Wednesday, June 29, 2016

GPC Report 16 June 2016

GPC Report
For East and West Sussex LMCs
Dr Russell Brown
16 June 2016

The GPC met on 16 June 2016. Apologies for the delay in getting this out to you.
The first meeting after the annual LMC Conference, there was much to discuss. However, as ever, much of the discussion is confidential. Additionally, the afternoon was taken up in part by Subcommittee meetings, though on this occasion the subcommittees were essentially continuing more focussed discussions as a result of the events and debates which had occurred in GPC.
Workload management was discussed and it evident that there is significant common ground between GPC and NHSE, at least in terms of context and a recognition of the crisis that is occurring in General practice. There was considerable discussion around how GPs can or could manage their workload with patient safety in mind, following on from discussions at LMC Conference. This limiting could take several forms and more info will be forthcoming in due course. The Primary Care Hub was discussed in this context too. These are suggested to provide additional capacity when general practice runs out of it. Discussions around he funding of them were varied. Whatever happens, the direction of travel is for these to be in our futures in some form or other. It is important that we not only influence but control those developments.
Colleagues may recall the Quality First templates and information released by GPC in January 2015 (yes, over a year ago). A new web portal providing easy access to the information, which is intended to be updated frequently has been published on the BMA website. A first look impressed me with its ease of navigation and usefulness, not something I have previously noted in iterations of the Bma website.
The rest of the meeting was confidential but covered areas such as the actions necessary following the LMC Conference, the GPFV and the continuing development of the MCP Voluntary contract, which is currently subject to purdah, so expect news shortly after the Referendum.
The next meeting is the first in a new GPC year in July, after the BMA's ARM in Belfast next week. There will be changes to how things work, with GPC UK becoming an entity which meets 2-3 times a year and GPC England meeting 4-5 times. This is part of the changes suggested in the Meldrum review which will hopefully strengthen the LMC/GPC relationship to the benefit of both and our constituents.
The official GPC news can be found at the usual bit of the BMA website.
I hope you have found this report helpful. Please feedback so that I can ensure my reports are useful.
Dr Russell Brown