2016 LMC Conference - Dr Michelle Drage
Dr Michelle Drage shares her thoughts on the 2016 LMC Annual Conference, held on 20 May in London.
Along with the rest of England, London’s general practices are now in a state of emergency, and it is clear that patients risk losing their GPs unless pressures are dramatically eased. We are at breaking point. That’s not safe for patients or staff.
This was the essence of the debate at the National LMCs’ conference last week where, in a packed auditorium, in front of the great and the good of the BMA GPC, GP after GP took to the podium to plead for action and call for support for general practice before it is too late.
Dr Jackie Applebee, Chair of Tower Hamlets LMC, proposed Motion 20 (see below) and Londonwide LMCs representatives speaking to it included Tower Hamlets colleague Dr Naomi Beer, Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer and myself. For your reference the NHS England Five Year Forward View published in October 2014 promised “stabilisation of GP funding” by October 2016. With real GMS MPIG reductions and PMS reviews the reality is this stabilisation is clearly not being implemented on the ground. While the GP Forward View offers promises of cash by 2020, it does not deliver the solutions we need in London right now. And so conference made its views crystal clear and passed Motion 20 overwhelmingly.
Watch Conference speeches on motion 20 here, my speech is 01:09:40 in.
Motion 20 – full wording
That conference does not accept the General Practice Forward View is an adequate response to the GPCs statement of need within the BMAs Urgent Prescription for General Practice, and considering this to be sufficient grounds for a trade dispute, unless the government agrees to accept the Urgent Prescription within 3 months of this conference, the GPC should ask the BMA to:
(i) ballot the profession on their willingness to sign undated resignations
(ii) ballot the profession on their willingness to take industrial action
(iii) ballot the profession as to what forms of industrial action they are prepared to take
(iv) produce a report to practices on the options for taking industrial action that doesn’t breach their contracts
Last updated : 26 May 2016GP Contract changes – Coronavirus provisions extended (21 Oct 2020)
At the end of September NHS England wrote to practices and commissioners reminding them of the 2020-21 GP Contract changes and announcing announced the extension of some temporary measures introduced...GMC publish new consent guidance (21 Oct 2020)
The GMC have updated their guidance in relation to consent – the guidance comes into effect on 9 November 2020 and can be accessed at the link below: Guidance...Health Select Committee pandemic report (21 Oct 2020)
Amongst other things,Parliament’s Health and Social Care Select Committee called for improvements in referral handling at the primary/secondary care interface, better staff testing (including for GPs and staff) and quoted...Tips of the Month October 2020 (21 Oct 2020)
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...Londonwide LMCs' October 2020 Newsletter (21 Oct 2020)
...NHS 111 First roll-out (21 Oct 2020)
By 1 December NHS 111 will be able to book appointments at emergency departments (EDs) within all London hospitals. This will coincide with a campaign encouraging patients to contact NHS...Calling all general practice managers, business managers, HR managers, finance managers, operational managers, managing partners and site managers (24 Sep 2020)
As part of our Practice Manager Development project, we are able to offer you an opportunity to take-up a fully...Appraisal resumes and GMC to consider Coronavirus impact during investigations (23 Sep 2020)
NHS England has instructed GPs to resume the appraisal process from 1 October, although this will be in a form which is intended to reduce the amount of paperwork involved,...Coronavirus protection for London general practice (23 Sep 2020)
As the only truly independent voice for London general practice, Londonwide LMCs continues to provide constructive challenge on behalf of GPs, nurses and the whole team in each and every...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.
follow us on...
