Avon Local Medial Committee - Latest News

With general practice high on the political agenda, the BMA is encouraging new and returning MPs to participate in its successful scheme to see how general practice operates first-hand. Following the successful launch of the scheme in October 2008, this will be the third time the organisation has invited MPs into general practice.

Dr Richard Vautrey, deputy chairman of the GPC, said:

“There are an unprecedented number of new MPs in parliament and with the prospect of future government legislation proposing to hand GPs greater commissioning powers, the visits will provide MPs with an invaluable opportunity to develop a practical understanding of the issues concerning general practice.”

At the time the general election was called in April this year, 160 visits had been arranged and MPs from across the political parties had participated in the scheme. Many of the MPs who took part praised the hard work and dedication of the practice teams.

Dr John Hughes, from Manchester LMC and a member of GPC, took part in the scheme last year:

“We found the visit extremely useful, with an exchange of views on items affecting our patient population and the current difficulties and pressures on general practice. MPs and GPs can work together for the benefit of local patients and I would strongly encourage all practices to consider arranging such visits.”

The BMA is looking for GP practices which are willing to meet their MP. Any practices which are interested should contact the BMA: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

All four options to reform GP practice boundaries will damage patient care and the government should consider a fifth proposal, the BMA said today (Friday 2 July 2010), in its submission to the consultation on the issue.¹

Dr Laurence Buckman, Chairman of the BMA’s GPs Committee, said:

“GPs are extremely worried about the proposals to reform practice boundaries being put forward in the government’s consultation, because they will damage patient care. The elderly, the infirm, vulnerable children and adults and those needing home visits are all likely to be adversely affected by these proposals. In addition to this there is the huge cost of the additional bureaucracy that will be necessary – it doesn’t seem sensible at a time when the NHS is being asked to make huge efficiency savings. We do, however, want to address the needs of the one in ten patients who aren’t currently satisfied with the care they receive², and that’s why we’ve put forward a fifth proposal for the government to consider.”

The BMA proposal to reform practice boundaries would require the following changes:

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  • Widening boundaries, particularly in densely populated urban areas, to give patients greater choice when deciding where to register
  • Formalising the process of operating ‘flexible’ boundaries, which happens already in some areas. This would allow existing patients who move just outside a practice boundary area to stay with their GP if they want to
  • Simplifying the system of opening and closing practice lists
  • Increasing the use of remote consultations, allowing patients who are away from home to have a consultation provided by their existing GP practice
  • Reforming the temporary residents arrangements in order to enable unregistered patients to book appointments at any GP surgery in England on an ad hoc basis

Dr Buckman added:

“We think our proposal will be simpler and cheaper to implement, it will make it easier for patients to change GP practice or see a GP anywhere else in the country on an ad hoc basis and, most importantly, it won’t negatively impact on certain groups of patients. We would be very happy to discuss this proposal with the government in more detail.”

The Sessional GPs Newsletter, Summer 2010, is now available on the BMA website

This newsletter contains information about new and ongoing issues affecting sessional GPs and the work of the Sessional GPs Subcommittee and General Practitioners Committee (GPC) on their behalf.

We would be grateful if you could distribute this newsletter as widely as possible in your local area.

This issue covers the following topics:

• GPC Sessional GPs Representation Working Group report
• Annual Conference of Local Medical Committees 2010
• Salaried GPs’ Pay
• BMA Salaried GPs’ handbook - 2010 edition
• Revalidation
• Locum GP pensions
• Contacting the Sessional GPs Subcommittee
• ‘Making the most of being a salaried GP’ seminars
• Devolved nations updates

The SFE has now been amended to implement the uplifts for 2010/11.  The amendment is on the Department of Health's website, alongside the previously consolidated SFE and recent April amendments.

www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Legislation/Directionsfromthesecretaryofstate/DH_117019

Nominations are now open for regional representatives to the GPC GP Trainees subcommittee and I would be grateful if you could pass on the below information about the elections to any trainees you know.

GP Trainees Subcommittee Elections 2010

The GP Trainees subcommittee of the General Practitioners Committee are holding elections for each of their 19 regional constituencies this summer.  

If you would like to get involved in the work of the subcommittee, and really make a difference to the lives of your fellow GP trainees – please consider standing for election.  It doesn’t matter if you are a BMA member or not – all that matters is that you are on, or are about to begin, a GP training programme.  

Full details of the election are available on the BMA website at http://www.bma.org.uk/gptraineeselections. If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact either Andy Young ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or Faye Bunch ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) in the GPC office.

Don’t take the economic crisis out on the public sector, the BMA’s Chairman, Dr Hamish Meldrum, said today (28/6/10) as he opened the Association’s annual conference in Brighton.

In his keynote address to around 500 UK doctors, Dr Meldrum spoke of the financial crisis facing the nation and the threats already facing the NHS and its staff. He said: “We can’t blame the public sector for the crisis caused by the world’s speculators and bankers. They caused the disease; they should be given the medicine.”

Dr Meldrum echoed phrases used by politicians in the run-up to the recent General Election, such as – “we can’t go on like this,” and “it’s time for change”. He said:

“We can’t go on promoting a failed market philosophy, with its burgeoning bureaucracy, competitive fragmentation and increasingly perverse incentives. It’s time for a change.

“We can’t go on pretending to patients that the resources are there to do everything, when they obviously aren’t. We have to be honest with the public and involve them, much more than we currently do, in the decisions about the future direction of their NHS. It’s time for change.”

The government recently announced that it will be seeking the public’s views on how to save money.   In his speech, Dr Meldrum highlighted a number of areas that should be reviewed. He said:

“We will continue to speak out and oppose wasteful practices, ill-conceived plans, dogma-driven policies, knee-jerk cuts and evidence-free solutions.

“Incoherent and divisive market-based policies that pit trusts against each other, secondary against primary care, increase costs and, in many cases, duplicate existing services. Lucrative contracts for ISTCs that are paid for up-front yet don’t deliver on activity - often because there was no need for them in the first place – and new, so-called, ‘GP-led health centres’ which often enjoy multiple times the funding per patient of regular GP practices, despite in many cases, very few patients registering with them.”

Dr Meldrum also called for tighter controls to ensure doctors from overseas wishing to work in the UK meet the appropriate standards of language and competence. He said:

“The UK has benefitted enormously from many overseas doctors, over many years, and will continue to do so. Indeed we need to do much more to mentor and support these valued colleagues, but the recent Ubani case has shocked us all.

“It cannot be acceptable for poorly trained, badly regulated doctors whose knowledge of English is about as good as my knowledge of Chinese, to be able to practise, virtually unchallenged, in the UK.

“My sympathy goes out to the family of David Gray, but sympathy is not enough. We must ensure that the doctors who treat our patients are competent to do so, that they have the necessary language skills and that they are subject to the same regulation as UK doctors. The BMA will continue its work with the government, the GMC and others to make this happen.”

Dr Meldrum ended his speech by firing a warning shot at the government on doctors’ jobs and pensions. He said:

“I’ve said that we should be reasonable and responsible when it comes to pay but don’t underestimate us when it comes to protecting doctors’ jobs and pensions. On these, I will not be reasonable if, being reasonable means accepting cuts in the number of doctors or reneging on the recently agreed, revised pension arrangements for NHS staff.

“At a time of recession, of increasing unemployment, of greater hardship and greater stress, the public needs more doctors, not less.

“Only two years ago we reached an agreement which raised the age of retirement to 65, capped the contributions of the government, increased the contributions by the higher paid and put the NHS scheme on a sensible and affordable footing for the future. I am not someone who easily resorts to threats, but I warn the government – in a spirit of cooperation and being helpful - if you really want a crisis in the NHS, start meddling with the NHS pension scheme.”