News

2 July 2020 Dear Colleague With the 72nd anniversary of the NHS approaching, and with the concerns most of us must all be feeling for the future of our patient-centred holistic GP model of care, it feels a wholly appropriate time to reflect on the importance of general practice to the patients and citizens to […]

26 June 2020 Dear Colleague Thank you so much for sharing your concerns and stories about the management of referrals for phlebotomy, ultrasounds and other investigations, and the asks made of practices in some areas. We are urgently raising these concerns on your behalf and working with STP clinical leads to try to find a […]

The Government has recently released two Public Health England (PHE) reports looking into the impact of coronavirus on people from BAME backgrounds. The reports were written by Professor Kevin Fenton with Covid-19: review of disparities in risks and outcomes being released on 2 June and Covid-19: understanding the impact on BAME communities on 16 June. Following the publication of […]

The CQC will resume routine inspections of GP practices in the autumn, with no start date specified yet. Since the middle of May the CQC has been remotely monitoring practices via its emergency support framework, with inspections normally taking the form of a phone call. The CQC say that inspection activity remains paused and has stated that […]

Since 15 June it has been mandatory for passengers over the age of 11 to wear face coverings on public transport in London, as well as in private hire vehicles. This has resulted in some patients approaching GP practices asking for doctor’s notes to exempt them from the requirement on health grounds, for example if they […]

June 2020 Newsletter Official studies: BAME people at increased risk from Covid-19 PHE has produced a two-part report which suggests BAME people are at disproportionate risk from Covid-19, with a number of contributing social factors. READ MORE   ► TFL face covering exemption Londoners can now print off and display cards which say they are […]

This page was updated on 12.06.2020 to clarify that TFL guidance does not currenly include exemptions to wearing face masks, but Department for Transport guidance does. 12 June 2020 Dear Colleague Thanks to all who have shared your concerns and stories regarding the management of referrals for ultrasounds and other investigations, and the asks made […]

MWord 63 update: an earlier version of this message stated that we were not aware of antibody testing being available in any area of London, this has been corrected to say it is available in South West London. 4 June 2020 Dear Colleague As we officially enter summer, I do hope you and your practice […]

28 May 2020 Dear Colleague I do hope you and your practice team members are holding up under the circumstances. We are all very aware of the increase in patient and system demand that has built up over the last couple of weeks. There is also much system talk of resets and recovery, and yet […]