GPC report 15 June 2017

GPC Report

For East and West Sussex LMCs

Dr Russell Brown

15 June 2017

The GPC met today.  This was a GPC England meeting, the last of the current Bma year, with the Annual Representatives meeting later this month. Our current chair of GPC, Chaand Nagpaul, will be moving to take up the position of BMA Chair of Council.  This means that both GPCE and GPCUK will need new chair electing in July at the next GPCUK meeting.  At the moment I am unable to tell you who the candidates actually are as they can't technically throw their hats into the ring until nearer the time.  I have a couple of ideas who might though. I suspect we will end up with at least one new member of the executive team.

Much of the subject matter today is confidential but as usual I will tell you what I can. For a change I am going to try writing my report in real time, during the meeting.  Apologies in advance for any spelling or grammatical errors.

Chairman's report

Chaand gave a summary of events during his tenure, in particular the changes from last year and in particular the success of not allowing changes to our core hours. He also outlined the difficulties we are facing.  Quality First has been a success, with an emphasis on supporting Gps in resisting inappropriate demands on their time.

Indemnity

With recent changes in the law about the discount rate applied to compensation awards, it is likely that there will be a significant change in MDO subscription costs for GPs. Discussions regarding solutions are ongoing with the MDOs and representatives of the Department of Health who are well aware of the potentially destabilising and even catastrophic effects this issue may have on general practice in England.

UEMO

There was a recent conference held at BMA House which was a great success.  Details at the website.

Resolutions from the 2017 Conference of LMCs

Colleagues will have seen the Conference News published by the BMA, some may even have read it if unable to sleep. There was lengthy discussion about several of the resolutions with breakout groups to look at the best way to implement them.  It is conceivable that the views may change depending on the election on a new chairperson for GPC.   Effort is being put into having a proactive narrative, telling others what we think is needed rather than simply delineating the problems.

The official GPC news can be found soon at the usual bit of the BMA website.  This often includes information that is said to be confidential in the meetings but nevertheless works its way into the documents!

The next GPC meeting is in July, a GPCUK meeting.  I hope you have found this report helpful.  Please feedback so that I can ensure my reports are useful.  

Dr Russell Brown