Dear colleague,
Introduction by the LMC Chair and Vice Chair
We are pleased to present the latest Bexley Local Medical Committee newsletter.
We welcome your thoughts in how Bexley LMC can help you. Please feel free to approach any one of the LMC members or if you have any queries or questions, please contact the LMC via Committee Liaison Executive, Aisha, at Aisha.riaz@lmc.org.uk.
Bexley LMC Membership and Contact info
What has Bexley LMC been working on recently?
LMC Practice Nurse Vacancy
Bexley LMC is seeking a Practice Nurse representative to join the committee. LMC membership is your opportunity to take forward and resolve issues and make a difference to general practice!
LMC meetings are held every two months on the second Thursday. Representatives are reimbursed at an hourly rate for their attendance. The Practice Nurse Forum will need to approve the nomination as the representatives of Bexley Practice Nursing.
If you are interested in the opportunity, please contact Aisha.riaz@lmc.org.uk.
Constituent engagement
The LMC is working on constituent outreach so that we can hear about issues that are affecting colleagues working in general practice and feedback as to LMC activity. We hope to visit Bexley practices in upcoming months and look forward to meeting with you.
We plan on presenting at the March PLT to highlight how the LMC represents and supports practices and practice staff and provide examples of how your LMC continues to do this.
GP Premium
Bexley LMC continues to be involved in negotiations with the ICB to determine the new Premium matrixes. We will share further information via the newsletter when we are able to.
Primary-secondary care interface
- GSTT Cardiology Referral Pathway: Following from the update in our previous newsletter, LMC continues to raise the issue of significant wait times for cardiology referrals at GSTT. The LMC will be meeting with Dr Stephano Svab, Cardiology Lead at GSTT, to review cardiology referral pathways. Please continue to feedback on any issues related to the pathway.
- Midwifery prescribing: as a result of LLMC raising concerns, QEH midwifery service is no longer asking GPs to prescribe iron and aspirin and antibiotics for UTIs.
- Training of junior doctors: One of the blockers of a successful primary-secondary care interface is the training offered to resident doctors due to frequent turnover. Bexley LMC and Kent LMC will jointly offer audiovisual training to support the education of junior doctors at DVH.
Updates from the Bexley LMC January Meeting
- The LMC has engaged with the District Nursing review and LMC discussed next steps in this meeting.
- The LMC has been consistently raising issues of maternity prescribing by midwives. The ICB has updated that at LGT, PGDs are now in place, enabling midwives to administer iron and aspirin independently of GP practices. These medications are stored, dispensed and managed in community pharmacy. LGT aims to train midwives as prescribers, but the process will take around a year and still offers only partial resolution due to limits on prescribable antibiotics. We will work with the ICB to identify the position of the PRUH and DGT Conversations continue to happen at SEL level considering the ongoing concerns raised by LMCs on behalf of GPs about the lack of midwifery prescribers in the community and the impact of the additional workload in general practice.
SEL Strategic Leadership Network Discussions
The South East London Strategic Leadership Network (SLN) consists of the SEL LMC Chairs and Vice Chairs who meet regularly to lead on system-level developments and issues that impact general practice.
- Synnovis Hba1c issues, involving the Synnovis transition to a new-generation assay and meeting with place leads to discuss mitigating actions in relation to impact on local targets.
- Monitoring service issues with the SEL Weight management pathway.
- Considering the impact of online requirements introduced on 1 October 2025 in terms of patient safety, in particular evidence of near misses which could inform regional and national discussions.
- Working with Londonwide LMCs to investigate and feed back on developments arising from the SEL-Wide System Efficiency Programme workstream exploring wound care currently delivered in unscheduled care settings that could be appropriately addressed within alternative planned services and understanding why some patients are being followed up again in these settings.
- SEL Anti psychotic Long Acting Injections pathway review and highlighting the lack of financial modelling and the GP/Pharmacy impact assessment and issues with existing pathways.
- Engagement with Mental Health Leads to improve the SEL ADHD service provision and to address operational issues arising from the new triage service.
- The ICB proposal for commissioning “amber 3” medicines across SEL, focusing on medicines that require shared care arrangements (SCAs) between specialists and general practice. The SLN will be consulting with individual LMCs to inform a formal response and further engagement with local commissioners.
Londonwide LMC Updates
New Oliver McGowan training in response to practice feedback
Londonwide LMCs are working with the Primary Care Workforce Academy to deliver Oliver McGowan training to practices across the South East London ICB area. This is NHS England’s preferred training to meet the requirement for GPs to be trained in understanding the needs of people with learning disabilities and autism. Available dates and booking links can be found on the SELWDH website.
Londonwide LMCs are continually reviewing how we can best meet practices’ training needs and address gaps in provision. If there are other types of training you would be interested in, please contact us at wti@lmc.org.uk. Our current training offer is outlined in this brochure.
Workforce Training & Innovation (WTI)
Londonwide’s Workforce-Training and Innovation (WTI) directorate provides key training courses for GPs and their practice team.
Here is a list of upcoming taught days & courses.
GP Support Team
Bexley practices can access confidential support and advice about practice specific issues via Londonwide LMCs GP Support Team GPSupport@lmc.org.uk. For further information upon what the GP Support Team can help you with, please see this link.
Exclusive deals for practices
Our substantially updated Buying Group offer provides a range of opportunities to save money and improve the quality of products and services you use.
- Get excellent prices and next day delivery on consumables, with a supplier who can respond quickly to your practice needs.
- Access a comprehensive online learning platform, plus packages to manage HR, finance, compliance and rotas.
- Let a specialist GP insurer make sure you have the right cover, with knowledge on developing areas like cyber security, AI scribes and contract holding at PCN level.
- Our records digitisation partners can help free up premises space and recent changes with the National Document Repository have improved practices’ options.
- Intelligent, end-to-end call-and-recall automation does more than simply send reminders, it tailors messages and helps to improve QOF.
- The latest in cloud telephony integrates with clinical systems, provides stats on patient contacts and automates many tasks.
- Reward yourself and your colleagues with free and discounted tickets to concerts, theatre shows, sports and more!
Yours faithfully,
Dr Sushanta Bhadra, Chair, Bexley LMC
Dr Jhumur Moir, Vice Chair, Bexley LMC