For East and West Sussex LMCs
Dr Russell Brown
20 December 2012
The GPC held its meeting on 20 December. As is often the case there is much that I cannot share with you. However the image below should give you some idea of how I feel the meeting preceded at times.
Contract negotiations update:
You will all have seen the letters sent to the BMA as they have been circulated by Laurence Buckman. Analysis of the imposition documentation is taking place at the tools for modelling the effect on practices is being developed. This should be with us shortly. It is anticipated that there will be another letter in the next couple of weeks from GPC. After this there will be a survey of GPs to gather views on the proposals. This will not be a ballot. I will not repeat the details of the imposition. All of these details can be found on the BMA website at
BMA.org.uk/working-for-change/negotiating-for-the-profession/general-practitioners-committee/contract-negotiations
Given that we are technically in the midst of a consultation about these changes I would encourage all of you to respond to the consultation both individually and through the LMC office. This will enable the BMA to show how much strong feeling there is about this matter. There will be a negotiators roadshow on Thursday, 31 January. This will be held in the Aurora hotel in Crawley. I would encourage all of you to attend and I would ask that you encourage as many of our non-politically minded colleagues to attend as well.
Locum superannuation:
Separately to the contract negotiations the government is suggesting that superannuation payments for locums, which are currently paid by PCOs, will be moved into global sum. This has significant implications the both practices and locums. The BMA will be responding to this consultation in due course.
Data sharing agreement template for risk stratification:
A template has been developed by the BMA. This will hopefully help practices to ensure that local arrangements for datasharing between practices and third parties adhere to appropriate standards of confidentiality. This template will be sent out in due course.
Deprivation:
There was much discussion around the subject of deprivation and workload together with the impact of resource allocation formulae. A motion was passed to the effect that GPC will work with the Department of Health to introduce either a deprivation allowance or other recognition of increased workload in deprived areas. However it should be noted that much of the discussion was around the fact that many health problems may be dealt with by improving resources in other areas such as social services rather than directly in health.
CQC registration fees consultation:
The BMA has now responded to the CQCs recent consultation and the response can be found on the CQC section of the BMA website.
There was also a session of breakout groups to discuss how best to implement the separation of the positions of Chair and Lead Negotiator within GPC. This is a matter of LMC Conference policy. I started the afternoon thinking that the whole idea is madness. I'm delighted to report that by the end of it I was less convinced it was madness but I'm still unconvinced that it can be made to work. More news when I have it.
The next GPC meeting is on Thursday, 17 January.
May I wish you all a peaceful and restful Christmas and New Year.
Dr Russell Brown.
GPC Rep East and West Sussex
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