Dear colleagues,
Last week, we had our final formal session of this committee. Following the recent elections, there will be a new committee in September. We will have one more, informal, meeting in August at which we will discuss the GPC “Call to Action” (call to action for general practice). I am happy to receive any thoughts on this topic before our meeting, as they will help inform our conversation.
At our meeting, we considered the workforce plan. We do not object to more recruitment, but we are concerned that retention has been insufficiently considered. Who will train and supervise all the new clinicians? Londonwide staff reminded us of Elliot Singer’s safe working video safe working video.
Our discussions with commissioners and other partners were focussed on the interface between General Practice and the acute providers. There have been particular problems recently with delayed letters and changes to dermatology 2ww referrals. In October, the implementation of the EPIC software to manage the patient records at GSTT and KCH, will impact on our ways of working e.g. we have to move to a new system to order X Rays. It is unclear who is talking to whom, and how the risks of this migration are being managed.
We agreed we need to work together to try to bring some order to the processes, and individuals committed to the first steps.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Penelope Jarrett
Chair
Lambeth LMC