Dear colleagues,
Welcome to this update from Sutton LMC. We are aiming to provide regular (bi-monthly) newsletters to keep you updated on the work that Sutton LMC is doing to support you.
Sutton LMC
A reminder of who your LMC members are:
- Dr Cristina Augood, Salaried, The Old Court House
- Dr Lauren Fisk, Salaried, The Grove Road Practice
- Dr Claire Pambos, Sessional
- Dr Priyadharshini Senthilkumar, LMC Vice Chair, Salaried, Wrythe Green Surgery
- Dr Vidhya Thiagamoorthy, LMC Chair, Principal, The Grove Road Practice
Practice Manager Representative roles:
- Debbie Williams, Wrythe Green Surgery, Katie Thorpe, James O’Riordan
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
Londonwide LMCs also has a dedicated team of staff to support practices and you can access this by contacting gpsupport@lmc.org.uk.
The committee discuss a wide range of issues, ranging from day-to-day concerns that practices raise, through to the impact of the latest remodelling of the health sector. The LMC meets every two months with representatives from SWL ICB Sutton Place and Sutton PCN and in the intervening months, Dr Thiagamoorthy has informal meetings with Michelle Rahman and Dino Pardhanani.
In addition, Dr Thiagamoorthy regularly meets with the Chairs and Vice Chairs of Merton and Wandsworth LMCs (the Strategic Leadership Network (SLN). Any issues that affect all of SWL are subsequently raised with colleagues in Surrey and Sussex LMCs which represent Kingston, Croydon and Richmond LMCs. Weekly meetings also take place between Londonwide LMCs, Surrey and Sussex LMCs and Andrew McMylor (Director of Primary Care for SWL ICS) at which SWL issues are discussed.
Current issues discussed by committee include the following:
Reviews of premium KPIs, locally commissioned services and Engagement Scheme
SWL ICS Sutton Place has set up two Task and Finish Groups to review the premium KPIs, the locally commissioned services and the Engagement Scheme. There is LMC representation on both these Task and Finish Groups and the LMC will be involved in the development of any new specifications.
Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust issues
- Outpatient prescriptions – The LMC understands that there has been an increase in the number of patients bringing their hospital outpatient prescriptions to surgeries asking GPs to fulfil the request. If you have any examples of this scenario, can you please send them to the LMC (david.moore@lmc.org.uk).
- Extended access – The interoperability issues between practices has been raised with the ICS and it is acknowledged that this is a national issue which is in the process of being addressed although the timescale is not known.
Practice manager issues:
Our practice manager representatives have cited issues relating to the logistics around the polio vaccination roll out, as well as the repeated requests from the ICS for data to be provided, and often the requests are for the same data sets that have previously been submitted. IT issues have also been highlighted relating to IT kit, as well as the impact of systems not working.
General Practice Alert System (GPAS) – Londonwide LMCs has launched the General Practice Alert System (GPAS) to five pilot practices in Waltham Forest. GPAS is an easy-to-use digital reporting system, used to gather and present real time information about the pressures on general practice across the Capital. Each week practices will be asked to answer five simple questions on workforce capacity, demand and practice list size. Collection and submission of this important data should only take between 6-10 minutes once a week.
GPAS will collect practice information in an anonymised and unidentifiable way allowing us to make comparisons with existing reports, like the OPEL system used by hospital trusts, about the pressures affecting primary care. We hope that this information will help to improve capacity and work life balance for general practice.
The London rollout has begun with the five pilot practices and will be scaled up over subsequent weeks across the rest of Waltham Forest and then the remaining North East London sector. This will be followed by South East London, North Central London, South West London and North West London. Once we are ready to go live in your area, Londonwide LMCs will contact you with more information.
Who in your practice is the best person to provide this information? We need two named contacts, a primary and then a backup second contact, to ensure that we only receive one entry per practice per week. Please send your first and second contact details (name, email, phone number, job title) to the GPAS Project Manager Ann Ayamah, ann.ayamah@lmc.org.uk or submit these via https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/99BFF6H by Wednesday 30 November.
We will be providing lunch and learn sessions over the coming months, so all doing this will be familiar with the system. Information on this will be on our website, via our marketing and advertising of events and via your local newsletters, so please keep a look out for the sessions. If you do have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the Project Manager Ann Ayamah at ann.ayamah@lmc.org.uk.
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.
Sutton LMC currently has one vacancy on the committee, if you are interested in joining the LMC please contact David Moore (david.moore@lmc.org.uk).
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.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Vidhya Thiagamoorthy
Chair
Sutton LMC