Dear colleague,
We are pleased to present the latest Greenwich Local Medical Committee newsletter.
We welcome your thoughts in how Greenwich 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.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Vijay Sivapalan
Interim Chair
Greenwich LMC
What has Greenwich LMC been working on recently?
Updates from Greenwich LMC Meetings
- At the July LMC meeting, the LMC discussed the recent communication from LGT advising that all new urology referrals, excluding suspected prostate cancer referrals, would be suspended for three months. The LMC raised concerns about the impact this could have on continuity of care for patients and that it could set a precedent for other specialties to suspend referrals as a means of managing capacity pressures. These concerns have been escalated to the ICB who have approached LGT colleagues for queries around the length of time this situation will continue and any plans to initiate mutual aid. Talia Barry (who leads LGT’s Interface work) is happy to receive any written concerns via: lg.urologyfeedback@nhs.net and the LMC will keep constituents updated as the situation develops.
- Lorraine Regan, Director of Community Mental Health (Adults) at Oxleas joined the February Part 2 LMC meeting. Discussions included the increasing number of patients with complex mental health needs and the need to develop wraparound support through INT working. The LMC is awaiting further detail on what this might look like. Following a request from the LMC, care coordinator contact details will now be included on patient discharge letters to make it easier for GPs to get in touch directly. Due to staff turnover, these details may occasionally change. The ICB and Oxleas shared temporary measures being explored to help manage the high volume of ADHD referrals into Oxleas.
PMS Premium
The LMC was involved in negotiations with the ICB to determine PMS Premium matrixes. The LMC discussed the proposed GP Premium specifications on practices’ behalf, considering the impact on deliverability and the level of funding required to support practice sustainability. Three specifications were finalised and have now been rolled out and the LMC is awaiting the final two specifications. The plan is to roll these out in Q3 and LMC will be involved in reviewing these specifications.
Lack of A&G pathways for paediatrics & cardiology at QEH
The LMC had been made aware of the issues GPs were experiencing due to the lack of Advice and Guidance (A&G) pathways for paediatrics and cardiology at Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH). The issue was raised by LMC representatives at the Interface Forum following reports that, in the absence of local pathways, GPs were submitting A&G requests to University College Hospital (UCH) which were then rejected and redirected to QEH.
The LMC has since been updated that the paediatrics A&G pathway has now been established at QEH, with the cardiology pathway nearing completion. LMC representatives will continue to monitor implementation of the remaining pathway at the Interface Forum.
Delay in LGT SDEC Discharge Summaries
On 30 May 2025, the LMC became aware of delays in the transmission of SDEC discharge summaries from LGT covering the period 9 April to 19 May 2025. The backlog had been sent to some practices in batches of large numbers, which the LMC highlighted had impacted the workload and capacity of practices.
To close the loop on this, we can report that LGT has conducted a harms review and are satisfied that no patient harm occurred as a result, and patients received a copy of their own discharge summary during that time.
Constituent engagement
The LMC is working on constituent outreach so that we can hear about issues that are affecting colleagues working in general practice. The aim of this is for the LMC to support management of local issues locally and/or escalate to Londonwide LMCs.
It was good to see colleagues at the April Greenwich PLT where we presented on the role of the LMC and how we can support practices in Greenwich. We hope to attend more upcoming PLTs and face-to-face events to update you on LMC activity.
Feedback on national issues can also be fed into GPC through Londonwide or via your SEL GPCE rep, Penelope Jarrett, penelope.jarrett@nhs.net. We will feedback to constituents the outcome of their query. We hope to visit Greenwich practices in upcoming months and look forward to meeting with you.
As always, 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.
SEL SLN update – May 2026
Data Transfer Service 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 i 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 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 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 LMCs updates
Workforce Training & Innovation (WTI)
Londonwide LMCs 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
Bromley 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.
New PCSE list cleanse approach causing practice stability concerns
In October 2025 PCSE changed from giving practices six months to confirm that patients with an FP69 flag were still living nearby and wished to remain on their list, to only three months. Londonwide LMCs have produced guidance for practices, including resources to communicate with patients and a form for practices to report how they are being affected. They are also escalating the problem to NHS leaders, media, politicians and others in positions of influence.
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.
Thank you to those who completed our Buying Group survey
Thank you to everyone that took part in our Buying Group survey, we plan to run another one in the autumn. We will be contacting the winners of the survey prize draw in the next couple of weeks and sharing details in our Londonwide LMCs newsletter.
- Hillcroft Surgery Supplies – Get next day delivery and industry leading stock availability, thanks to their investment in substantial warehouse facilities.
- Practice Index – Pick and choose what you need out of their learning platform, or software to manage HR, finance, compliance and rotas.
- Hippo Labs – Have your call-and-recall work smarter, reach more patients and improve QOF attainment. Hippo Labs automatically customises many types of message.
- Equity Energies – Reduce energy costs, save time, become greener and remove the administrative burden of managing utilities by having experts do it all for you.
- Surgery Connect – Automates more tasks within your phone system, integrates with clinical records and seamlessly bridges in and out-of-hours.
- MIAB – You existing policies may have more gaps than you think, particularly in developing areas like cyber and ARRS employment. Rely on MIAB’s specialist expertise to ensure you are fully covered.
- Restore Information Management – Whether it you need a room full of records doing or a steady flow of new registrations, Restore take the hassle out of digitising patient records.
- Tickets for Good – Reward yourself and your colleagues with free and discounted tickets to concerts, theatre shows, sports and more!