Collective Action Escalation Postponed as Government Commits to Talks
The GPCE officer team have confirmed that the Government has now agreed to return to formal bilateral discussions, and any further escalation of collective action will therefore be postponed. 

GPCE's latest update to LMCs states: 

Read more on the GP campaign page. 

Private Practice Rules - New LMC Guidance
The LMC has published a new advice sheet which summarises the rules governing private practice for GPs under an NHS contract. It includes:

Semaglutide for Cardiovascular Risk Reduction
The BMA has published new guidance on use of Semaglutide (Wegovy®) in general practice. Their introduction states that:

"The introduction of semaglutide for cardiovascular risk reduction is a welcome and important development, with clear evidence demonstrating a reduction in major cardiovascular events. However, its implementation must be supported by appropriate funding, commissioning, and infrastructure. General practice should not be expected to deliver this work within existing resources."

Download the full Semaglutide guidance.  

Blood-Borne Virus Testing
Clinicians across the Humber region are being encouraged to consider testing potentially at-risk patients for three blood-borne diseases prevalent in our area. 

Hospitals in Hull, Scunthorpe and Grimsby screen every adult for hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV if they attend its Emergency Departments and require blood tests as part of clinical investigations.

Now, Primary Care practices are being asked to consider Blood Borne Virus (BBV) as a potential diagnosis for patients in the “at risk” groups and then test appropriately.

Hull has one of the highest rates of hepatitis C identified through Emergency Department (ED) testing in the country, with most patients likely to have caught it through intravenous drug use years, if not decades, before. Hepatitis B and C are also common in people born overseas. Early detection makes a huge difference to achieving a good outcome.

The hospital ED BBV testing programme has identified 89 patients with hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV in just six months. Of those, 36 have been diagnosed with hepatitis C, 48 have hepatitis B and five have HIV. All have been referred to specialist HIV or viral hepatitis clinical teams for counselling, treatment and ongoing support.

Laboratories will perform confirmatory tests on reactive samples.

New diagnoses of HIV will be telephoned to the surgery. Useful patient information for HIV and Hepatitis C can be found online at BMJ Best Practice.

NHS Community Pharmacy Hypertension Case-Finding Service – Referrals from Practices 
Changes to the service are being made from 3rd September 2026, with amended patient eligibility criteria that focus principally on hypertension case finding. The key changes affecting general practice are:

Further information can be found in a Community Pharmacy England briefing document for practices. 

New Urgent Mental Health Support Service Opens in Scunthorpe
The Acorn Centre, which opens on 30 September, will provide an accessible service for people in North Lincolnshire to receive 24 hour mental health support. This service brings together a multi disciplinary, multi agency workforce, working collaboratively across Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust, People Focused Group, and Mind. More information on the service can be found on these downloads:

The Acorn Centre service description 

GP Pressures
In July 2026 the NHS employed the equivalent of 29,057 fully qualified full-time GPs – a slight increase from the previous month (29,008). Despite the GP workforce growing, there are still 307 fewer fully qualified FTE GPs than in September 2015.

During this time, there has been a rise in the number of patients. GPs employed by practices are now responsible for about 12% more patients than in 2015, demonstrating significant workload pressures. There is also an increase in appointments, with 34 million standard appointments delivered in July 2026 – an average of 1.48 million appointments per working day. Read more from the BMA about the pressures facing general practice.

LMC Jobs Page
A reminder that practices in the Humber area can post their vacancies free of charge on the Humberside LMCs Jobs page. Complete the online form to submit a vacancy.

GPC Update
GPC England publish regular updates for LMCs, covering contractual issues, policy, news updates and more. Read the latest updates, published fortnightly by the GPC. 

GPs and Practice Managers in the Humber are invited to join our LMC Essential Updates WhatsApp group - a broadcast-only group which we use to send key updates to constituents. If you're not already a member, click below to join the group or email humberside.lmcgroup@nhs.net to ask to be added.