This report is a flexible summary, with the aim of sharing and highlighting a wide range of data and policy information relating to London general practice published in a given week. Where we view information to be of significant interest it is reproduced directly below the links to make the key points quicker to digest.
Please feel free to share any useful stats/links you think we could include in future reports.
Official bodies
NHS Digital
- Guidance: Guidance for trusts on the use of insourcing [8/7].
- Guidance: Children and young people diabetes toolkit [8/7].
- NHS Standard Contract: Model contracts and contract variations: general ophthalmic services [11/7].
Department of Health and Social Care
- Press release: New health secretary joined by NHS CEO on London GP surgery visit [8/7].
- The Secretary of State and NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard visited the Abbey Medical Centre in St John’s Wood, London.
- Guidance:Medicines that you cannot export from the UK or hoard [9/7].
- Press release:Secretary of State makes economic growth a priority[9/7].
- Press release: Independent investigation ordered into state of NHS [11/7].
- Professor Lord Darzi appointed to establish the state of the nation’s health service.
UK Health Security Agency
- Guidance: Influenza vaccines marketed in the UK [10/7].
- Press release: UKHSA encourages timely vaccination as whooping cough cases rise [11/7].
BMA
- Press release: General practice must be funded without cuts to hospital resources, says BMA [9/7].
- Press release: Junior doctors attend first meeting with new Government [9/7].
Policy, think tanks, charities and representative bodies
The Health Foundation
- ‘The latest GP patient survey shows that while patients’ overall experience of general practice remains positive, too many people are struggling to get through to their practice. The government’s recent announcement of a renewed focus on NHS performance is welcome, but as these data show there is no time for delaying the urgent action that is needed.’
Ipsos
- In the 2024 survey, the majority of patients reported a good overall experience of a range of services:
- 73.9% of their GP practice.
- 67.3% of contacting their GP practice the last time they tried.
- 55.9% of NHS services when their practice was closed.
- 86.8% of pharmacy services.
- 69.2% of NHS dental services.
- In terms of access to GP practice services:
- Two thirds (67%) said their overall experience of contacting their GP practice the last time they tried was good.
- The majority (68%) last tried to contact their GP practice on the phone. Among these patients, most (84%) were held in a queue.
- Of those who tried to contact their GP practice, 72% knew within two days what the next step in dealing with their request would be.
Nuffield Trust
- Waiting times for NHS care were understandably a major campaign issue before last week’s election, with the new government inheriting an elective treatment waiting list of around 7.5 million in England. This is a 66% increase since the start of the pandemic.
The King’s Fund
- Wes Streeting made his first official visit to an NHS service, but instead of touring a shiny new hospital wing, he travelled to the less glamorous, but just as important, location of a GP surgery.
- With his visit to the Abbey Medical Centre, Wes Streeting is signalling that he wants to avoid the mistakes of the past. During his visit, he also pledged to ‘divert billions of pounds from hospitals to GPs’.
- Wes Streeting said “I have sat through debates as to whether the NHS is ‘under pressure’ or ‘in crisis’ (apparently, it’s the former if the NHS has a plan to improve and the latter if it doesn’t). But things are now so bad that the debate has moved on to new ground.
- “Wes Streeting has diagnosed that the NHS is broken. He has five years to fix it.”
London Trusts
Barts NHS Trust
- Article: Working together to reduce waiting times [12/7].
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
- Article: NHS Trust helps boost students’ grades [11/7].
- An education programme being trialled at Guy’s and St Thomas’ improves engagement, grades, and attendance for local students.
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust