Extended hours DES update
The 2017/18 changes to the GP contract included the condition that meant practices who regularly close for a half day, on a weekly basis, will not ordinarily qualify to deliver the Extended Hours DES.
The contract was not specific on what ‘open’ means. Ros Roughton, NHS England’s Director of NHS Commissioning told MPs on 10 March her view was that services which met the level of ‘reasonable needs’ of patients were:
“...[as a patient] you should be able to phone your practice and book an appointment, pick up a prescription, drop off a specimen. If results come into the practice that require urgent attention there should be someone there to pick that up...”
Londonwide LMCs has further discussed this with NHS England and conclude that in order to satisfy the requirements of being 'open' and qualify to deliver the Extended Hours DES, practices should ensure that:
- the practice door should be open during core hours, ie, 8:00am-6:30pm
- a receptionist should be on duty
- the telephone should be answered by a person in the practice
- as a minimum, the patient should be able to book appointments at reception or by phone, collect and drop in repeat prescription requests/insurance forms/specimens and ask about test results
- a doctor should be contactable for urgent advice. This does not necessarily mean that the doctor must be at the practice premises but that he/she must be contactable to provide the patient with urgent advice. The clinical decision may be to advise the patient on appropriate management of their condition, and to determine when and where the patient should be appropriately seen
As was originally agreed between NHS England and the General Practitioners Committee, if a practice wants to participate in the extended hours DES but felt it necessary to close for half a day, their case would be looked at on its own merits, eg, a branch practice may not need to be kept open.
If you have any queries about this, please contact gpsupport@lmc.org.uk.
Last updated : 24 Oct 2017Provider selection consultation response (28 Apr 2021)
Londonwide LMCs recently responded to the NHS England consultation on changes to the procurement regime as set out in the recently published White Paper, including the circumstances under which ICS...2021/22 Flu vaccinations for 50-64 year olds (28 Apr 2021)
NHS England has confirmed that 50-64 year olds will receive NHS flu vaccinations in winter 2021. Practices are responsible for ordering their own flu vaccine stock for this group for...International Nurses Day 2021 (28 Apr 2021)
12 May was International Nurses Day, we celebrated it by getting people working with general practice nurses across London to ‘shine a light’ on their colleagues who had worked particularly...Londonwide LMCs' April 2021 newsletter (28 Apr 2021)
Tips of the Month April 2021 (27 Apr 2021)
We provide weekly tips based on common queries which come through to us from London GPs and practice teams. These are shared via social media and collated for...Contract changes 2021/22 (27 Apr 2021)
New contractual changes took effect at the start of this month, for two areas Londonwide LMCs has produced our own guidance to help practices with practically implementing new requirements, we...LMC elections 2021 - nominations now open (26 Apr 2021)
Nominations for the 2021 LMC elections are now open. Only LMCs represent every GP practice in their area and every person working within each one. Standing for your LMC is...Online coaching and mentoring and resilience and staff wellbeing workshops for practice managers - June 2021 (23 Apr 2021)
Fully funded online workshops on coaching and mentoring and resilience and staff wellbeing As part of our Practice Manager Development project, we are offering fully funded places on a number...Londonwide LMCs' March 2021 Newsletter (24 Mar 2021)
...Stakeholder engagement - Spring 2021 (24 Mar 2021)
Opinion former engagement We continue to work with opinion formers to highlight the work of London’s general practice teams, and to elicit support from key stakeholders for unambiguous communication to...Guidance
We provide expert guidance for practices in our guidance section, as well as an archive of other materials you may find useful.
GP Support
Contact our GP Support team if you need help or advice.
The team provide professional and pastoral support to GPs and practice teams on a broad range of issues.