Avon LMC’s Newsletter on 05-03-25

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The ALMC Newsletter

Welcome to our weekly newsletter, sharing the latest news and topics of interest for practices.

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– LATEST NEWS –

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I had a long clinical day on Monday, but instead of coming home exhausted and drained of any emotional energy, I felt energised and grateful. It made me reflect on the ingredients for this on the drive home, and it can be distilled into a few key areas:

• Trusting relationships – I work with communities who are often marginalised and have a poor experience of healthcare. I feel so privileged to be allowed into their lives and develop life-long relationships
• Feeling valued – helping others isn’t just a one-way street and we should celebrate the sense of value and purpose in return
• Intellectual stimulation – there are very few jobs which offer the range and depth of cerebral challenge that general practice offers.
• Control – we continue to operate a remote first model, which means GPs can spend the time they need with patients, without the pressure of an expanding waiting room

So why am I rambling on about this instead of discussing contractual issues? Because although robust funding is crucial to our survival, it’s not the only thing that matters. We need a new contract which allows some of these factors: autonomy, diversity of all clinical presentations, and continuity of care.

And most of all, we need to feel valued. Because it’s a fundamental human need that’s right up there within Maslow’s Hierarchy.

“The role of a creative leader is not to have all the ideas; it’s to create a culture where everyone can have ideas and feel that they’re valued.” – Ken Robinson

 
Shaba Nabi
Chair: Avon LMC

We are approaching the last few days of submission with the closing date being this Friday 14th March.

The survey link was sent to all practice managers, so if you didn’t receive it, or your manager is on leave, please email info@almc.co.uk and it will be sent to you to complete as one per practice.

The survey results will form the basis of collaborative commissioning and will be discussed at a virtual Members’ event.

It was terrific to see so many of you at the drop-in yesterday. For those of you that have never attended, it’s a really informal space to hear about local and national updates and share your moans and concerns in a safe space with like minded colleagues.

As expected, the new contract was discussed, and I would like to share these excellent top tips from Robyn Clark, Practice Managing Partner at Kingswood Health Centre:

• All practice staff need to be uplifted to national living wage from 1st April to be HR compliant
  • There is a One Care tool which allows a practice to calculate their expenses in relation to this
• Scrutinise your CVD QoF achievements this year
  • If not hitting the new upper thresholds for this, develop a practice action plan
• Work very hard to achieve maximum QoF points for 2025/26 in case there is a transition of QoF into the global sum next year and income is protected at the achieved levels

Please email us at info@almc.co.uk to share any other hot tips and we can disseminate them within the newsletter.

Following the success of our last face to face Members’ event in September, we are holding a virtual event in a few weeks, to discuss the phase 3 survey results and plan next steps.

We would like to invite at least two people from each practice (preferably Practice Manager and GP) but can accommodate up to four people per practice.

Please register your attendance here.

Keep abreast with all the latest local and national updates by joining our broadcast only WhatsApp group. This means you won’t wake up to a million messages because only the LMC admin team can post important updates to share with the membership.

Just email info@almc.co.uk to sign up.

The ICB would like to invite you to an evening Q&A session to go through the key elements of the new contract deal and discuss implications for how we implement this together in BNSSG. Practice managers, clinical leads, PCN clinical directors, PCN managers, One Care/GPCB and LMC colleagues are all invited to join.
 
This meeting is held in lieu of the PCN meeting that was planned for the same day but has now been cancelled.
 
Link here: Join the meeting now
Meeting ID: 382 220 647 253
Passcode: FZ7J9TB6

Question: Why do we have to use any type of form for a referral, rather than dictate a letter? Are we mandated to do this?

Answer: There is no contractual obligation for a GP to use a specific form to facilitate a referral. However, the LMC has endorsed the BNSSG ICB Standard Referral Form, which has been approved by both the LMC and the GPCB. It has been assessed as including the minimum information required for a safe referral. If you feel you can facilitate this through a dictated letter, then this should be accepted by the Provider.

The RAG rating of referrals within the LMC collective action page can act as a guide regarding minimum information required before any specific referrals
https://avonlmc.co.uk/collective-action-2/

Please read this here.

• 2nd Apr 2025: Virtual Membership Meeting, 19.00 – 21.00
• 6th May 2025: Virtual LMC drop in, 13.00 – 14.00
• 1st July 2025: Virtual LMC drop in, 13.00 – 14.00

This year, No Smoking Day falls on Wednesday 12 March and is another great opportunity to signpost to quitting support and encourage smokers to make a quit attempt. Based around the positive theme ‘Take back your life this No Smoking Day’, here is directing to a range of posters and digital assets that you can use across social media, websites, digital screens and physical displays.

Social Prescribing Day is an annual celebration of the people, organisations and communities who make social prescribing happen. Since 2019, thousands of local, national and international organisations, link workers, medical professionals, academics and students have taken part across the world.

Every year, we have joined together to hold events, share ideas and highlight the impact of social prescribing on people and communities. Together, we want to raise awareness of what social prescribing is, how it works, and how it changes lives.

Find out more here.

• Tuesday 11 March General practice bulletin (mailchi.mp)
• Friday 07 March General practice bulletin (mailchi.mp) 
• Thursday 06 March General practice bulletin (mailchi.mp)

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– LATEST TRAINING AND EVENTS –

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Please find the message from ICB:

We have good availability on Tier 2 Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism sessions this month (March 2025), please see below for dates:
 

• Friday 14th March at Hampton House Health Centre, Bristol
• Friday 21st March at Hampton House Health Centre, Bristol
• Monday 24th March at the Drake Room, Greenway Centre
• Wednesday 26th March at The Campus, Worle
• Thursday 27th March at Hampton House Health Centre, Bristol
• Monday 31st March at Hampton House Health Centre, Bristol

To book: https://buytickets.at/nhsbnssg

We also have space on Tier 1 sessions, please see booking links below:

• Monday 24th March 2025 (11am – 12pm)
  https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/3fb730ac-bd6e-4483-8b38-9293da1d9c26@37c354b2-85b0-47f5-b222-07b48d774ee3 
   
• Monday 24th March 2025 (2pm – 3pm)
  https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/9b7cae3f-2f8b-4b97-8262-887a67707bfe@37c354b2-85b0-47f5-b222-07b48d774ee3

Further dates covering 1 April 2025 onwards will be released in due course.

The following should be noted:

The Code of Practice in relation to this training has yet to be finalised. Primary Care staff are welcome to book onto the training now or wait until the final Code of Practice has been published. 

Tier 2 training (one day face to face) is for clinical and patient-facing staff.

Tier 1 training (1 hour interactive webinar) is for non patient facing staff.

The Oliver McGowan e-learning module is a pre-requisite to both Tier 1 and Tier 2 training and staff must have completed this prior to booking their space.

There is a maximum of 30 places available at each session.

Places are currently free of charge.

If you can no longer attend, please email: bnssg.olivermcgowantraining@nhs.net to cancel your booking, in order that places can be reallocated.

• BCYP EduForum: GP Guide to Paediatric Surgery and Urology
  18^th March from 13.00-13.30
  Signup here
• Advanced Practice Event: Emersons Green
  19^th March from 9.00-12.00
  Signup here
• Blood Interpretation in Primary Care – Day 4 of 4
  20^th March from 9.15-12.30
  Signup here
• Dermoscopy Training – Part 3
  25h March from 9.00-12.30
  Signup here
• Personalised Care Celebration Event 2025
  26^th March from 9.30-15.30
  Signup here
• BCYP EduForum: Milk related problems in children
  22^nd April from 13.00-13.30
  Signup here

Please see here for full event details.
For further information please contact Bnssg.training.hub@nhs.net

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