Avon LMCs Newsletter on 02-04-25

The ALMC Newsletter

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

– LATEST NEWS –

I was fortunate to receive some media training from the BMA last week and it was just as well, because all my prior beliefs of “don’t prepare and be yourself” are completely wrong! Instead, I learnt about knowing your target audience, having a clear intent captured by only one or two messages illustrated with stories, and the importance of pre-empting the negatives. I did a bit of role play (badly!) and look forward to putting it into practice again.

We have further detail on the GP contract for 2025/26, with information on the PCN DES and the Advice and Guidance DES. As always, if you have any queries about this, you can either contact the ICB contracts team or the LMC at info@almc.co.uk.

It’s not too late to attend the virtual LMC Members Event this evening at 19.00 and your Practice Managers have been sent the link for this. This will be an important meeting to discuss next steps after the Phase 3 survey, as well as providing a strategic steer for the LMC, regarding position statements issued by the ICB.

“Strategy requires thought, tactics require observation – Max Euwe”

Shaba Nabi
Chair Avon LMC

Advice and Guidance DES

The service specification for this can be found here.

In summary:

ICB to invite practices by 15/04/25, practices to sign up by 30/04/25
GP Led (AHP referrals must be reviewed by GP)
Types of advice could include:
- Treatment plans
- Interpretation of results
- Appropriateness of referral/tests
Not mandated prior to referral
IoS fee of £20 is for each episode of care (regardless of number of interactions)
ICB may introduce a cap per practice to keep within £80m national funding limit
- To discuss with LMC
Practices will make monthly manual claims via CQRS

Avon LMC encourages practices to start coding their A&G referrals with the following code:

“Advice and Guidance request sent.”

This will allow for practices to make retrospective claims from 01/04/25.

PCN DES

The service specification for this can be found here.

The LMC aims to share a summary of the PCN service specifications in due course but this summary from THC Primary Care may be helpful in the meantime..

You asked, We said

Question: We are receiving complaints from patients about us rejecting new shared care agreements, when we may have agreed to this verbally prior to their referral, and prior to collective action.

Answer: It is not clear if this query is about private or NHS shared care so the LMC will attempt to address both scenarios.

NHS Shared Care

The LMC has shared guidance on the Principles of Shared Care Prescribing.
It states that shared care is non-core and voluntary, but refusal needs to be consistent, to avoid discrimination allegations.

Private Shared Care

The LMC has been clear that it does not advise this within its guidance on the private interface:
https://avonlmc.co.uk/avon-lmcs-newsletter-on-29-01-25/

Change in practice process

Regarding the change in practice position, if you can document a clear practice policy on this and the date it was implemented, then this becomes the de facto policy from that point onwards.

So, you could, for example:

Reference LMC guidance published

Reference the start date for collective action

Reference any practice/partnership meetings discussing this

Community Pharmacy Contract

You may have seen the government press release about the new deal with Community Pharmacy involving:

Emergency contraception available free of charge at pharmacies
Mental health support for patients prescribed antidepressants
BP screening
Continuation Pharmacy First

GPC Contract Webinars 2025

Join the GPC England Officer team for an update on the new 2025/26 GP contract changes. There will be an opportunity for Q&A. Please see dates and times with registration links below:

Wednesday 9 April 19:00-21:00 Register here
Thursday 10 April 12:00- 14:00 Register here
Wednesday 23 April 19:00-21:00 Register here
Thursday 24 April 12:30- 14:30 Register here

Read more about the contract changes and webinars here: GP contract 2025/26 changes

Dates for your Diary