News

In the past 12 months CQC have visited nearly 400 practices in London and found that: 3 were considered outstanding, 300 were considered ‘good’, 57 required improvement, and 23 were considered as inadequate. Our GP Support team assists a number of practices in their attempts to improve their CQC rating. The team have pulled together […]

NHS England have provided an information sheet to explain the introduction of the faecal immunochemical test (FIT). This replaced the guaiac faecal occult blood test (gFOBt) at the start of June. The main benefit of the FIT is that it is easier to use; only one sample is required compared to gFOBt, which required three […]

Colin Brown, UK Director for Independent Living & Crisis Response at British Red Cross looks at how their expertise will be of use to social prescribing link workers, as they take up their roles with Primary Care Networks. In recent months there’s been a real shift in seeing the value of non-clinical interventions to improve […]

The NHS London Leadership Academy is working with primary care providers to support development in the sector, and to facilitate wider working across the health and social care system. They are offering a tailored organisational development (OD) programme for at least 25 leaders from primary care. The programme’s key focus is how best to build […]

Hepatitis B in at risk babies Babies born to mothers infected with hepatitis B require a course of hep B vaccination. The first dose is given within 24 hours in the maternity units, but the rest of the course is provided within general practice. Monovalent Hep B is given at 4 weeks of age, followed […]

The introduction of the PCN DES means significant changes in the way practices deliver some existing services, and the rolling out of a new range of services. Londonwide LMCs is well placed to support PCN Clinical Directors (CDs) in managing and navigating these changes, while continuing to provide the services to all GPs and practices […]

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 this newsletter.   CQC notification timeframes: • Changes to statement of purpose: within 28 days. • Planned absences for 28+ days: 28 days before absence begins. • […]

On 11 July 2019 Dr David Geddes, NHSE/I Director of Primary Care Commissioning, wrote to CCGs and STPs advising that payment for safeguarding activity is not covered by core NHS contracts and should be payable via other mechanisms (he gives examples of CCG payment under collaborative arrangements and via LIS). The letter is available here, local […]

At the start of August Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer took over from Dr Guy Watkins as Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire LMC. Katie trained as a GP in London and was previously a medical director at Londonwide LMCs. Dr Michelle Drage, Chief Executive of Londonwide LMCs said: “Congratulations to Katie from all of us at Londonwide LMCs. She has […]