News

Dr Zoe Norris Sessional Conference Presentation

Presentation from the Sessional/VTS conference 24th May 2018

GPC response to the review of PCSE by the NAO

The GPC has issues a response to the National Audit Office report, NHS England’s management of the primary care support services contract with Capita . The letter asks NHS England to implement...

Non Prescription Medication for Care Homes

Following a query from an LMC that some practices are reporting that they are receiving increasingly detailed requests from care homes about ‘homely remedies’, requesting a GP to sign a form for...

BMA Guidance: Reflective Practice May 2018

Updated guidance on reflection Following the Hadiza Bawa-Garba case many doctors feel they are no longer able to reflect honestly and openly. The UK local medical committee conference earlier...

Electronic Referral Service (eRS) April 2018

Please find attached a letter sent on behalf of the Kent LMC to Kent & Medway Hospital Trusts and CCGs regarding the Electronic Referral Service.

Medical School Success - Press Release 23rd March 2018

Press Release The agreement to fund a Medical School based in Canterbury is a game changer for the provision of medical services in Kent and Medway. The effect will not only be that there will be...

GDPR BMA resources

Paul Cundy from the BMA has put a lot of work into producing Blogs for Practices and templates, but has had difficulty getting them onto the BMA website. So he has sent us an email which...

Measles in Kent - Public Health Advice (March 2018)

CQRS - 2018/19 Services live from 23/03/2018

Dear Practice Managers, The following services will be made available to Commissioners to offer for participation from 23 March 2018. Participation offers will be made from this date...

GP Contract Agreement England 2018/19

GPC England has concluded negotiations with NHS Employers for amendments to the 2018/19 GMS (and PMS) contract. For further information please click here .

Strategic commissioner update – 28 February 2018

Dear colleagues A short update on the strategic commissioner proposal following the NHS South Kent Coast CCG meeting last week. The GP membership met on 22 February to discuss development of the...

Kent and Medway Strategic Commissioner Update February 2018

The Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) across Kent and Medway are looking at options for developing a strategic commissioner function that works across multiple CCGs. The aim is to strengthen...

Update from PCSE Including GP Pensions Information

Please find attached the latest PCSE update which contains valuable end of year GP pensions information.

CORRECTION: New guidance on assessing the financial viability of providers

Dear Providers CORRECTION: New CQC guidance on assessing the financial viability of providers In our January bulletin, we updated you on how we will assess the financial viability of providers....

BMA response to High Court ruling for Dr Bawa-Garba

Speaking about the implications of the Dr Bawa-Garba ruling from the High Court in London, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA Council Chair, said: "The case involving Dr Bawa-Garba is a tragic one and it is...

Winter Pressures - January 2018

Position Statement from NHS England South (South East) re flu vaccines for the 2018/19 flu season.

How can GPs avoid the new tax charges on their pension?

The amount GPs are allowed to save into their pension each year before incurring a tax charge is being reduced. Any active NHS pension scheme member earning over £110,000 may be affected. Please...

Primary Care Workforce Resilience Pilot: Deadline 18th December 2017

Sent to all Practices, CCGs, LMC and HEEKSS Dear All, NHS England South East and Health Education England Kent, Surrey and Sussex invite GP practices working in clusters to submit applications...

Cameron Fund Autumn Newsletter 2017

Doctors Lobby for Rise in NHS Funding: Channel 4 News - 21st November 2017

Victoria Macdonald, Health and Social Care Correspondent, interviews Dr Julian Spinks, GP and Kent Local Medical Committee Vice-Chair on the current pressures in the NHS.

Introduction of the Infanrix Hexa vaccination - November 2017

Dear Colleagues CQRS have confirmed that as indicator HEP003 is now paid within the Global sum of Childhood Immunisation Target payments, this indicator is no longer a payment mechanism on their...

BMA: Saving General Practice

The GPC’s new campaign, Saving General Practice, sets out to remind local and national policy makers of the challenges that general practice is faced with, and the action that needs to be taken to...

Extension of NHS Seasonal Influenza Vaccination to include Social Care Workers Update 20th November 2017

Please see attached letter from NHS England following the announcement that in the 2017/18 flu season it will support the delivery of flu immunisation for social care workers that offer direct...

NHS Coding System (April 2018): SNOMED CT

Please find attached a letter from the Co-Chairs of the BMA / RCGP Joint GP IT Committee regarding the move to SNOMED CT from Read and CTV3 codes that will take place in April next year. The...

PCSE GP Bulletin November 2017

In this bulletin, you will find updates on: Christmas and New Year: CitySprint and contact centre arrangements IMPORTANT – new contact details for ALL GP Payments and Pensions requests and...

Folkestone GP Crisis: Interview with Dr Gaurav Gupta, Sunday Politics South East, 15th October 2017

Folkestone GP Crisis, Sunday Politics South East, 15.10.17 from Liz Mears on Vimeo.

CQRS FAQs for Section 7A Public Health Enhanced Services

Please find attached the FAQ document NHSE have put together based on queries received from practices. This is edited twice a year and a revised version is due in December 2017.

"Golden Hellos" for Rural GPs and Indemnity Charges

HEALTH SECRETARY ANNOUNCES CASH BOOST FOR RURAL GPS Trainee GPs will receive a £20,000 "golden hello" to work in parts of the country struggling to recruit, as part of a package of measures...

Kent LMC Annual Conference 2017 - Working at Scale

Please click on the links below to access the presentations from the Kent LMC Annual Conference, held on 11th October 2017: GP Forward View—Where we are now? Dr Robert Varnam, NHS England, Head...

Guidance Regarding the new GMS1 Form

New GMS1 Form instructions for use from 1st October By now your practice should have received an initial supply of the new GMS1 form to be used from 1st October. If an overseas patient chooses to...

BMA guidance re outstanding PCSE issues August 2017

Guidance is available online, please follow this link https://www.bma.org.uk/collective-voice/committees/general-practitioners-committee/gpc-current-issues/capita-service-failure

Hepatitis B Vaccine Supplies

Please find attached a letter from PHE to local GPs, concerning arrangements for patients (excluding neonates) who need Hepatitis B vaccinations

BMA update on NHSPS negotiations

Please find attached a letter from Ian Hume at the BMA with an update on the situation re NHSPS and details of what practices should do whilst negotiations are ongoing. We are hoping to arrange a...

LMC Response to NHS England's Wasteful Drug Use Action Plan

We would like to highlight to prescribing clinicians in the practice that GPs have a contractual obligation to prescribe medication on an FP10 that the GP feels is clinically necessary whether the...

Expansion of Clinical Pharmacist in General Practice to benefit more Kent patients July 2017

NHS England has announced that more patients in east Kent, north Kent and west Kent will benefit from having pharmacists working in local GP surgeries, as part of a further roll out of our...

The Role of the LMC (July 2017)

With thanks to Wessex LMC for their permission to reproduce this document. As we are all aware the NHS is facing some of the most significant challenges it has seen since its inception in the...

Latest guidance for NHS on protecting against cyber attack

Dear LMCs, NHS England have sent through the below guidance following the cyber-attack: https://www.digital.nhs.uk/article/1495/Latest-guidance-for-NHS-on-protecting-against-cyber-attack Please...

Press Release: GP services in Kent and Medway under pressure

Following the release of our recent survey results to the press, please see below a link to the article published in Kent Online 'GP Services in Kent and Medway under pressure', where you can also...

Changes to the 2017-2019 Hospital Contract - April 2017

Please find attached a letter from Chaand Nagpaul about the changes to the 2017-19 hospital contract which are designed to further reduce inappropriate workload on GP practices, and also improve...

NHS Property Services Heads of Terms

Published on behalf of the GPC We are aware that NHS Property Services issued their heads of terms to practices on 31 March 2017. We would like to highlight to practices that these terms are...

QOF / GPES and enhanced service payments - March 2017

We received the following communication from the BMA on the 24th March 2017 regarding QOF/GPES and Enhanced Service Payments: Dear LMCs, We are writing to make you are aware of the timings of...

Outcome of 2017/18 Contract Negotiations

The link below takes you to the letter from NHS England summarising the outcome of the 2017/18 contract negotiations.

LMC policy on the Multi-specialty Community Provider Contract

Please follow the link below to see Kent Local Medical Committee's policy on the draft MCP contract.

Prescription of prophylactic Tamiflu to the residents of nursing homes

Kent LMC are aware that some practices in Kent and Medway have been approached by Public Health England to prescribe prophylactic Tamiflu to the residents of nursing homes. Of course it is up to...

Publication of Voluntary MCP Contract

NHS England has now published and is consulting on a draft version of the voluntary Multi-specialty Community Provider (MCP) model contract. We encourage you to take up the opportunity to...

GPs Seek Support for Collaborative Working (December 2016)

Adequate support must be given to GP practices seeking to work collaboratively, the BMA has warned – following the latest findings of the GP...

GMC laments loss of 'reflective' general practice (December 2016)

This report is the culmination of 18 months of events and conversations with the medical profession, from GPs, consultants and trainees who work on the ground, to royal colleges, training...

Extended Access to General Practice (December 2016)

NHS England has published the latest data on evening and weekend access to GP appointments: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/extended-access-general-practice/

LMC position statement on Co-commissioning

In view of the CCGs of Medway, South Kent Coast and Thanet soon voting about whether to take on Joint or Delegated Co-commissioning arrangements the LMC thought it would be helfpul to share the...

A mini-guide to the General Practitioner Defence Fund

The GPDF has issued the following brief introductory guide to its role and work.

Advice for GPs on Military Veterans attending with concerns on use of Mefloquine

Dear all, Please find attached information from NHS England relating to Mefloquine, an anti-malarial which was prescribed to military personnel who were operating or training in Sub-Saharan...

Update on meeting between GPC and PCSE (10 August 2016)

The General Practitioner Committee (GPC) of the British Medical Association (BMA) recently met with Primary Care Support England to discuss how the performance of the service is impacting upon...

GP Indemnity Review

General practice has been clear that the yearly increasing costs for indemnity is contributing to the pressure in general practice and also leading GPs opting not to undertake certain work, such...

General Practice Resilience Programme

NHS England has published details of its General Practice Resilience Programme. This document sets out the extent of NHS England's commitment to supporting and stabilise practices in difficulty....

New Care Models Programme Monthly Stakeholder Bulletin - March 2016

New Care Models Programme's Monthly Stakeholder Bulletin

Weekly Newsletter from Chaand Nagpual: Financial uncertainty a stark reality for one third of GP practices

Latest Update from BMA GPs Committee Chair

Reminder - Indicators no longer in QOF

Please note the GPC email below relating to retired QOF indicators: Dear LMCs Practices in some areas have been asked again to accept requests within the Calculating Quality Reporting Service...

Kent LMC's response to the imposition of the Junior Doctor Contract - February 2016

Kent LMC's response to the imposition of the Junior Doctor contract - 12th February 2016

BMA Urgent Prescription for General Practice

General Practice is facing some of its toughest challenges. The BMA's Urgent Prescription for General Practice highlights the issues and provides some practical advice on how to meet the...

Primary Care Support England (PCSE) - Medical Records Transformation Project Update November 2017

NHS England and PCSE have agreed the ‘go live’ date for Phase 3 of the medical records transformation project which includes the Kent practices. Please find attached the documents that have been...

Meningogoccal B for Infants FAQs

Dear colleagues Meningococcal B for infants FAQs NHS Employers have updated their vaccs and imms FAQs in relation to meningococcal B for infants to explain the eligible age cohort (2 - 13...