Dear colleague,
If you have received this newsletter from a colleague and would like to join our mailing list please contact sarah.ocran@lmc.org.uk or click here.
Following LMC elections this summer, Enfield LMC started a new three-year term of office on 1 September 2025, with the newly elected LMC being confirmed at its Inaugural meeting in October. We would like to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves as the Co-Chairs of Enfield LMC, alongside our Vice Chair, Dr Naeemah Haji.
Enfield LMC Membership and Contact info
Who we are
Your Enfield LMC members for the 2025-2028 term are:
- Dr Catherine Aimiuwu, Eagle House Surgery practice (principal)
- Dr Naeemah Haji, (sessional)
- Dr Muhammad Razzaq, Freezywater Surgery (Medicus Health Partnership) (principal)
- Dr Chitra Sankaran, Winchmore Hill Practice (principal)
- Dr Catherine Steven, Eagle House Surgery (principal)
- Dr Adhavan Sugumar, Abernethy House (principal)
- Dr Pippa Vincent, Carlton House Surgery (Medicus Health Partners), (principal)
- Mrs Uttara Sarkar, Practice Manager Observer, Lincoln (Medicus Health Partners)
Join Enfield LMC
Enfield LMC currently has three vacancies for GPs working in Enfield and a vacancy for a General Practice Nurse (GPN) Observer. If you are looking for a new opportunity to bring the issues affecting Enfield general practice to the notice of the LMC, or you want more information, please contact Sarah Ocran, Committee Liaison Executive via emailing sarah.ocran@lmc.org.uk.
What we do
We are here to support practices and to represent the interests of all local GPs and their practice teams. To do this effectively we are relying on you to please reach out to us with any issues or concerns by emailing Sarah Ocran, Committee Liaison Executive sarah.ocran@lmc.org.uk.
What has Enfield LMC been working on recently?
Concerns regarding the multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH)
Dr Vincent and Dr Hazell (Haringey LMC Chair) recently met with Enfield Council staff, MASH personnel and Enfield’s designated doctor to discuss the challenges that Enfield GPs were experiencing with Council’s new portal for referrals into the MASH. The concerns we highlighted included:
- The system crashing regularly
- Not auto-populating demographics making it a lengthy process
- Two factor authentication requirement which has to go to the email that you want replies to (i.e. practice email) which the referring HCP may not have access to and
- The risks to the user as there is a lack of confirmation that referrals have been submitted
We pointed out that nationally there are many areas where portal use is an option, but not compulsory and requested that that the use of the portal be made optional so our referrals can be accepted outside the portal. Enfield Council agreed to explore potential IT improvements and involve the LMC in any future meetings about the portal. We will be holding another to continue to resolve the issues that practices are experiencing with the portal. If your practice is experiencing any issues with the safeguarding portal, please let us know by emailing sarah.ocran@lmc.org.uk so we can feedback at the next meeting.
DALS interpreting service
Dr Vincent attended a meeting with representatives from DALs as well as the ICB and NCL LMCs Chairs/Vice Chairs, to address practice concerns (poor quality of interpreting, long waits for interpreters) regarding the ICB contract for the DALs interpreting service. The DALS team was very responsive to concerns raised and are keen to receive feedback about specific cases so that they can investigate the issues arising. We have been advised that if you can hold on at the end of a phone call for 15 seconds you will be given the option to score the translator from 1-5 (anyone scoring 3 or below will be reviewed by DALS). Please share this information with your practice colleagues. The ICB has also agreed to see if a feedback system can be set up using ACCURX. You can also provide feedback directly to DALS on their website.
Working with the clinical interface
Dr Vincent regularly attends Trusts Clinical Interface Group (CIGs) meetings both at the North Middlesex and the Royal Free Hospitals. Collaborative working with secondary care colleagues has included practical implementation the NCL Primary/Secondary Consensus document principles consensus interface document including contact details added to discharge summaries and clinic letters, feedback on the difficulties contacting specialities, availability of fit notes in A&E and the future roll out of EPS. Progress has also been made on creating a standardised pathway single point of access for quality alerts, patient safety issues and escalation process. To improve mental health services for our patients, our NCL LMC Chairs and Vice-Chairs meet monthly with Dr Vincent Kirchner (Medical Director, North London NHS Mental Health Trust) and his colleagues. The meetings also include discussions to monitor the roll-out of the single point of access for community mental health.
If you want us to raise any issues at the respective CIGs (Royal Free, North Middlesex, NCL mental Health CIG) meetings, please get in touch by emailing sarah.ocran@lmc.org.uk.
Representing Enfield at England LMC Conference 2026
Dr Vincent and Dr Naeemah Haji attended the 2025 Annual Conference of England LMC representatives, in Manchester last month, under the theme of ‘The Access Illusion’. Dr Vincent proposed a motion at Conference which called for GPC England to work with the BMA Consultants’ Committee to demand that all:
- Clinicians who are unable to prescribe have a named supervisor within their trust who can do the necessary prescriptions for them.
- Clinicians who are unable to order specific tests have a named supervisor within their trust who can order these for them.
- Discharge summaries and clinic letters need to make it clear who has seen the patient.
- Discharge summaries and clinic letters need to be reviewed by a doctor to ensure that any demands on general practice fit within the provisions of the hospital contract and the GP contract. The motion was carried in full, i.e. without any amendments.
Ensuring pathways are clinically safe
We have been feeding back on clinical pathways and shared care agreements to ensure that they are clinically safe and that practices are resourced. This has included feedback on, the thyroid pathway, insomnia and headache pathways, the cardiology pathways and NCL Child Weight Management Pathways for 0–18-year-olds. Our feedback has led to meaningful changes in pathway design.
Engagement with our constituents
One of our key priorities is that we hear the issues and concerns that matter to our local GPs and practices to influence our work and that we also feedback directly to our constituents on our work. We will be doing this though our regular local newsletters to highlight the LMC’s work and by our LMC members attending local GP meetings, PCN Clinical Directors meetings and with our other stakeholders. We will be embarking on more personal constituency engagement to hear and listen to your concerns about the pressures working as GPs.
Refreshed Londonwide LMCs Buying Group
Our substantially updated Buying Group offer is now live, bringing high quality products, service, opportunities and offers to London general practice at the best prices and with the best possible deals.
The offer now includes a supplier for each of these areas: consumables, insurance, training and practice support and wellbeing (including free and discounted tickets to music, theatre and sports events). In addition, we have four suppliers for digital and tech services covering: cloud telephony, records digitisation, call-and-recall automation and patient registration automation.
Londonwide LMCs GP Support Team
The team offers help and guidance on all practice-related matters including contracts
, performance, premises, payments, mergers and retirement and can be contacted via emailing GPSupport@lmc.org.uk.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Pippa Vincent, Enfield LMC Co-Chair
Dr Adhavan Sugumar, Enfield LMC Co-Chair
Dr Naeemah Haji, Enfield LMC Vice Chair