WELCOME TO OUR JULY 2023 NEWSLETTER

This publication is sent to all Essex GP Practices via their Practice Managers. However, we encourage anyone who would like to receive this communication directly, to subscribe below. 

Skilled Worker Sponsorship for new GPs

If you want to recruit a GP from outside the UK and they are not a ‘settled worker’ or if you want to recruit a UK medical graduate switching from a Tier 4 visa, they are likely to need a Skilled Worker visa and you will need to sponsor them.

This ensures: 1. The Home Office knows they have secured a job in the UK; and 2. That an employer is able to take responsibility for them while they are here. To do this, GP practices will need a sponsorship licence. This process is not complex but the guidance around it is quite long.

          Are you making the most of your              Buying Group membership?

When was the last time you reviewed how much your practice is spending on the products and services you regularly buy?

The cost of living crisis is really starting to bite and even GP practices will be looking for ways to reduce running costs.

This is where your free membership to the LMC Buying Group can really come in handy as it offers practices access to discounts on a wide range of products and services.

Cameron Fund Summer 2023 Newsletter

The Cameron Fund has now issued their newsletter for the summer of 2023. To read this, please visit our website for the link.

42nd General Practice & Primary Care Update

You are invited to attend the annual meeting of The Royal Society of Medicine that will allow you to network and engage in interactive discussions with our global expert speakers in frontline general practice and primary care. This year’s three-day programme will provide updates on topics from the current landscape in primary care and general practice, ethical dilemmas in clinical practice and educational sessions on clinical topics such as oncology, cardiology, ENT, dermatology and paediatrics. Details of this event are as follows:

Date: Wed 27 to Fri 29 Sep 2023
Time: 8:30am to 2:00pm (BST)
Location: Royal Society of Medicine
Early bird discount available
Get 15% off for 2 days or 25% OFF for 3 days

New Cervical Screening Management System

NHS England is stepping up preparations for switchover to the new NHS Cervical Screening Management System (CSMS) towards the end of 2023.

With the new system, accuracy and security of patient information will be improved, making sure every person eligible for a screening appointment continues to be invited on time and followed up if required.

The new CSMS will be much easier to navigate, freeing up more time for frontline staff. Access to the new CSMS will be via Smart Card and users have been contacted previously to ensure they have these and will need to arrange to have additional access rights added.

Further information can be found on the NHS Digital website.

QOF Target Questionnaire Reminder

The LMC continues to be aware of the difficulties that some practices experience in achieving the Childhood Vaccinations and Immunisations QOF targets because of not being able to exception report for parental refusals or missing the schedule deadline due to new registrations.

We continue to be keen to understand the extent of the problem in Essex and, if you are a practice affected by this, we would be grateful if you could complete our short questionnaire in order for us to collate such information that will be shared with GPC to further inform ongoing discussions with NHS England.

We ask for all affected practices, where possible, to supply this information to us through our questionnaire.

GP Practice Workforce Data

Using data from NHS Digital, we now provide workforce data for Essex GP Practices, and male/female GP ratio documents, both commencing from November 2022. 

Appointments in General Practice

Through NHS Digital, we are able to obtain data on appointments that have taken place in general practice across Essex. The data that we can extrapolate is useful for us to see how many appointments have been offered in a month, and how many patients were seen face to face for example.

We now produce appointment data flyers that can be displayed in your practice. Please see below for more information.

Do you need help with PCSE cases?

Have you waited for more than 40 days for a response from PCSE for a case raised with them? Are you experiencing financial hardship as a result? Or, is there a risk to patient safety? If you have answered yes to any of these questions, then the LMC can help you.

Essex LMCs on Social Media

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