Somerset LMC Weekly Update Friday 17th August 2018
Date sent: Friday 17 August 2018
All Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and Previous updates can be found here
- Shout and the Devil (and his advocate) The latest Blog from LMC Chairman Dr Nick Bray
- Somerset GP Board Meeting 15th August (report from Chairman Dr Nick Bray)
- VAT Query
- Best practices in Somerset
- GP "Speed dating" Recruitment event Wednesday 17th October Dillington House
- LMC England Conference - Friday 23 November
- Somerset LMC Respiratory Nurse Adviser
Somerset GP Board Meeting 15th August (report from Chairman Dr Nick Bray) The bulk of the meeting was spent discussing the transformation funding and how it can be most effectively used to help collaboration and development of the neighbourhoods. There have been preliminary meetings between the CCG and the Primary Care Home team, but they have yet to meet with the GP Board itself. We agreed that it is essential that Primary Care across the county gets the best value for money, recognising that different parts of the county will require different levels of support, and we discussed how we can keep control of the process as much as possible. Once the funding has been approved by the CCG, the LMC is planning a meeting, or series of meetings so that practices are fully informed about the options for future working. We have provisionally booked the Racecourse for a Full day on November 13th,so please save the date
In conjunction with our Trust colleagues at Musgrove, we are developing a desktop tool allowing feedback about contract breaches. The aim is to simplify the reporting process for both practices and the Trust, and we hope this might also be picked up by YDH as well.
We heard encouraging news about the ongoing Partnership review being led by Nigel Watson. Jill attended a meeting in London where Nigel reported that the review not only has unprecedented support across the medical and political spectrum, but that it was proceeding at speed. An interim report was due in late September, with the final report due by the end of the year. It will apparently suggest a range of partnership options- we’ll hear more directly from Nigel when he attends our regional LMCs meeting in September, but this sounds genuinely encouraging.
We also discussed the range of options available to practices considering collaboration and/or merger with local Trusts, and whether and to what extent it was possible to direct or regulate the decisions made by private businesses. The LMC would always advise practices to carefully consider all available options. The next meeting will be on September 19th.
VAT Query We are aware that practices have been contacted by NHSE in relation to VAT and premises, we can find nothing in thr GMS/PMS contract information that practices are required to give this information and do not know why they are asking for it, we would only see this as relevant to dispensing practices that rent property from a landlord (where VAT is charged) and then practices receive reimbursement from NHSE. In those situations, NHSE will only reimburse the proportion of the VAT which has not been recovered from HM Revenue and Customs.Other than that, it should not have any impact on practices as there is no VAT on business rates and it will not impact on practices who own their own buildings.
Best practices in Somerset The LMC has mixed views on public surveys and league tables but congratulations are due to those Somerset practices who figured highly: ten of our practices were in the top 300 of the 7100 practices in England according to NHSE’s patient survey. Queen Camel Medical Centre was top in the county and ranked 14th nationally. Full story
GP "Speed Dating" Recruitment evening - If you are thinking about partnership, salaried or retainer posts but not sure where to begin, and are not sure what your next steps are then help is at hand and your questions can be answered during this evening on Wednesday 17th October at Dillington House . If you are a GP or GP trainee who may be looking for a role in a Somerset then come and meet up with Practices and the LMC to discuss the various options and vacancies that are current or may be occurring in the next 18 months.
For further details and to book online please use this link. Practices that would like to book a stand please e mail sarah.Johns@nhs.net
LMC England Conference - Friday 23 November Motions for the English Conference are called for with a closing date of 21st September. This is our chance to influence BMA policy. We want to hear what’s on your mind. Astonished that BMA legal advice on GDPR has turned Primary Care into a free photocopying service for lawyers? Vexed that you cannot offer private services to your patients or amazed that people think you have got time to consider it? Convinced that a small, unrepresentative clique has seized control of primary care policy in the NHS? Want to charge DNA’s for not turning up? Or have you got a new plan to increase recruitment and improve retention that, for some reason, no one else has thought of? We want to hear your ideas so we can consider them and, if we can, put them through the sausage machine to make them into conference motions please forward your ideas to .somersetlmc.office@nhs.net by Monday 17th September
Somerset LMC Respiratory Nurse Adviser We are pleased to have commissioned for 1 year, David Long (Independent Respiratory Nurse Consultant) to work with us and Somerset Practices, this resource is free for practices to use and he will be working the equivalent of 1 day a week throughout the year
David will be able to:
- Give advice and support to nurses for adult airways patients. (ASTHMA and COPD only)
- Mentor new nurses to the respiratory specialty (in house) reviewing patients together. (Only after they have undertaken an accredited course such as the asthma and/or COPD diploma).
- Support experienced nurses (in house) reviewing complex airways patients together within specific clinics.
- Advice and guidance through e-mail and if appropriate clinical review of the patient together for eg. complex patients or those who you may be considering referring to secondary care?
- Respiratory education will be available at practice level
For any initial enquires please email Somersetlmc.office@nhs.net
Kind Regards
Jill
Jill Hellens
Executive Director
Somerset LMC
TEL: 01823 331428
Fax:01823 338561
General Practice in Somerset Great Place Great Potential
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