatments for People with Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Pharmac Notification: Decision to List Adrenaline Auto-Injectors Pharmac Update: Primary Care Prescribers for the week ending 9 December 2022 See full notice here.

Top Weekend Viewing

• Any questions or feedback on the position statement, please contact Tom Broadhead on tom.broadhead@rnzcgp.org.nz • Please click here for a newsletter concerning the issue of Measles vaccination rate being dangerously low.

• Operating Guidelines are here and have been updated on the website.

• There is a proposal to fund two new medicines to treat New Zealanders with advanced non-small cell lung cancer who meet eligibility criteria: o Pembrolizumab (brand name Keytruda) would be funded for the first line treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer. o Atezolizumab (brand name Tecentriq) would be funded for the second line treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

• Please follow this link to the consultation on the website.

• To provide feedback, please submit it in writing by 4 pm, Tuesday 24 January 2023 to consult@pharmac.govt.nz • Please follow this link to the Pharmac notification regarding a decision to list adrenaline auto-injectors for emergency treatment of severe anaphylaxis.

• Supply Issue: o Ibuprofen Oral Liquid 20mg per ml, 200ml bottle Pharmac website o Carbamazepine (Tegretol CR) tab long-acting 200 mg Pharmac website o Testosterone (Depo-Testosterone and Sustanon) injections Pharmac website • Brand Change: o Entecavir 0.5 mg tablet: Temporary alternative brand listed Pharmac website. o Somatropin (Omnitrope): Temporary alternative brand listed 21 November Pharmac website • COVID-19 Information for Prescribers: o Pharmac website – COVID-19 oral antivirals: Access Criteria o Aotearoa's COVID-19 treatment portfolio o Access Criteria Assessment Tool o More information on COVID-19 • As we lead up to the week before the summer break, here are a couple of picks for this weekend….in case it’s still raining! o A Spy Among Friends (TVNZ+) o The Rings of Power - based on Lord of the Rings (Prime Video) o Travels with my Father (Comedian Jack Whitehall and his long-suffering father travelling together around the world – extremely funny (Netflix)