Local Medical Committee Meeting2 September 2014

Local Medical Committee Meeting2 September 2014

MINUTES OF THE COUNTYDURHAM AND DARLINGTON LOCAL MEDICAL COMMITTEE HELD ON TUESDAY

2 SEPTEMBER2014 IN THE BOARD ROOM AT APPLETON HOUSE

Present:

James McMichaelChair

David Robertson Hon Secretary

Fiona McConnellChester-le-Street

Richard HarkerDarlington

Anne HolmesDurham

Francis WhalleyDurham

Rushi MudalagiriEasington

Kamal SidhuEasington

Norbert DielehnerSedgefield

Mike SpenceSedgegfield – Practice Manager

Heather PrestwichSessional

Robin Wade Sessional

Claire ElderLMC

Invited:

Nicola ShorttGP Trainee

Jenny SteelDarlington CCG

Andrea JonesDarlington CCG

David GrahamND CCG

Number / Item
L14/80 / Apologies for Absence
Tanya Johnston (Chester-le-Street)
Donna Boyd (Durham Dales)
Nari Pindolia (Durham Dales)
Sanjay Gupta (Easington)
K V Reddy (Easington)
Gill Smith (NECS)
Tom Hunt (CDDFT)
Prof Christopher Gray (CDDFT)
L14/81 / Minutes of the Meeting held on 1 July 2014– were signed as an accurate record.
L/14/82 / Matters Arising
Paperless Records – talks have stalled but likely to be guidance to the effect that if GP2GP transfer has taken place then there will be no need to printout copies of patient records in addition.
Flu Vaccinations – DAR updated the Committee that the LPC had offered to work collaboratively with practices to deliver the flu campaign. A suggestion had been made that there might be scope to do this by concentrating on the eligible population who don’t usually access flu immunisation.
Domestic Violence – Clarification from Barbara had been circulated to committee members regarding Clare’s Law.
L14/83 / Care.data
No further updates at present – awaiting further information from pathfinder practices.
L14/84 / ISIS
David Graham presented on behalf of NECS and requested this matter be deferred until the next meeting as 3 months of information had yet to be collected.
Members wanted to know what to do about the contract and whether to sign up to this scheme. £100 was felt not enough to cover looking after these vulnerable patients. Members were very upset that this contract had not been brought to the LMC for consultation before rolling it out.
Members felt that with limited data they could not agree on a formal arrangement with regard to fees. Several ideas were suggested with regard to payment structures, but most agreed that £100 was not sufficient for more than two visits.
MS raised concern for practices within the catchment areas of the Nursing Homes who are hosting the patients. There was also some concern about the information flow for patients who were not going to be looked after by their usual practice.
Members felt that decisions should be deferred until further information was available.
L14/85 / PMS Review
DAR gave a presentation regarding negotiations to date on PMS reviews but emphasised the whole issue was on hold at the request of NHS England. It was not known why this request had been made but that further news was anticipated in mid-September.
A Regional approach to PMS reviews had been adopted and it was felt that the AT had been as flexible as they were permitted to be in discussions.
Local discussions had developed a proposal very similar to the ‘Essex model’ – but further advice from NHS England might mean that the current understanding might need to be revised. Key elements of agreement were no loss of funding in 2014-15, that any monies recouped would be retained within primary care although probably redistributed to areas of need, and the current proposal would mirror withdrawal of MPIG.
A committee member mentioned ‘purdah’ arising in the future in the run up to the General Election but it was not suggested that the current position was related to this.
The committee was alerted to concerns about Darlington in particular and ND to a lesser extent as being particularly vulnerable to the effect of withdrawal of PMS funding.
The committee agreed that we would wait for further news from the AT before deciding what to do next.
Members pointed out that within the next few years a lot of GPs will reach retirement age and the effect of this would add to problems facing practices.
Members present felt that destabilising PMS funding had the potential for increasing admissions and referral to secondary care at a time when the direction of travel was to have care closer to home.
The committee recognised the inequities in funding between GMS and PMS practices in general but felt that ‘levelling down’ was unlikely to be helpful.
L14/86 / Secondary Care
The representatives from the FT sent their apologies again.
Radiology – Members were concerned at how short staffed CDDFT was with regard to Radiology. Members felt that this had been raised for quite some time now and they were worried the effect this was having on patient care. Members raised the fact that Breast services had been cut from Darlington due to the problems of radiology some time ago, but the service within Radiology is far worse now!
Block Contracts – Andrea Jones confirmed that the CCGs and the FT had still not agreed on a funding contract for 2014-15. Discussions were ongoing it is was hoped that would be settled by mediation rather than going to arbitration.
L14/87 / Area Team
88.01 Medicines Compliance Aids – LPC
The LMC was updated on progress in developing a policy on medicine compliance aids. The committee was concerned about the amount of work involved for pharmacists but was reassured that the LPC had been widely consulted in drawing up the draft.
The LMC supported the progress to date and agreed that the suggestion for amendment was worthwhile.
L14/88 / Primary Care Support
L14/89 / Clinical Commissioning Groups
North Durham
Nothing to update.
Darlington
Andrea Jones – Collaborative working between practices is developing and work is continuing on the successful bid for the Challenge fund.
Jenny Steel / Federation – The 11 Practices have now agreed to work collaboratively and form a federation that includes an Intrahealth practice. Sufficientclinicians and practice managers have expressed interest in running the federation that an election will be required. The LMC confirmed its general support for federation and wished Darlington Practices well.
L14/90 / Out of Hours
Nothing to note.
L14/91 / Communication from the BMA/GPC
Nothing to note.
L14/92 / General Correspondence
Nothing to note.
L14/93 / Any Other Business
93.01Questionnaires
The increasing volume of information being sought from practices was raised. Practice managers are being bombarded with questionnaires from a variety of sources, often for purposes that are unclear.
Previous attempts to stem this tide of requests had been developed with the PCT but had not been carried over to new organisations in health and social care.
It was suggested that requests could be directed to either the link practice mangers group or the LMC for assessment against an agreed template and then approved if appropriate for distribution to practices.
It was agreed that the matter should be raised with NECSU.
L14/94 / Date, Time and Place of Next Meeting
7 October 2014 @ 19.30 in the Board Room at Appleton House

Private and Confidential

Ref: CNE/MINUTES/AGENDAS/LMC/Minutes 2014