Dear colleagues,
Welcome to this update from Merton LMC. We are aiming to provide regular (bi-monthly) newsletters to keep you updated on the work that Merton LMC is doing to support you.
A reminder of who your LMC members are:
Merton LMC
- Dr Marek Jarzembowski (Principal) Chair
- Dr Paul Alford, Principal Principal) – Vice Chair
- Dr Caroline Chill (Sessional)
- Dr Elizabeth Higham (Principal)
- Dr Raisha Nurani (Sessional)
- Dr Andrew Otley (Principal)
- Dr Katie Scott (VTS)
- Dr Elisabeth Wood (Salaried)
- Practice Manager Representative roles shared by Dawn De Fontaine, Carly Pearcy and Barbara Young
The LMC is supported by the following team at Londonwide LMCs:
- Medical Director, Dr Asiya Yunus, asiya.yunus@lmc.org.uk
- Director of Primary Care, Greg Cairns, greg.cairns@lmc.org.uk
- Assistant Director of Primary Care, Nicola Rice, nicola.rice@lmc.org.uk
- Committee Liaison Executive, David Moore, david.moore@lmc.org.uk
The LMC meets every two months with representatives from SWL ICB Merton Place, Merton Local Authority/Public Health and the Federation. In addition, Dr Marek Jarzembowski regularly meets with the Chairs and Vice Chairs of Sutton and Wandsworth in addition to meetings with Surrey and Sussex LMCs which represents LMCs in Kingston, Croydon and Richmond to ensure that a consistent approach is adopted across SWL. Weekly meetings are also held with Andrew McMylor (Director of Primary Care for SWL ICS).
Issues which are currently being discussed include the following:
Flu vaccination campaign
Practices will be aware of the cohorts eligible for the flu vaccination this year. Please note that practices will not receive payment in respect of any 50–64-year-olds in the not at risk category if vaccinated before 15 October. In addition, although practices will be able to vaccinate their own staff it is not likely that they will receive payment for doing so.
Kingston Hospital Emergency Discharge Summaries Incident
An issue recently came to light whereby it became apparent that a significant number of ED discharge summaries from Kingston Hospital were not sent to practices between December 2021 and July 2022, due to an IT issue which has now been resolved. The incident has been investigated by Kingston Hospital in collaboration with General Practice, LMC and commissioning colleagues in SW London. There are patients from 1168 GP practices and 94 CCGs, and the following has been agreed in relation to the summaries which pre date July 2022:
- For practices with 10 or fewer summaries an explanatory letter is being sent, with accompanying summaries, which should be reviewed
- For practices with between 11 and 100 and practices over 100 unsent discharge summaries a letter is being sent which will include an offer of administrative support at £20 per hour and an offer of clinical support at £35 per incident resulting from review of a discharge summary which results in a patient consultation or referral.
- In cases where over 11 or over 100 discharge summaries are to be received by a practice it is open to the practice to decline if they do not have the capacity, to manage this additional workload. In this situation the hospital should be informed. The LMC would ask all practices receiving 100 or few discharges to try and process these (with the additional payments available) if at all possible.
- In all cases if review of the discharge summary results in the identification of clinical harm, according to the accompanying pathway and definition provided, please contact the hospital with this information using the email addresses to be provided. The hospital will respond to the patient under its Duty of Candour and practices are not expected to undertake this.
Support for Merton residents due to concerns about the increases to the cost of living
The LMC discussed with the local authority representative what support would be available for Merton residents in relation to the cost of living increases. The council provide a directory of services (Help with the cost of living | Merton Council), which can be used by practice staff including social prescribers to signpost patients to appropriate services. The council has been running workshops for residents in the borough and is planning to hold a Merton wide summit to understand how Merton residents can be supported.
Please click here to visit the Londonwide LMCs website, where you can find advice about hot topics, the GP support team, guidance, resources, and training and development opportunities.
Please share this newsletter with your colleagues, and if you would like to subscribe to it, please provide Londonwide LMCs with your email address. Keeping this information updated will help facilitate effective communication with you, our constituents, and will also help ensure that you receive timely reminders about elections and other important events.
If you have any issues that you want the LMC to consider, please contact either an LMC member, or a member of the team at Londonwide LMCs.
Best wishes,
Dr Marek Jarzembowski
Chair
Merton LMC