Avon LMCs Newsletter on 21-05-25

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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 will be attending a GPC England meeting in London this week, which will include discussions within BMA policy groups. As the Policy lead for Prescribing and Dispensing, we will be discussing hot topics such as inclisiran and medications for weight management. The BMA has already shared a statement with LMCs that neither of these activities form part of core contractual work and therefore remain voluntary.

Avon LMC and One Care continue to meet monthly (with the Training Hub joining us for alternate months) to align ourselves within the representation space. Moving forwards, we hope to progress a SOP for GP representation, so that there is clarity on GP governance/oversight within the system.  We also aim to set up a working group to develop a costings tool to use for funding decisions, when negotiating GP contracts.

This evening, I connected with an old friend from medical school, I haven’t spoken to in over five years. It’s amazing how the years just melt away in these circumstances, and you’re transported back to your raw, unsophisticated, 18-year-old self, gossiping and giggling about your cohort of peers. It was a huge reminder for me about the power of authenticity and connection, and how important laughter is in our everyday lives.

“This idea of shared humanity and the connections that we make with one another – that’s what, in fact, makes life worth living.” – Clint Smith

Shaba Nabi 
Chair Avon LMC

GPs working within a North Somerset practice have the opportunity to vote in the election for a Board Director representing their area. All practice managers have received the voting form and have been asked to disseminate it to all the GPs in their practice.

If you are a North Somerset practice manager and have not received the voting form, or if you are a GP and your practice manager is away, please email info@almc.co.uk and we will send you a voting form.

As you are aware, ADHD medication monitoring has been added to the Specialist Medicines Monitoring LES. Avon LMC would like to highlight a change to the 6-monthly monitoring requirements (from the specification originally shared) which means the only requirements are for blood pressure, weight and heart rate. Assessment of sleep and a psychiatric review is necessary for the annual review, which is either the responsibility of the specialist, or the GP if the practice is signed up to the ADHD annual review LES.

Avon LMC would like to thank the ICB medicines optimisation team and AWP, facilitated by Natasha Ward, GPCB Clinical Lead for Mental Health, for facilitating this change.

Question: We have done a lot of referrals for the weight management clinic recently and there is some workload attached with the pre-referral screening bloods such as vitamin B12, vitamin D or fib-4, which sometimes come back as abnormal. I think this is only reimbursed at £12 per patient – are there any plans for better funding for this?

Answer: Weight management referrals come under a commissioning policy, which is why the referral form is RAG rated red, and the work-up bloods are required. The FIB-4 is due to the liver damage that can occur with GLP-1 medications.

The £12 reimbursement you are referring to is the weight management DES which can also be claimed for a Tier 2 referral, so not directly compensating the workload associated with a Tier 3 referral.

Moving forwards, a lot more of this will be commissioned to general practice, as Tirzepatide needs to be delivered in primary care by mid-June, and we are negotiating the funding for this. 

You may have read about this in the news recently. This  relates to new registrations of patients born before 1996: this changes the GP registration process by adding one new question and uses the pre-existing new patient health check process to prompt a question about hepatitis C.

The expectation is for practices to raise this opportunistically or during the new patient health check (if the offer is accepted) as positive responses to the registration question above, will be highlighted to the GP.

No additional serology is required at the practice as there is a self-care kit which can be requested: https://hepctest.nhs.uk/
 

• 3rd June 2025: Virtual LMC drop in, 13.00 – 14.00
• 1st July 2025: Virtual LMC drop in, 13.00 – 14.00
• 9th September 2025: Virtual LMC drop in, 13.00 – 14.00
• 4th November 2025: Virtual LMC drop in, 13.00 – 14.00

NHS England has undertaken an audit of current practice across NHS screening programmes and sought advice from information governance colleagues.  Currently there is variability across and within programmes in that some services already routinely use envelopes marked as ‘private and confidential’ with an NHS logo and others are using plain envelopes for sending call and recall letters.

As a result of the audit, a recommendation has been approved to routinely apply the ‘private and confidential’ marking wherever possible. This will provide greater consistency across screening programmes and help to protect personal information. It will also help to align with envelopes sent by NHS Notify, a mailing service that supports our digitalisation work.

Please ensure ‘private and confidential’ marking is applied to screening envelopes used for call and recall at the earliest opportunity, noting that this may mean waiting until current print contracts end and existing supplies are used up. If this request causes any issues or has cost implications, please contact us viaengland.swvast@nhs.net

Please find the Mutual Aid FAQ here.

BRIG meeting Thursday the 22nd of May. 
Please come and join us to discuss anything respiratory related.
Poster attached.

• Tuesday 20 May General practice bulletin
• Thursday 15 May General practice bulletin

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– LATEST TRAINING AND EVENTS –

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

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