Feedback sought on legal changes proposed for NHS Long Term Plan delivery
NHS England are seeking changes to the Health and Social Care Act, including the competition rules affecting CCGs, who can sit on their boards and how closely they can work with trusts. We have submitted initial comments to the Parliamentary Health Committee currently considering this, and want your feedback to inform our responses to both the scrutiny Inquiry, and NHS England’s consultation.
NHS England’s consultation closes on 25 April and the Parliamentary Health and Social Care Committee will be considering the proposals through the latter stages of the consultation period and beyond, and are seeking comment on the changes and their impact. The consultation document can be viewed here.
Early comments were requested by the Select Committee by Monday 18 March for consideration during the first evidence session in early April. The early Londonwide LMCs submission can be seen here.
We would appreciate your thoughts and comments on the recommendation to inform our final response. You can provide your response to us via this short form.
If you would prefer to send a response in directly, we would be grateful if you could share a copy with us via info@lmc.org.uk.
Key points from Londonwide LMCs’ summary response
The prospect of investment going directly into frontline care, rather than having it split up into different funds with bureaucratic application processes, is to be welcomed.
However, there are some key concerns about the legislative changes outlined by NHS England as essential in order to deliver their goals as outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan:
- Better Value for Money (p7): we are concerned by proposals to revoke regulations made under section 75 of the HSCA2012 and replace them with a best value test. Such a test would not have consideration for staff well-being. See: https://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/24/10/608 and http://www.annfammed.org/content/12/6/573.full.
- Increasing Flexibility (p9): removing NHS commissioners and providers from the scope of the Public Contracts Regulations would allow NHS commissioners to choose either to award a contract directly to an NHS provider or to undertake a procurement process entirely at their own discretion.
- Integrated care provision (p11): the assumptions made about future bodies and roles appears to run counter to the developing collaborative approach being pursued by London commissioners and providers.
- The NHS working together (p16): we are sceptical about the impact of proposals to amend legislation to enable CCGs and NHS providers to make joint appointments and removing important governance checks when managing public funds and critical decisions.
- Shared responsibility for the NHS (p19): we believe that the stated aims should be quadruple and include consideration of staff well-being.
- Planning services together (p20): we welcome the goal of coordinated planning but are concerned about progressing pooled budgets until further consultation has been conducted about which elements of primary care budgets might be affected.
- Joined up national leadership (p23): the appointment of a single CEO for London’s NHS England and NHS Improvement bodies is one that we welcome.
Tips of the month September 2018 (18 Sep 2018)
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’ jobs board (18 Sep 2018)
Don’t forget our vacancies section is free to use for London practices. All you need to do is complete and submit the web form and we will do the rest...Winter pressures - keep us up to date (18 Sep 2018)
Last winter saw the whole health and social care system in London operating at full-stretch, with lack of capacity in secondary and social care increasing pressure on GPs. We are...LEAD Training Events (18 Sep 2018)
This year, our Learning Education and Development (LEAD) team created a new summer-time initiative for GPs and practice teams. Our LEAD Summer School programme ran throughout August and covered a...MMR and MenACWY vaccinations for students resident at home (17 Sep 2018)
September marks the time of the year when many students are starting their first year of university or returning to their studies. Students can be more vulnerable to illnesses such...How we use your data (17 Sep 2018)
In line with recent changes in data protection legislation, we have updated our Privacy Policy to provide you with more detail on how we handle your personal data. Our Privacy...Premises update September 2018 (14 Sep 2018)
This update is applicable to practices who are leasing their premises from Community Health Partnerships (CHP) or NHS Property Services (NHSPS). Urgent - Occupancy Agreement Letters We are aware that...Digital first consultation response (14 Sep 2018)
We have responded to NHS England’s consultation on ‘Digital-first primary care and its implications for general practice payments’. Our full response can be read here, a summary is...How to be a dementia friendly GP (14 Sep 2018)
There are currently 850,000 people in the UK with dementia, and this is set to rise to 1 million by 2025. We know that people with dementia can face challenges...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.