Dear colleague,
Chair’s introduction
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.
Surviving the 2026-27 GP contract – webinar recording
A recording of the first run of Londonwide LMCs’ webinar is now available on the 2026-27 GP contract guidance page for those people who were unable to attend either session.
You can find out about the effect on London of the contract changes, with our unique patient population and commissioning arrangements, based on the documentation available at the end of April.
What has Bexley LMC been working on recently?
Constituent engagement
Bexley LMC presented at the March PLT to highlight how the LMC represents and supports practices and practice staff. Colleagues from Londonwide also supported with a stall and materials. It was great to see colleagues and showcase the work of the LMC. All constituents are welcome to contact SEL Londonwide Team with any concerns, queries or comments via Aisha, at Aisha.riaz@lmc.org.uk.
Additionally, LMC members will be reaching out to practices in the upcoming weeks to arrange practice visits so that we can hear about issues that are affecting colleagues working in general practice and feedback as to LMC activity.
GP Premium
Dr Mehal Patel, LMC member, presented on the new indicators and matrixes at the March PLT. Bexley LMC has been actively involved in the Bexley GP Premium Task & Finish Group, providing oversight and input into the deliverability of the Premium. ICB colleagues have worked collaboratively with Bexley LMC and have satisfactorily listened and responded to the LMC’s concerns and challenges.
Primary-secondary care interface
GPs are reminded to use the Dartford and Gravesham Trust email inbox for primary-secondary care interface issues: dgn-tr.gpinterface@nhs.net Any concerns received will be reviewed by DGT and themes will be shared with the primary and secondary care interface meetings for learning and improving care. This inbox is not to address clinical issues – please directly contact the relevant department for queries relating to clinical issues.
Updates from the Bexley LMC March meeting
The LMC shared concerns regarding the proposed Housebound SOP as part of the District Nursing review. The SOP aims to set out a consistent approach to identify, record and support residents who are deemed housebound. The LMC supported an approach to ensure that only patients with clinical need for domiciliary care receive this in order to protect the collective finite resources of local healthcare services. We have asked the ICB for a robust comms plan, including engagement with patients and the public regarding the changes, in addition to patient comms to clarify that this is a system-wide approach and not an individual practice decision.
SEL SLN update – May 2026
DTS incident
- Londonwide LMCs SEL Medical Director Dr Sara Riley has been working with the ICB on practices behalf to seek resolution to the recent Data Transfer Service incident which has generated large volumes of DTS error messages for some practices.
- Acknowledging the workload and clinical risk implications, Londonwide LMCs engagement has ensured that the practice perspective and experience informs all aspects of the ICBs incident response relevant to practices and has been able to present a case to adjust the financial support available upwards to improve the extent it meet the requirements of practices and the costs incurred.
- Londonwide LMCs continues to engage with the ICBs response on behalf of practices. See the ICBs SEL NET which contains the most recent updates and resources including how to seek further support from the ICB.
SEL ENT community service
- Chairs/VCs met with service leads from Communitas and SEL ICB as part of their ongoing engagement with providers and commissioners. The committee reviewed and discussed service improvement action being taken by the provider to address operational and GP interface issues identified by its members (including prescription requests, radiology requests, communication with practices and patients). The SLN remains engaged in working with the provider to deliver further improvements.
SEL adult ADHD referral triage service and pathway improvement
- The SLN met with the SEL ICB MH Commissioning Director to feed back GPs experience of the ICBs ADHD Referral Triage Service, Right to Choose (RTC) provider accreditation scheme and wider pathway developments impacting GPs. Looking forward, the SLN will seek direct engagement regarding proposals for a broader system development activity on children and adult neurodiversity to ensure that GP perspectives are heard at system level.
Understanding the impact of cyberattacks on primary care in the UK National Health Service
- Acknowledging that reports on the impact of the June 2024 cyber attack on Synnovis have largely been focused on secondary and tertiary services, researchers at the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London are undertaking a study to understand the experience of primary care NHS staff during the Synnovis cyberattack based on surveys and semi structured interviews with GPs and practice staff in SEL. The research team are working closely with LMC to ensure findings are locally relevant and that GP voices are meaningfully represented and help shape cyber strategy and resilience for primary care. The SLN has discussed the preliminary findings and will engage further with lead academics on the development of the final research paper.
Other recent areas of engagement with SEL programmes
SEL anti psychotic long acting injections pathway review - Highlighting the present absence of financial modelling and the GP/Pharmacy impact assessment and issues with existing pathways.
Proposed changes to GP access to direct imaging in SEL – Whilst adding some radiological examinations to the CDC GP direct access catalogue was welcomed the SLN pushed back on a ‘CDC-first’ approach to diagnostic bookings for all patients and raised concerns regarding the removal of direct MSK ultrasound access for hands and feet.
SEL interface prescribing policy improvement – The SLN maintains engagement on the next steps following recent engagement events aimed at co-producing an updated SEL Interface Prescribing Policy document to improve the primary Care/Secondary Care interface.
SEL Medicines Optimisation Plan 2026-27 – The SLN reviewed the draft and raised questions on of behalf of practices prior to its agreement and implementation.
SEL MGUS guideline development – SLN representatives are representing GPs in ongoing discussions on the MGUS referral pathway, referral challenges, monitoring capacity, community follow-up, and future planning across South East London. It is anticipated that the group will revise draft MGUS referral criteria/guideline and begin the outline of business case.
Londonwide LMC Updates
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!
Bexley LMC
Yours Faithfully,
Dr Sushanta Bhadra
Chair – Bexley LMC