M word – Issue 16 – Securing the Future of General Practice in London
Dear colleagues,
Londonwide LMCs’ General Practice Cares campaign – Securing the Future of General Practice in London
I want to bring you up to speed with proactive work we have been doing over the summer on behalf of you, your practice and your patients.
As you will know, in June, following the media and Secretary of State’s last onslaught on GPs and General Practice, we launched our General Practice Cares campaign.
The first stage – a set of highly visible posters – distributed in hard copy to all practices aimed at:
- demystifying for London’s patients who visit their surgeries, what their GPs do for them with just 10% of overall healthcare resources and
- to show you that we GPs do have a voice, we do have power and influence, and we will stand up for our professionalism.
The second stage – the GP workload survey on London’s practices – drilled down into the day to day concerns you’ve been telling us and your LMCs and which ultimately, prevent you from doing the professional job for which you were trained and believe in. Your huge response has enabled us to:
- penetrate the Telegraph, Evening Standard and medical media with the day to day reality of life in general practice today and
- provide evidence to NHS England of the need to secure the future of General Practice in London from your position as a GP provider in our cash-starved capital.
The third stage is our evidence-based document Securing the Future of General Practice in London which sets out the building blocks which we believe are essential to ensure safe and sound delivery of General Practice over the weeks and months ahead, as NHS England nationally and in London pursue their programmes of ‘transformation’, including the transformation of primary medical services. Our documentunderpins the efforts of both my expert team and your local elected LMC representatives, as we steer a path through the uncertain threats and opportunities we GPs and our teams face now and ahead. This is timely and relevant, in what I feel, will inevitably be a long run-in to the next general election. We will tell you how it is, not how it is spun. We will push to influence change to work for you and your patients, and for all those who seek a career in General Practice in our city.
Remember, Londonwide LMCs, which includes your local medical committee, is the only voice of general practice representing your interests as London’s GP providers through these toughest of times for our profession.
With best wishes
Dr Michelle Drage FRCGP
Chief Executive