Londonwide LMCs' December 2015 Newsletter now available

December 2015 Newsletter

LMC Special Crisis Conference

Want to get involved with the one-off LMC conference on 30 January to discuss what actions are required to deliver a safe and sustainable GP service?

Following a unanimous GPC vote late last month in response to calls for action from LMCs across the country, our diverse community of GPs will be convening early in the new year to agree next steps. This is a very significant move and we want to hear from everyone who wants to get involved on the day, whether as a representative or through social media activity.

Winter resilience guide

Our Winter Planning guide will help your practice create and maintain a business continuity plan.

Londonwide LMCs' second workforce survey

Thank you to the over 600 practices across the capital who responded to our survey. We will now analyse the information received from practices on staffing levels, vacancies, recruitment, succession planning, and their view about the future of general practice in London.

Template letter: push back un-resourced shared care work

Use our new template letter to explain to trusts where you do not have capacity to take on shared care work.

Updated flu guidance

Our flu guidance explains the two initiatives available to GPs and provides background on how to manage leftover stock, and obtain vaccination records from pharmacists.

Speakers' Corner

Dr Paul O'Reilly writes about his practice's work with a particularly vulnerable patient group. The Dr Hickey Practice has a list of nearly 2000 homeless patients and its staff frequently run outreach sessions in Westminster to reach rough sleepers.

SNAP POLL
Would closing your list tomorrow mean you’re better able to provide safe care for registered patients?
	YES	NO

Guidance Updates

•	Display Energy Certificates
•	Patient registration
•	NMC registrations renewal
•	Sexual Health Transformation Project
•	BMA sessional GP newsletter
•	Contractual implications of new models of care
•	Avoiding Unplanned Admissions update
•	CQC practice preparation
•	Request for GPs to help with audit of research requests
•	Clarity toolkit funding change

Londonwide Diary

December

16	FFT deadline
16	Improving cancer outcomes event
16	GP practice self declaration deadline
23	Londonwide LMCs’ office closes

January

4	Londonwide LMCs’ office reopens
13	Michelle Drage speaking at Future of Healthcare in London
14	Special Crisis Conference documents issued
26	Infection control update
30	Special Crisis Conference

Also this month...

Patient Online

From 1 April 2016 practices are expected to fulfil the current contractual requirement to provide online access to GP records for those patients who request it. Online access will be extended from the current access to repeat prescriptions, allergies and adverse reactions to access to all coded data within a patient’s record.

Support for emerging federations

We are looking for practices and federations to get involved in provider development events, supporting emerging federations with advice and best practice.

Buying Group update

Updates on the products available through the LMC Buying Group, which London practices can access.

Media round-up

Londonwide LMCs' CEO, Michelle Drage had an authored piece in the Huffington Post on 27 November, looking at the Spending Review and how cuts to community services impact on the flow of patients through the health system. Michelle's response to the Government’s Spending Review was covered by GPOnline on 25 November. The press release is available here.

On 12 November Michelle appeared live on BBC London's 6:30pm TV news and BBC Radio London's Eddie Nestor show, speaking about the pressures faced by London’s GP practices, in light of a report that last year that 150,000 A&E attendees were not registered with a GP.

Also on 12 November, Londonwide LMCs’ communications team won the Highly Commended Engagement or Consultation award at the Association of Healthcare Communications and Marketing National Awards 2015, for their GP Resilience campaign.

Got a story? Email us at comms@lmc.org.uk. Deadline for next month's submissions is 13 January.	Have you downloaded your resources from our GP Resilience website?