Dear colleague,
Chair’s introduction
I am pleased share the Newham LMC newsletter for July 2026. It was a pleasure to see many of you at our face to face events on 10 June and 23 July, despite the heavy rain in June. The events highlighted a clear consensus: whilst the NHS and NEL ICB continues to undergo significant change, Newham general practice must have a strong and influential voice in determining how those changes are implemented locally.
As ever, Newham LMC will continue to work constructively and collaboratively with our system partners as Newham’s statutory representation for GPs to focus on what matters most to our patients and practices. I look forward to meeting more of you at future events.
Best wishes,
Dr Tamara Hibbert
Chair
Newham LMC
Member spotlight – Dr Sadek Ahmed
I am a GP Partner at Claremont Clinic in Newham and have worked as a GP now for 8 years. I have been an LMC Representative for 10 years (starting as a GP Trainee). Being born and raised in East London, I have personally seen the passion and hard work that colleagues across the patch have put into ensuring they provide the highest levels of care for patients, as well as the impacts NEL-wide decisions have had on our ability to provide this care.
My passion and motivation as your LMC Rep is to ensure practices are given the correct resources and support to continue to deliver high-quality care for the patients of East London. These resources need to be sustainable, viable to allow us to continue to grow, develop and invest in our practices for the future.
My areas of focus in the Newham LMC including contract negotiation via the LES Working group/LTC QOF Implementation Group and I have undertaken several pieces of financial modelling scrutinising new specifications/funding models against existing to ensure they are both appropriate, fair, consistent with what was replaced and viable for all practices.
We all know the immense role we play in the NHS system and to our patients’ lives. General Practice has always been at the forefront of the NHS. It is only together, unified as one strong voice and with the correct investment that we can continue to do what we have been doing so diligently for the past 80 years.
What has Newham LMC been working on recently?
Newham GP engagement event (June 2026)
The recent Newham GP engagement event highlighted the level of pressure currently facing practices, particularly around unfunded work, financial uncertainty and clinical workload being shifted into general practice. A strong theme was that practices often feel isolated when pushing back, especially when providers suggest that “only one practice” has raised a concern.
At the time of writing we are looking forward to another, booked-out, in-person session on 23 July, with more time focused on roundtable discussion and collective problem-solving. The aim is to strengthen engagement across partners, salaried GPs and PCNs, and to support a more coordinated Newham approach to workload transfer and contractual risk. The outcome will be reported for all Newham GPs and practices in our next newsletter.
DOAC prescribing and unfunded anticoagulation work
Practices continue to receive pressure to prescribe or monitor DOACs in circumstances where this has not been commissioned from general practice. The LMC position remains that routine DOAC monitoring and prescribing activity, where outside core contractual requirements, needs to be properly commissioned and resourced.
This is now being escalated beyond Newham, with a regional discussion expected on the potential for a wider London approach. The LMC is also challenging the idea that secondary care can simply redirect anticoagulation workload into general practice without commissioning arrangements. Practices should continue to share examples where they are being pressured to take on unfunded DOAC work or where patients are being bounced back without an appropriate commissioned pathway.
If you as a practice are declining DOAC prescribing, please can you inform the ICB prescribing team – nelondonicb.prescribingqueries@nhs.net.
Medicines optimisation and prescribing support
Practices continue to experience avoidable workload from medicines optimisation schemes that require large-scale switching, particularly where short-term cost changes later reverse and patients then need to be switched back. This creates confusion for patients and additional work for practices and community pharmacy.
The LMC has raised these concerns in prescribing efficiency discussions. For proposed SGLT2 switching to generic dapagliflozin, the LMC has asked for clear patient-facing communication and alignment with community diabetes teams and other prescribers.
In relation to OptimiseRx, practices should make informed decisions locally on whether to switch it on or off, including consideration on whether they are incentivised to switch it on; and of any patient safety alerts or monitoring prompts embedded within prescribing support systems.
Interface issues and GP “to do” lists
Long outpatient and discharge “to do” lists remain a significant concern, particularly where secondary care asks practices to arrange tests, chase results, monitor outcomes or complete actions that should remain with the clinician or service that initiated the episode of care.
The LMC is supporting work towards a clearer general practice interface position. Other areas have developed interface documents that make clear, for example, that the clinician ordering a test is responsible for following up the result and informing the patient. Newham LMC will continue to feed into wider NEL interface work and practices are encouraged to submit quality alerts where inappropriate workload transfer occurs.
CEG to PCIT transition
The transition from CEG to PCIT creates a significant operational risk for practices, particularly as the new LTC framework will require searches, templates, coding guidance and reporting infrastructure. The current position leaves practices uncertain about what searches will be available, when they will be available, and how new indicators can be delivered safely.
The LMC is escalating the risks associated with this transition and seeking assurance on continuity of support. In the interim, practices should continue to focus on routine QOF-type activity, particularly areas that take longer to complete such as diabetes and hypertension, while the final indicators and searches are still being agreed.
We will keep you updated on progress.
MSK SPoA and GetUBetter
Newham’s MSK pathway is recognised as being ahead of other NEL boroughs, with shorter waiting times and no long waits reported compared with longer waits elsewhere. However, practices remain concerned about the clarity of the single point of access, the status of self-referral, and how GetUBetter is being used within the pathway.
The LMC has fed back that self-referral has been valuable for Newham patients and practices, and that patients who have already used GetUBetter should not simply be redirected back to the app without a clear route to assessment where symptoms persist. The LMC will continue feeding back local operational issues.
Borough partnership and neighbourhood governance
The LMC has been pressing for a clear and distinct general practice voice within Newham borough partnership and neighbourhood governance arrangements. General practice must not be treated as interchangeable with wider “primary care”; pharmacy, optometry and dentistry are important partners, but general practice requires its own representative voice.
The ICB has agreed that general practice is central to neighbourhood development and has indicated that the LMC will have a role in the Newham Neighbourhood Steering Group. The LMC has asked for this to be confirmed in writing, alongside access to agendas, minutes, terms of reference and relevant partnership papers in advance of meetings.
North East London sector issues
Many issues affecting Newham also affect other boroughs in NEL and we work closely with our counterparts in other boroughs to address and resolve them at sector level. There is also a NEL newsletter for the sector work. The most recent issue covered the 2026-27 national GP contract, FP69 ‘list cleansing’, Provider Selection regime guidance, NE London contracts including NC LES, Adult ADHD LIS and the LTC PC QOF LES, waste collection and more. You can read it here NEL Newsletters.
Well done to the prize draw winners from 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. The randomly selected winners of the gift vouchers were:
- Trudy Do, Havergal Surgery
- Karen Tobin, The Bromley Common Practice
- Anca Radulescu, St. Margarets Medical Practice
- Marian Negoita, Amersham Vale Practice
- Aparna Pal, Jubilee Garden Medical Centre
Our Buying Group suppliers are:
- 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 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!
Engaging with Newham LMC
We are keen to listen to practices, to understand the issues they are worried about and the challenges they are currently facing – let us know if you would like a call or for an LMC member to visit your practice for a conversation. Please email ian.williamson@lmc.org.uk.
Please also visit the Londonwide LMC website for a one-stop shop on our support for practices—details of our services, practical resources (including template letters and guidance), and details of your Newham LMC committee, including meeting dates and previous local and NEL newsletters.