Hounslow LMC newsletter – March 2025

Hounslow LMC Newsletter March 2025

2025 is an election year for the Hounslow LMC. Your current LMC members are listed below and more details about the election are contained in the newsletter below.

Our committee:

• Dr Alex Gorrie, Chiswick Medical Practice
• Dr Hema Gopaul, Carlton Surgery
• Dr Kapil Kotecha, St David’s Practice
• Dr Parmod Luthra, Spring Grove Medical Practice
• Dr Mohammed Muzafer, Hatton Medical Practice
• Dr Gurcharan Salotera, Little Park Surgery
• Dr Raj Singh, Clifford Road Surgery
• Dr Navinchandra Thakrar, Holly Road Medical Centre
• Dr Varendar Winayak, Locum (Chair)

What is the LMC and what do we do?
The Local Medical Committee (LMC) works on your behalf to represent the interest of all GPs in Hounslow. We are here for partners, salaried GPs, locums and all practice staff. If you have a difficult work-related issue then our GP support team may be able to help – they can be contacted at GPSupport@lmc.org.uk.

What has Hounslow LMC been working on recently?

• The Hounslow LMC have established a ‘Buddy’ system between LMC members and Hounslow practices, we will be working on developing this system going forward.
• One of the issues that concern so many practices and GPs is the issues relating to the interface between primary and secondary care. I have been working with Dr Amit Gupta, Hounslow Borough Medical Director, to attend interface meetings West Middlesex University Hospital. If you have any concerns over interface issues, please let me know -via Ian Oakey’s email address below- and I will raise them on your behalf.
• I attend the Borough Primary Care Executive Meetings to ensure the LMC voice is heard, and ordinary GP’s views are represented. We also have a Hounslow LMC-ICB Borough Catch Up to maintain local engagement by the NWL ICB.
• Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment in Hounslow. The LMC has been active in engaging with the PNA in Hounslow. As required by the Pharmaceutical Regulations 2013, Hounslow Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) are preparing to publish a revised Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA) by 1st October 2025. The Draft PNA is now ready for consultation and ends the 27th April 2025. HWB would be grateful if you would support them by reading the PNA and completing the survey which is hosted here.

At NWL ICB and national level

• Access: Londonwide LMCs continues to work with and lobby the NWL ICB to ensure that the access funds for 24/25 are spent on GPs and that any unspent funds at the end of the financial year are retained for General Practice and not used to offset the large NWL ICB deficit in secondary care. The NWL ICB have confirmed that Access funding will be in the Single Offer for 2025/26. This will be a very different form to the one proposed in 2024/25, which had to be taken out of the Single Offer, after opposition from GPs and patient groups.
• GP Contract: The BMA’s GPCE has agreed a GP contract with the government for 2025/26. As of now, the British Medical Association’s (BMA) General Practitioners Committee for England (GPCE) has agreed in principle to accept the proposed amendments to the 2025/26 General Medical Services (GMS) contract. This agreement is contingent upon the Government providing a written commitment to renegotiate a completely new national contract within the current parliamentary term. The GPCE has stipulated that this commitment must be confirmed in writing ahead of the Special Local Medical Committee (LMC) Conference on Wednesday, 19 March 2025. GPCE continues to recommend that all colleagues work safely, and that where commissioning gaps exist or where commissioned pathways are failing practices and patients, these are raised with LMCs and ICBs (integrated care boards) and should be renegotiated locally. Practices should be appropriately resourced for the work they undertake in providing vital care for patients.
• Salaried GP Maternity pay changes: The BMA has negotiated that the number of weeks at half pay for maternity leave will increase from 14 weeks to 18 weeks. This change aligns maternity leave provisions with those of hospital doctors and ensures salaried GPs are no longer at a detriment to their hospital-based colleagues.

LMC elections
2025 is an election year for all LMCs in the Londonwide LMCs area, including Hounslow LMC. Please look for out for emails from Civica Election Services in the last week of Apri, with details of those wishing to nominate themselves to stand for the Hounslow LMC and the procedures for voting if an election takes place. The nomination of candidates opens on 28 April and the new LMC will take office on 1 September. For any further information or questions please contact ian.oakley@lmc.org.uk and he will seek to help.

Resources available

• Patient information videos
• GP and Practice staff training
• Advertise practice vacancies for free on Londonwide LMCs
• Safety First – Safety Resource Pack
• Londonwide LMCs training events can be found here

Get in touch! 
All constituents can raise any issues of concern with the LMC at any time. It would be great to hear from constituents on any feedback or issue you may have from operational concerns with NWL Enhanced Services Single Offer. Please feel free to contact ian.oakley@lmc.org.uk and he will take up your issue.

Thank you for those of you who contact Hounslow LMC committee members about issues as they arise. We rely on you to know where support is needed and are grateful for your queries. Please do reach out to LMC members or Ian. We are keen to hear from our local GPs and practice teams about any issues you are facing. We are here to represent your views.