GPC Report
For East and West Sussex LMCs
Dr Russell Brown
17th March 2016
The GPC held its latest meeting on 17th of March.
This month's report is, you might notice, short. There could be several reasons for this, including fatigue, ennui, complacency or irritability. However, because the meeting this month was short, being a morning only with subcommittee meetings in the afternoon and because much of the meeting was considering matters which must currently remain confidential there is little I can say.
We were however joined by Dr A Lupo, the President of UEMO, who described how primary care was in his home country of Italy, where family doctors (independent contractors in the main) are in dispute with their government and who have recently postponed a 48 hour strike to allow negotiations to proceed.
There was a presentation about DevoManc and how it is moving ahead. It was noticeable that there is much risk involved and that, although we were reassured that GPs are fully engaged, local GPC reps have a different view.
An update on the Urgent Prescription for General Practice campaign was given by Beth McCarron Nash. It has apparently been quite successful, though I am unclear by what measure. It, together with the Quality First documents, are to be commended to you as they assist you in protecting yourself in various ways.
In the afternoon, the subcommittee I sit on, the Commissioning and Services Development Subcommittee, met. Unfortunately it mostly discussed specific parts of the same issue as the morning which I am unable to report and so, like the information from the morning session, I am unable to report it.
And that is, my friends, about all I can tell you from this month! The next meeting will be in April, with the Annual Conference of LMCs being in May.
To sign off, I will abuse my position to remind you of a survey being run by my organisation, Resilient GP in collaboration with both GP Survival and Londonwide LMCs, on a suggested rescue package for general practice. At the time of writing it has attracted over 2400 responses (in less than four days). I would be delighted if you would consider completing the survey, which is not meant to provide any statistically significant output but be a cause of conversation in the corridors of influence. And as several people have asked me about the correct way to rank the questions, please consider whether the most popular song in the charts is called "the number one in the pop parade" or not. Thank you very much!
Here is a link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GPrescuepackage
Happy Easter or indeed any other festival you may choose to celebrate or indulge in!
I hope you have found this report helpful. Please feedback so that I can ensure my reports are useful.
Dr Russell Brown
