Un-resourced work from secondary care
Practices are currently facing a significant challenge as capacity is reduced by the need to adhere to infection control measures and pent up demand from patients staying away from practices during the early stages of the pandemic has been released, with these people now seeking appointments in large numbers. Against this difficult background we are hearing more cases of hospitals passing non-contractual work to GPs, we understand the pressures on hospital colleagues, but it is in everyone’s interests that general practice capacity is not pulled away from keeping people well in the community.
We have prepared a template letter for LMCs, PCNs and GPs to send to their local trust CEO/CMOs urging them to follow the example set by Barts Healthcare in ensuring that consultants and clinical teams directly request the blood and diagnostic tests that they require, and directly prescribe hospital-only medications, rather than ask GPs to do either of these on their behalf.
You can download the template letter here.
We have also added a category for ‘referral management’ issues to our Beam to LMC app to make it even easier for you to report, and allow us to help you tackle, workload issues at the primary/secondary care interface. Find out more here.
Last updated : 21 Jul 2020Tips 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.