Islington LMC newsletter – May 2026

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. 

Your Local Medical Committee (LMC) works on your behalf to represent the interests of all local GPs and their practice staff. We are here for partners, salaried GPs, locums and their practice teams. Please visit our Islington LMC page for a full list of your LMC members and how to contact us with any concerns/queries.

GPs working in the borough will also shortly receive a separate email about the opportunity to join our committee for the remainder of the LMC term, until August 2028. LMC membership is a great way to gain skills and experience, plus work to resolve some of the issues that affect you and your colleagues in your day-to-day clinical sessions.

If you have a specific practice-related issue you can contact LW LMC’s GP support team by emailing GPSupport@lmc.org.uk.

Highlights from our recent Islington LMC meetings

These include:

• The 2026/27 GP contract, particularly the absence of a safe mechanism to close online access once clinical capacity is reached, with potential implications for workload and patient safety and the use of Advice and Guidance.
• Londonwide LMCs Surviving the 2026–27 GP Contract webinars took place on 28 and 29 April, they have also produced guidance on what is known about the contract so far. We have listened and heard your concerns over the new contract and shared your feedback with Dr Lisa Harrod-Rothwell (NCL GP representative on GPCE) to inform their debate. Contract FAQs, based on questions asked in the webinar’s interactive chat are due to be produced, please let us know if you would like a copy when ready by emailing sarah.ocran@lmc.org.uk.
• Identifying ways to strengthen our direct engagement with our local GPs and practices to listen to their concerns and needs and to feed these back to inform the LMC priorities and work.
• Updates from local meetings we attend and the issues we need to take forward. This includes updates from our attendance at  both UCLH and Whittington Hospital Clinical Interface Groups (CIGS)to improve working in an integrated way with our secondary care colleagues.  We are always looking to feedback to the CIGs groups, so if you have any issues, you want us to raise, please email  sarah.ocran@lmc.org.uk
• Feedback from our Practice Manager and Practice Nurse Forums, highlighting their concerns and escalating these within Londonwide LMCs and with the ICB
• Ongoing issues with the translation service provided by DALS, particularly around quality, were highlighted. If you have any issues over the quality of the service that you have experienced, use the Quality Alert (QA) process-as described below to feedback and also let us know by emailing sarah.ocran@lmc.org.uk
• Finally, monitoring the changes both at a borough and pan-NCL level  in relation to the North Central London and Northwest London ICBs merger.

What has Islington LMC been working on recently?

• Practice Support – We (Dr Grant-Arrowsmith and Samantha Hubbard) met with the ICB to discuss the challenges faced by an Islington practice serving the needs of homeless patients, in a nearby homeless hostel.  We highlighted, the high workload  incurred and the clinical risk both for the practice, GP and patients The service the practice is currently offering to the patients is un-resourced and not sustainable.  We proposed that a Walk-in Clinic would be better to serve the needs of these patients and that a Locally Commissioned Service (LCS) was also needed.
• Cross border practices – There are several concerns about the Homerton Hospital, and aspects of patients accessing services on postcode basis vs registered practice. We held discussions with our Northeast London (NEL) LMC colleagues to explore how to establish a unified way of working across borough borders to address these.
• Clinical Pathway Reviews – We have continued feeding back on clinical pathways, medicines optimisation guidance and shared care agreements to ensure that they are clinically safe, and that patients are not referred back to practices or GPs to, for example,  initiate and then monitor treatment and refer back, especially if outwith NICE guidance or is  un-resourced for any additional work incurred. This has included feedback on, the COPD pathway, proposed changes to the Liver Disease Early Detection pathway and  pathway for Chronic Abdominal Pain/Recurrent Abdominal Pain in Children.

• Blue Badge and Housing letters – We were made aware of ongoing requests to practices for letters to support their patient’s Blue Badge and Housing applications. We raised this during our meetings with Islington’s Councillor (for Health, Wellbeing and Adult Social Care) and Islington Council’s Blue Badge lead. They clarified that for: Blue Badge applications, applicants are required to provide a medical letter from a specialist or consultant.
• Housing applications, the Council does not require a detailed letter from a GP; instead, a brief summary from the GP practice is sufficient. This is clearly outlined in Islington Council’s housing leaflet and poster, which you can display in your practice, on your website and show to patients. You can find Londonwide LMCs housing application guidance including template letters here.
• Occupational Health Service for practices – the lack of an occupational health service for practice staff has been a continuing concern, and our Practice Manager representative highlighted  the need and the impact of the unmet need of providing an occupational health service for all practice staff. The LMC has identified this as one of its priorities for the 2025-2028 term and will be working with Londonwide Local Medical Committees (LWLMCs) to see how to take this forward.

• Islington Clinical Commissioning Locally Commissioned Service (LCS) – We have also been involved (and continue to be) with proposals for changes to Component 3 of the Clinical Commissioning LCS – Improvements to INC MDTs providing our feedback on the proposals and to also ensure that no practice will lose  income for this component next year.
• UKHSA’s updated guidance for Vaccination training – Following your concerns about the potential impact on practice vaccination processes, we escalated this to the ICB. The ICB has checked with NHSE, which confirmed the amendment is intended only to clarify the wording and does not represent a material change to practice. The BMA has also provided guidance on Health Care Support Workers (HCSW) administering vaccinations. Read more here.  For further Londonwide guidance on Vaccination and Immunisation you can also read more on our LW LMC website.

Do you know?

• A New GP Feedback and Alert form is now available in EMIS – as a result of our continued and collaborative working with the ICB at the clinical interface,  the single route for GPs to raise concerns and Quality Alerts with providers went live on 9^th  March 2026.  This replaces all previous Quality Alerts pathways and GP liaison clinical emails.

To find the form: EMIS → Documents → NCL Global → GP Feedback & Alert Form

When to use the new EMIS form – Use whenever raising a concern with a provider (including inappropriate requests/workload transfer). For more detail, and the FAQs on using the QA pathway please see the new “GP Feedback & Alert system” website service page.

The NCL Primary/Secondary Care Consensus document NCL Consensus Document  (published  in January 2024) sets out the principles that should guide NHS Staff working in primary and secondary care in North Central London. These include:

• Whoever requests a test is responsible for the results of that test.
• The clinician who wishes to initiate a prescribed medication for the patient should undertake appropriate pre-treatment assessment and counselling.
• When referring to secondary care please ensure you are clear in your ‘ask’.

The NCL Consensus Document has been updated and reviewed by the ICB. New updates will be communicated through our newsletters. We fed back on the Document in mid-March.  The wording went to and was signed off at Clinical Advisory Group (CAG), with plans to share the Document and Onward Referral policy with provider trusts for cascading

• The Homerton Maternity Unit will not accept any new pregnancy bookings for anyone living in Islington and the NCL area. This change is due to be in place until the middle of May. The change does not impact cases where there is a clinical need due to either complex pregnancy or neonatal care.
• Details of maternity services in the North Central London area can be found on the ICB GP website by clicking here.

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.

• Hillcroft Surgery Supplies – Get excellent prices and next day delivery on consumables, with a supplier who can respond quickly to your practice needs.
• Practice Index – Access a comprehensive online learning platform, plus packages to manage HR, finance, compliance and rotas.
• 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.
• MIAB – 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.
• Restore Information Management – Our records digitisation partners can help free up premises space and recent changes with the National Document Repository have improved practices’ options.
• Hippo Labs – Intelligent, end-to-end call-and-recall automation does more than simply send reminders, it tailors messages and helps to improve QOF.
• Surgery Connect – The latest in cloud telephony integrates with clinical systems, provides stats on patient contacts and automates many tasks.
• Tickets for Good – Reward yourself and your colleagues with free and discounted tickets to concerts, theatre shows, sports and more!

Access deals

Best wishes,

Dr Karen Summerfield, Co-Chair Islington LMC

Dr Emily Grant-Arrowsmith. Co-Chair Islington LMC