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Newsletter - January 2025 |
Welcome to our first newsletter of the year. This month, following enquiries from local practices, we have further guidance on employing physician associates. We also have the first in a new series of monthly updates on general practice appointments data in the Humber region. Our new collective action update follows new proposals on resources to deliver advice and guidance. Plus we have news on forthcoming events for 2025.
Get in touch via humberside.lmcgroup@nhs.net with any comments. |
Guidance for Practices on Employing Physician Associates
In response to queries regarding practices employing Physician Associates, we asked GPC England for their view on what the risks are to employing GP partners if they continued to employ PAs, and didn’t adhere to the updated guidance on their scope of practice that the BMA and RCGP have issued*. This was their response:
66 You must be confident that any person you delegate to has the necessary knowledge, skills and training to carry out the task you’re delegating. You must give them clear instructions and encourage them to ask questions and seek support or supervision if they need it.
67 If a task is delegated to you by a colleague but you’re not confident you have the necessary knowledge, skills or training to carry it out safely, you must prioritise patient safety and seek help, even if you’ve already agreed to carry out the task independently.
68 You must follow our more detailed guidance on Delegation and referral.
24 When you delegate or refer care you are accountable for: your decision to delegate or refer care the steps you take to make sure patient safety isn’t compromised the instructions you give the overall management of a patient if you’re the responsible consultant or clinician.
Doctors have a professional responsibility to delegate safely, which includes delegating to PAs, and the BMA guidance on PAs represents the BMA’s view on best practice in that regard. The BMA encourages doctors to follow that advice. Whether a doctor is negligent in a particular case would be for a court to determine.
*Other guidance:
While this isn’t a black and white answer, and as the BMA team have highlighted it does not represent formal legal advice, it gives a strong steer that we hope practices find helpful as they try to address this difficult situation. If you have further questions or would like signposting to legal support, please contact the LMC via the usual routes. |
General Practice Appointment Data for Humber Region |
Starting this month, we'll be including a monthly summary of general practice appointment data for the Humber region. Our first summary covers November 2024 and as each month's data becomes available from NHS Digital we will provide an update in the newsletter. You can download a one-page summary explaining the data, suitable for printing and display in practices, here. If you have any feedback on this do let us know. |
GPCE Update: Advice and GuidanceThis month the government made a number of announcements, including resourcing GPs to deliver Advice and Guidance (A&G) at £20 per episode to be able to sort out clinical issues and queries you have about a patient. At least £80m has been earmarked for A&G use and this is in addition to the £889m announced by the Secretary of State on 20 December 2024. This is a small positive step and something GPCE had already suggested to the government. Suspending A&G is one of the items on the Collective Action menu as an unresourced piece of work, but if this is successfully negotiated into the 25/26 contract and fairly resourced, then it could be dropped from the menu. We have yet to see any detail on how the A&G plan will be rolled out and will advise you about this as soon as we can. Many of you want to see significant investment going into uplifting core contracts, and of course we are all doing more work than ever before, in the knowledge that our share of NHS funding is at a very low level. GPCE will continue to press this issue in current negotiation meetings.
We recommend watching the video recorded by GPCE chair, Dr Katie Brammall Stainer, for a full update on the key issues. |
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As ever, thank you for all you do for your patients and your practice and let us hope 2025 is a better year for us all so we can make NHS general practice sustainable for the future. |
New Template Letter – Declined Referrals: Advice and GuidanceThe LMC has created a new template letter for practices to use when appropriate referrals are rejected, and Advice and Guidance offered instead. This follows feedback from local practices that they are encountering this issue. Download Declined Referrals: Advice and Guidance Template Letter. |
LES Review Update
Thank you to all those colleagues who submitted feedback on the LES consultation. Your comments have been collated along with those from GPs in the other half of our ICS and are now being reviewed in joint meetings between ourselves, YORLMC and the ICB team. We are lobbying for amendments to the draft LES specifications in line with your views. As soon as these are finalised, we will then begin negotiating the tariffs on your behalf to ensure these services are a viable option for practices to sign up to.
We want to ensure all practices have plenty of time to review the final, costed specifications well in advance of the proposed 1st April start date. It has already been indicated that some LES delivery may need to be phased in or commence mid-year if significant new set up is required, and we hope the ICB will continue to adopt a pragmatic approach as conversations progress. We will aim to keep you update via PCN CD meetings, and the LMC committee so please speak to your CD or committee representatives if you have any questions. |
Focus On... Sessional GPs - Dr Rolan Schreiber |
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Firstly, a slightly belated Happy New Year to you all, and hope that you all managed some well-deserved rest and time away from work over the holiday period!
As the days get longer, we are now busying ourselves with the upcoming LMC Sessional Conference on March 12, 2025. This will be the first event of its kind organised by Humberside LMCs, and it has been great to see how many of you have already registered to attend. There are still a few places available, and we will be sending out a reminder shortly – if you are free on the afternoon of the 12th of March, please do join us. It will be a great opportunity to network with a number of colleagues whilst bolstering your CPD accumulation. Also, please feel free to come and have a chat with our CEO, Dr Zoe Norris, or me should you have any specific sessional-related queries.
I was also fortunate enough to attend and represent the LMC at a recent RCGP event held in Hull for our IMG colleagues. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet some of you there, but it also gave me an even better idea of some of the challenges facing our IMG doctors ranging from employment opportunities post GP-training, to obtaining visas. Please feel free to contact us at the LMC offices if you have any queries, or if you need some advice relating to your current workplace environment.
We look forward to seeing you all in Barton for the Sessional Conference in due course! More details below. Book your free place. |
Humberside LMCs Sessional GP Conference
Wednesday 12 March 2025, 12:00-16:30 The Estuary Room, The Ropewalk, Maltkin Road, Barton upon Humber DN18 5JT
A free LMC event for all salaried, locum, and portfolio GPs. We can confirm following sessions for the event, which should allow for plenty of engagement, as well as the opportunity for GPs to bring any questions or queries for the speakers. Safeguarding session – case study discussion – Dr Sanjedah Zaro (GP Safeguarding Lead) Remote consultations – considerations and challenges – Kate Mullar (Primary Care Liaison Manager, MDU) Dermatology Q&A – Dr James Britton (Consultant Dermatologist) GMC Update – Good Medical Practice 2024 Update, workplace culture and tackling discrimination – Tarryn Lloyd Payne (Regional Liaison Adviser, GMC)
We hope you can join us, and look forward to seeing you in March. Book your place. |
GP Health and Wellbeing Workshop - Humber and the Ridings
Friday 28 March 2025, 09:00-15:00 The Hessle Grange Medical Practice, 11 Hull Road, Hessle HU13 9LZ
A day for all career grade GPs to focus on their own physical and mental wellbeing. Agenda includes: From Setback to Strength: A personal journey of healing from rheumatoid arthritis, achieving weight loss and career rediscovery Recognising the Struggle: How to identify when we're not thriving Exclusive Physical Activity Sessions Championing Movement For Health
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BMA/PCSE Webinar - 2023/24 Type 2 Pension Forms for Sessional GPs
As a salaried GP, out of hours GP or long-term locum within a practice, you are required to complete a Type 2 Self-Assessment for each pension year, so that NHS England can ensure that all NHS pension contributions have been correctly paid and allocated correctly to the NHS Pension Scheme record. The relevant forms must be completed by members who have undertaken practitioner pensionable work between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024, and should be submitted to PCSE by 28 February 2025. PCSE have scheduled a webinar to explain the new form and the process to upload the forms. The deputy chair of the BMA pensions committee, Krishan Aggarwal, will also be attending to support member queries.
The session will be on Tuesday 4 February 18:00 to 19:30. Please click here to register for the webinar. More information on the changes can be found on the BMA webpage. |
RCGP Clarifies New Exam Attempts PolicyIn August 2024, the BMA won a ‘landmark’ legal judgement, supporting a trainee GP who believed they had been unfairly treated due to the way the RCGP applied its policy on the number of attempts at taking an exam. The judge found that it was irrational for the College to refuse to consider further attempts or nullification in the event that a candidate reports a late diagnosis that would have justified reasonable adjustments, quashing the policy both prospectively and retrospectively.
The RCGP has now confirmed their replacement policy, which applies to both the AKT and the SCA: Where after an unsuccessful attempt a candidate receives a diagnosis of a disability of which they were previously unaware, the RCGP may void any previous attempts which they took while having that disability without the appropriate reasonable adjustments. The candidate would still have the same upper limit of maximum attempts as they were entitled to when they entered training for the first time. Applications for previous attempts to be voided are subject to all other applicable MRCGP Regulations and Policies, including rules on eligibility and timeframes.
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Help Address the GP Unemployment CrisisDespite the rising demand for family doctors, an appalling paradox exists where a significant number of highly skilled GPs are struggling to secure work. The BMA’s UK Sessional GP Committee is looking for salaried and locum doctors to help highlight this pressing and absurd situation of the growing unemployment crisis among GPs. Please take a few minutes to share your experiences by completing a GP unemployment and underemployment survey. |
Wednesday 12 February 2025, 19:30-21:00 You're invited to join this BMA online event to address the urgent issue of sessional GP unemployment. This is your chance to be part of the conversation, share your voice, and mobilise for change. Register here. |
Supervision ProgrammesThere are a number of supervision programmes available via the Primary Care Directorate (Yorkshire and Humber), NHS England. These are outlined in the attached Primary Care Directorate presentation and include: Introduction to Clinical Supervision Training (half day course) Introduction to Becoming an Educational Supervisor (half day course) Education Supervision Toolkit Educator Pathway (two-day course) Supervisor Community of Practice
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LMC Buying Group Recruitment Support |
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The LMC Buying Group understand that recruitment is often an expensive and time-consuming business, so they created an eye-catching, easy to use recruitment page where any registered member can post their clinical and non-clinical vacancies at no cost. They also offer practices the opportunity to feature their vacancies with a featured package which comes at a small fee.
As well as posting the job on their website, they also highlight any new job posting at least once across their social media platforms. This is a free service to any member practice interested in expanding their vacancy reach beyond their region.
They have also introduced a ‘Featured Job’ option for those members that want to draw more attention to their advert. The featured role will appear at the top of the Jobs page in a bright colour and be highlighted on their social media channels each week for a month. This service only costs £50+VAT.
To place an advert, visit the Jobs page and upload your vacancy using the application form template here. If you choose the Featured Advert option, they will send you an invoice once the advert has been posted online. |
LMC Jobs PageA reminder that practices in the Humber area can post their GP and practice manager vacancies free of charge on the Humberside LMCs Jobs page. Complete the online form to submit a vacancy. |
Interface UpdateInterface Officer Simon Nichols continues to assist practices with interface issues. Click below for the latest interface update. Contact us with your interface queries via humberside.lmcgroup@nhs.net. |
People Promise - Practice Nurse Forum |
Wednesday 12 February 2025, 12:30-13:30 Online via MS Teams
Join us for the next Practice Nurse Forum for all practice nurses in the Humber area. The theme will be learning and support, with the agenda including: |
Save the Date - Practice Nurse Conference |
Wednesday 2 April 2025 - afternoon event Plans are underway for our first Practice Nurse conference! More news soon but for now please make your practice nurse colleagues aware. |
Haxby Group Training Diary 2025Haxby Group have published their training diary, with dates running to the end of April 2025. Courses include Basic Life Support; Female Health; Contraception; and Travel Health. There are also several other general practice courses available - download the training diary for full details. |
New Campaign to Tackle Relationship Abuse
The Humber Violence Prevention Partnership has launched the Anyone. Anywhere. campaign to help young people recognise the signs of unhealthy relationships. The campaign provides practical advice for identifying the signs of abuse, seeking support and helping others. The resources include: |
New Cafcass Domestic Abuse PolicyCafcass has published a new Domestic Abuse Practice Policy. The policy sets out the practice requirements that Cafcass Family Court Advisers (FCAs) and Children’s Guardians must follow in protecting child and adult victims of domestic abuse when they advise the courts about the welfare of the child and the child’s best interests. More details. |
Awareness Campaigns Dates 2025A list of national campaigns, awards and awareness days to help plan activities for the year ahead can be found at NHS Employers. |
GPMplus - HNY Mentoring Services
GPMplus have now confirmed arrangements for the future of their mentoring programme for GPs and practice staff in the Humber and North Yorkshire area following the withdrawal of ICB support for the programme. They will now be offering a paid for mentoring service to staff in the HNY area. Mentoring will still be provided by trained mentors who all have experience of working in frontline general practice.
If your practice or PCN wishes to discuss any specific support needs, please contact GPMplus at info@gpmplus.co.uk |
GPMplus Courses 2025GPMplus have published their brochure of courses running up to the end of March 2025. The brochure includes course dates, links to book your place and more information about each of the courses. All our courses are presented, live, by very experienced practice managers or GPs. |
HNY Primary Care Workforce and Training Hub All the latest opportunities available via the hub can be viewed on their news feed. Opportunities available this month include: Reminder: Trainee Advanced Clinical Practitioner NHSE Funding Applications 2025/26 Reminder: Funded CPD Webinars for Nurses, NAs and AHPs - still open to book + new dates Funded Educational Leadership Fellowship for Doctors, Clinicians and Managers in Primary Care - Apply by 31/01/25 Funded GPA Programme - Apply by 17/02/25 DPP Teach and Treat Programme - Prescribing Supervision First Contact Practitioner (FCP) Community of Practice Channel HNY Apprenticeship Toolkit HNY Apprenticeship Levy Transfer Opportunities
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Talent Programme Briefings
The Best Place to Work team are hosting briefing sessions to raise awareness of new system leadership development programmes which launch in 2025. Programmes are open to staff and volunteers working in health and care across Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership. These programmes are specifically tailored to develop system leaders.
Programme 1: Leading from the Middle 12-month programme Aimed at those in a middle management role, who have had previous experience of management (3+ years) or have previously undertaken a management development programme Opportunity to enhance self-development through psychometric tools, career coaching and working with a senior sponsor Core learning – both face-to-face and online workshops (leading change and transformation, system theory, successful systems leadership, from analogue to digital, political astuteness, population health, effective decision making etc) 6-week placement Closes with a celebration event
Programme 2: Senior System Leaders 12-month programme Aimed at those ready to step into an executive role (existing senior leaders) Access to networking opportunities, peer-to-peer support and networking sessions Guest speaker sessions Masterclasses Career management support
Briefing sessions are as follows; click on the session link to book: |
Safe Working Guidance - 'Core' General PracticeAs part of the safe working guidance for GP practices in England, the BMA have developed a section focusing on ‘core’ general practice to help you identify which services are included within ‘core GMS’.
It’s essential that GPs and practices focus on delivering services that are properly commissioned and resourced. It is not always clear which services are included within ‘core GMS’, leading to some practices potentially offering unfunded services. To help clarify, they have compiled a list of locally commissioned services that should be commissioned separately. Explore the list of services and learn more. |
GPC UpdateThe GPC publish regular updates for LMCs, covering contractual issues, policy, news updates and more. Read the latest updates, published fortnightly by the GPC. |
Acute Cough and PneumoniaThis Red Whale update combines a number of different NICE guidelines: from symptom-based guidance (acute cough) to disease-based guidance (e.g. pneumonia). Read the update. |
How Will NICE's Updated Guidance Affect Menopause Consultations? This Medscape UK article reviews NICE's new recommendations on managing the menopause with medications and therapy, addressing controversy around the use of evidence. Read the update. |
Poverty and Mental HealthThis NB Medical Education article follows a recent study which found that clinicians often lacked confidence in discussing socio-economic issues. It examines ways to explore options with patients for holistic support with finances, social isolation and mental health. Read the update. |
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