Collective Action Update
This month GPC England are asking practices to take part in a further collective action by refusing new requests for shared care that are not appropriately resourced. GPs and practices should not accept new informal arrangements and should only enter them where terms are clear, clinically safe, and adequately resourced. Read our message to partners and practices explaining this latest action. More information can be found on the BMA website: How to take part in GP collective action in England.    

Neighbourhoods Update 
Practices may be feeling under pressure to agree to new neighbourhood working models, and with the announcement of the consultation on neighbourhood models, there is increasing uncertainty and concern. The newly elected Officer Team for GPC England will be making this a focus over the coming months and will be producing further guidance for practices over how to engage with these proposals in a way that protects themselves and their patients.

In the meantime, practices should be reassured that they do not have to, and should not be pressured to, sign up to local neighbourhood proposals. There must be full and meaningful engagement with practices and LMCs to ensure there is appropriate governance in place as well as ring-fenced budgets for key areas especially around resourcing left shift of work, protections around sharing confidential data and proper utilisation of estates. 

This is a free event for all GPs working in the Humber area. Join us for a varied and stimulating agenda including:

This event was initially badged as a Sessional GP conference, but is now open to all GPs. Places are limited so please book early to avoid missing out - book your free place. 

Single National Formulary (SNF) – New Formulary Classification System 
Humber and North Yorkshire are one of the early adopter systems implementing the new Single National Formulary (SNF) classification status terminology for medicines. As part of this transition, the traditional traffic light classification system (Red, Amber and Green) will be phased out and replaced with the new word-based classification system to be used within the Single National Formulary. The new system removes colour coding and instead uses clear descriptive terminology to indicate prescribing responsibility and any associated requirements. A comparison of the current traffic light classifications and the new Single National Formulary terminology is provided below. 

Help Build the Case for CQC Reform
GPC England is supporting RCGP to gather evidence from members about their experiences of CQC inspections and assessments. There has been a range of concerns from GPs across the country, but a clearer understanding is needed of how representative these experiences are and where the greatest challenges lie. 

  

To help do this, a short survey, open to GPs and GP registrars, that should take less than 10 minutes is now open. The evidence you provide will be invaluable in informing collective discussions with the CQC, government and wider system partners as reforms are developed.      

Counting the Cost of Patient List Validation
The LMC Support Network has published Counting the Cost - a briefing paper on how a national exercise to ‘validate’ GP patient lists is removing hundreds of thousands of patients nationally from GP practice registers - and with them, the funding that pays for staff, services and care. 

NHS commissioners are running a large-scale validation of GP patient lists using the long-established FP69 and FP22 processes. Practices have reported losing income at a time of acute financial strain, being given little information about how patients are being selected, and discovering that patients removed in error include some of the most vulnerable people they serve. An estimated £18m per year of core GP funding will be lost each year as a direct result of the net contraction in registered patient lists during the validation exercise. Read the response from NHS England to the briefing paper, and the LMC Support Network reply to NHSE. 

GPC England have only received limited reassurances about the process. However, the government has confirmed that funding released from this activity will be reinvested in general practice services. GPCE are continuing to discuss with NHS England how this will be done. Please contact the LMC if your practice has been affected by this.  

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.

GPs and Practice Managers: Help Shape the Future of Health Data Policy
The Department of Health and Social Care is running a national engagement programme to understand the views of individual GPs and practice managers on how patient data is used — for individual care, the planning and commissioning of NHS services and health-related research. This is an opportunity for GP and practice manager voices to influence decisions at a national level that will shape how patient data is used in the future. The engagement is designed to fit around busy clinical schedules, with flexible ways to get involved — from a 10-minute survey to a series of workshops with a small core group of peers. Learn more and share your views in a brief survey. 

Fraud Alert: Phishing Emails Impersonating GP Practices
York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust have been made aware of a phishing scam targeting local patients by sending fraudulent emails that appear to come from GP practices. The message claims that “online access has been granted” and urges the recipient to take immediate action. In this case, the email was falsely signed as being from a local GP surgery. The email is not genuine and was not sent by the practice. It originates from the address noreply@yourhealthcareprovider.co.uk, which has been linked to a wider phishing campaign affecting GP surgeries. The surgery concerned has added the following to their website:

✅ Watch out for suspicious emails, which often ask you to take urgent action and direct you to click on links.

✅If you are not sure if your GP practice are trying to contact you, please call them on their usual number during their opening hours. 

✅If you receive any suspicious emails, please send them to report@phishing.gov.uk where they can be investigated.

☎️If you think that you have shared your financial information with a scammer, please contact your bank straight away.

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.