Somerset LMC Weekly Update Thursday 6th April 2023
Date sent: Thursday 6 April 2023
Sent to all Somerset GPs and Practice Managers This and previous updates are available here
- MD Soundbites!
- Maximising Available Funding for General Practice
- Update for the Statutory Phase of the Medical Examiner Service – Delayed!
- General Practice Pay Declaration - Guidance from the GPC
- Incidentalomas and CxR FU from MPH Emergency Department
- General Practice Alert State (GPAS)
- Locum Pensions Forms
- Flu Review 2022/23
- GP in Somerset
- Peninsula Medical School Student Placements
- Training Courses for Aspiring or Existing Coaches
- Safe Working in General Practice (BMA) TopTip
- Appointments - Job Vacancies
Maximising Available Funding for General Practice: Members of the LMC Executive team met with our ICB colleagues this week to discuss how we can maximise the available funding to general practice and take forward findings from the primary care strategy. Our ICB colleagues fully recognise that there is a capacity and demand mismatch in general practice. The 2.1% uplift for funding for the national contract is set by central government and the ICB have agreed a 1.8% uplift to local enhanced services commissioned through the NHS standard contract, in line with national operating plan requirements. The LMC and the ICB are developing solutions as to how further investment can be sought. The LMC fully recognise that practices are facing higher costs especially from inflationary pressures and that the uplift from government is not adequate but we are confident from meetings this week with our local ICB team that further funding will become available. We will of course keep our practices fully involved in these discussions.
Update for the Statutory Phase of the Medical Examiner Service – Delayed!: Many of you will already be aware from previous communications that we were originally told the Medical Examiner Service would be statutory from the 1st April. However, we have had confirmation that this has been delayed. Therefore, we await a ministerial announcement on further steps. Therefore, it is back to business as usual with those practices already referring to Somerset Medical Examiner Service continuing to do so. The full Medical Examiner Service will be coming in time – we are just not certain when.
The LMC would specifically like to thank Dr Rob Weaver for his hard work in developing the local service to date in conjunction with Helen Gilliland the Lead Bereavement and Medical Examiner Officer SFT.
We will keep you posted on developments….
General Practice Pay Declaration - Guidance from the GPC: NHS England has now published guidance setting out which individuals are required to make a pay self-declaration and outlines the definition of NHS earnings for the purpose of the general practice pay declaration. It also explains the process of making the self-declaration and how the data collected will be used. This requirement affects contractors, salaried GPs, self-employed locums and those employed through third party providers.
GPC England is opposed to this policy, believing that it will increase the risk of abuse of GPs and practice staff. This may also lead to further GPs leaving the profession which will harm patient care. We have repeatedly lobbied for this policy to be reversed. We recommend that all GPs read our guidance which is in the process of being updated.
Please be aware that the legal advice received is that no practice has a contractual duty to comply with these new rules until it is served with a 14 day contract variation notice and the period of the notice has expired.
Incidentalomas and CxR FU from MPH Emergency Department: 90% of ED requested radiology is managed by their team. This includes CT incidentalomas which require MRI heads. The vast majority of potential cancers are automatically recalled by radiology. However, though low in numbers, some patients require an interval repeat chest xray in 6-8 weeks. Occasionally they may need a scan for a likely benign adrenal mass. In such cases, the reviewing consultant will telephone the patient and their GP practice to notify them that some follow-up is needed, alongside written notification via Epro. The LMC is exploring with the ED and radiology other ways of dealing with this. In the short term, if practices feel able to help, we feel that this is the safest option.
General Practice Alert State (GPAS): As you will be aware practices are no longer required to complete the GP Sitrep as we have now moved to the GPAS only. The initial email that includes the questionnaire will come out to you on a Tuesday morning and two reminder emails will follow on a Wednesday and Thursday. In the last couple of weeks the return rate has been decreasing, please could we ask all practices to complete the return by 2pm on Thursday each week.
The results from GPAS are used to inform the local and national system on the current position of general practice in Somerset. This helps the LMC to raise the profile of general practice at a local level and helps to influence change and support for our practices. This is a link to our website which gives a little more detail regarding GPAS and the support guides for the return.
Locum Pensions Forms: The Pensions agency has confirmed there is a technical glitch with their systems for December and January and form Bs won't populate. These therefore will need to be submitted the old fashioned way, of printing signing and emailing!
Flu Review 2022/23: Congratulations everyone!! Over the 22/23 flu season, the South West has consistently had the highest uptake of all regions within England and achieved higher than the England average uptake. The South West made the above achievements despite there being a higher number of people refusing the flu vaccine from last year.
GP in Somerset: The media team will be releasing recent filming in the county with two practices over the Easter break on all the social channels, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, this in the main has been put together with patients in mind showing how General Practice works, some of the pressures it is under and the diverse workforce within it. It would be helpful if practices could also share this information on any social channels used and include links to the GP in Somerset Website on practice websites, where you can also find all the social channel links to ensure that it is seen.
We are also looking for further blogs to post to the website as this has shown to get excellent engagement, the most recent being “The road to practice management and beyond” and “Why become a GP”. If you work in any area of General Practice and have an special interest or hobby or simply want to say what’s great about working and living in Somerset and would like to submit a blog please do email me jill.hellens@nhs.net.
Peninsula Medical School Student Placements: A big thank you to all the practices across Somerset who have hosted our students this year. Feedback has been fantastic from both students and practices and some students have already expressed they would be keen to return to Somerset for Specialty Training. This has great potential to increase clinician numbers in Somerset going forwards, and therefore improve workforce sustainability across the county.
Our teaching offer for the next academic year is now available for interested GP practices.
Example funding:
- a single 2 week placement per year for a pair of year 4 students = £2,474
- a pair of year 5 students across the year (6 pairs x 5 weeks each) = £30,800
- a mixture of year 3 and year 4 pairs across the year (30 weeks) = £38,575
If you have any questions or feel it would be useful to arrange a chat with me, then please don't hesitate to get in touch.
Dr Kath Speller (Community Sub-Dean for Peninsula Medical School)
kath.speller@nhs.net or PenMedSchool@SomersetFT.nhs.uk
Safe Working in General Practice (BMA) - Top Tip
Appointments: We strongly recommend practices take immediate measures to move to 15 minute appointments. This is permitted by the GMS contract. Most practices still provide care at 10-minute intervals that include note keeping, and housekeeping between patients. This is at odds with many other similar primary healthcare systems. It also is at odds with evidence around quality of care. By extending appointments to 15 minutes, practices can reduce the need for repeated consultations with patients whilst still preserving quality of care and patient satisfaction.
Happy Easter everyone from all of us at the LMC. We know that most of you will be hanging on for that long weekend and for many who have had the added advantage of being off on holiday this week or next we very much hope you are enjoying some rest. From the Exec team, the LMC committee and our staff we wish you all some holiday fun because you deserve it.
Kind regards
Jill
Jill Hellens
Executive Director
Somerset LMC
Crown Medical Centre, Venture Way, Taunton, TA2 8QY
Tel: (01823) 331 428
Fax: (01823) 338 561
www.somersetlmc.co.uk
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