Dear Colleague,
We have become accustomed to frequent and varying advice to GPs, but the last-minute decision to reconsider Vaccination as a Condition of Deployment (VCOD) must be the nearest to a handbrake turn! In our meeting, we discussed how practices have spent time on this, it has affected relationships, some have lost staff, others are finding it hard to recruit. We fed this back to commissioners. We also explained the ongoing pressures of staff absences due to covid and managing demand in the context of current IPC guidance.
ICS development continues; the role of GPs in the new structures remains unclear. We have responded to the SEL CCG consultation on the constitution, but NHS England continues to issue guidance which makes further changes necessary. The ICS start date has been postponed to 1/7/2022. Meanwhile, we are advised that the expectation is that local budgets will effectively roll-over, at least for the first year. You should all be getting letters soon regarding the remainder of this year’s LPCIS contract monies.
The Council Public Health commissioner came to discuss sexual health services and NHS Health Checks. The latter have been impacted by the blood bottle shortages, staff absences and IPC guidance regarding triage. There will be more detailed discussions including the Federation (who manage these contracts for local GPs) in the question of income protection for NHS health Checks.
Returning to the question of varying guidance, we are pushing for a short summary of the current position. Many of us have got confused as to which work is stopped/de-prioritised and which restarted!
Practices may also be interested in this summary of contract requirements for the remainder of the 2021/22 financial year.
Yours sincerely
Penelope Jarrett
Chair
Lambeth LMC