GPC report 17 January 2019

GPC Report

For East and West Sussex LMCs

Dr Russell Brown

17 January 2019

The GPCE met today in London.  

It was a full day, with the majority of the time being taken up by discussions around a proposed contract deal.  Details of that are currently confidential but there will be an announcement in the next couple of weeks.  Many elements such as indemnity changes, if not details, have already been announced and I hope the package as a whole will become clear to you all soon.  The GPC will share this as soon as possible and there will be a series of contract roadshows in forthcoming months.

There were also two question and answer sessions.  

The first was with Nigel Watson, regarding his reported GP Partnership Review, which was published on 8 January and can be found here.    I think this is a good piece of work with much to commend in its pages.  However, delivery of the recommendations is a concern, given previous actions by DHSC.  That said, if the Secretary of State accepts any or all of them, the DHSC will have to find some way to implement them. There are also a number if YouTube videos on the different sections of the report:

• Summary of the review here
• Introduction Vblog here
• Workforce part 1 here
• Workforce part 2 here
• Risk here

Dovetailing nicely with that session, Nikki Kanani and Dominic Hardy of NHSE visited GPC to discuss the 10 year Long Term Plan which was recently announced.  Details of that can be found here, with a links to the full document, an on line version and a summary document.  The summary is worth looking at for all my constituents, being only a couple of pages long.

There seems to be a welcome meeting of minds and, to a degree, vision between NHSE and GPC.  Relationships this year have been more productive than of late.  There seems to be much more recognition of the vital importance of Primary care, and general practice within that, than before.  There is also a commitment to support and develop our part of the NHS after a drought of any real investment in the last decade.

The next event is the annual LMC Conference in Belfast on 19-20 March, which I shall be attending in my GPC capacity, with GPC UK meeting the following day.  The next GPC England meeting is in May.

I hope you have found this report helpful.  Please feedback so that I can ensure my reports are useful. 

Dr Russell Brown