Londonwide LMCs

Wednesday 2 December 2015

Dear Colleague,

Just when you haven’t had one of these for a while, three come along at once. Please share these with other colleagues in your practice or network or federation as they are focused on you, as providers of general practice services. As ever, please also remember that your feedback is always welcome at mword@lmc.org.uk. I have four things for you in this edition:

The LMCs’ Special Crisis Conference Saturday 30 January 2016 – Your views here by 7 December please
PMS Reviews
Our own Londonwide LMCs Workforce Survey
Government Spending Review

And don’t forget to have a look at our GP Resilience website for really helpful templates and… an Advent Calendar of sorts!

Best wishes
michelle sig
Michelle

1. The LMCs Special Crisis Conference Saturday 30 January 2016

Following on from my message last week regarding the decision by the GPC to call a special crisis LMC conference in January, I want to update you on the timings for submitting motions to that conference.

Given the tight timescale and the Chair of Conference’s steer that “engaging the broadest base of constituents will ensure that conference best reflects the concerns, aspirations and innovations of the whole of UK general practice”.

As part of getting every London GP, partner, employed, locum, new entrant and trainee GP involved in the conference, I am today asking you the following question in accordance with the purpose of the conference:

In order to deliver a safe and sustainable GP service, what action/s do you want the GPC to commit to at the Special Conference of LMCs on 30 January 2016?

The key word here is ACTION.

So that we can properly represent your view, we want to hear your voice on the action/s you feel necessary NOW.

Here is the link to our one question survey, and views will be sought from today until noon on Monday 7 December.

Please share this and encourage all members of your team to respond and get involved.

Responses will be reviewed by your LMC Secretaries and will inform the drafting of motions to be submitted to the Special Crisis Conference on behalf of all our LMCs in London.

2. PMS Reviews

For colleagues working under PMS contracts, you will by now be aware that an enforced review of your contract is under way. Our PMS team has just issued a mythbusters Q&A to help you manage the next few weeks and advise you of some specific actions. As with GMS and MPIG, this is a testing time for PMS practices. Like me, you will be wondering why your practice finances are being paired down at such a micro-level, when demand is so high and safe practice is so important. If so, see item one above.

3. Our own Londonwide LMCs Workforce Survey

Thank you so much to those of you who have taken time out to complete our short survey. If you’ve already done it, see item four below. If not, please can I encourage you or your practice manager to help us to help you. This is a follow-up to the responses that so many of you gave six months ago and which enabled us to get significant coverage in the Guardian, followed by coverage on the front page of The Observer and subsequent media exposure, highlighting the pressures you are under. Our comms team is constantly looking for ways to help you get your stories out there, and either counter the negativity or expose the real issues as we face them. Please do help us to represent you effectively.

4. Government Spending Review

This week the Chancellor delivered his Autumn Statement and revealed his Spending Review commitments for the next four years. Whilst the news that health spending would retain its protective ring fence has been pitched as a gain from the Treasury, the announcement fell far short of what is needed to address the challenges facing general practice in the Capital and contained nothing new for general practice, and continued cuts for social care. You can read the statement here and the background paperwork here.

Principle health headlines include:

£30 billion – the predicted budget shortfall facing the health service by 2020
£10 billion – extra pledged by Chancellor George Osborne to help plug the gap, £3.8bn this year and £6 billion of which will be delivered in 2016
£22 billion – health managers expected to make efficiency savings of this amount or more by 2020
£15 billion – unnamed NHS officials say this is a more likely savings target by 2020
25% – cut in Department of Health budget
2% – the “social care precept” amount that Local Authorities can levy as a local council tax increase for additional money for adult social care will not be sufficient and means the poorest will remain the poorest
Four weeks – the guarantee for cancer testing timescale
New package of measures announced for medical research; dementia institute; new acute hospitals; increased capacity for hospital admissions; and to deliver the Government’s commitment to seven day service
£600m for mental health – to increase access to IAPT, perinatal mental health and crisis care
1.9% increase in Better Care Fund – which local authorities can call on to support their social care work

So now you know why I bleat on about the ethos of general practice, such as in my recent Huffington Post piece, and why we need you to get involved. Whilst some changes are always needed to keep our show on the road for patients and citizens, I for one am not prepared to see the whole person model of general practice, nor those who provide that care, fall by the wayside of political ignorance about what we do that is so valued by patients. More on patient engagement to follow next month.

Right now, your views count. We have a Special Crisis Conference on 30 January 2016. Please tell me what ACTIONS you want to see come out of that day.

Back to all news