Chair’s introduction
It’s been another enormously busy couple of months for Tower Hamlets LMC. Here is a brief summary of what we have been up to. As always, please do keep in contact with us if you have a concern. It was great to see so many of you at the GP Forum.
Despite all the pressures, Tower Hamlets General Practice is still vibrant and engaging in conversations about the future direction of travel. We will continue to do all we can to ensure the voice of General Practice is heard loud and clear as neighbourhoods develop.
Thanks,
Dr Emma Radcliffe
Chair
Tower Hamlets LMC
Tower Hamlets LMC membership and contact info
Member spotlight – Mohammed Sabry, Practice Manager representative
I am the Management Partner at Suttons Wharf Health Centre and currently serve as the Practice Managers’ representative and LMC observer. I have worked in Tower Hamlets for the past 10 years and across NEL for almost 20 years. I became involved with the LMC because I wanted practice management to have a stronger voice and to help influence meaningful change for colleagues working across primary care.
Since joining the LMC, I have gained a real appreciation for the amount of work and advocacy that takes place behind the scenes to protect and support general practice. I care deeply about maintaining the autonomy of general practice and ensuring it is appropriately funded so practices can continue delivering safe, sustainable care for their communities. I look forward to working with colleagues across the borough and helping ensure that the voices of practice teams are heard during this challenging period for general practice.
What has Tower Hamlets LMC been working on recently?
Musculoskeletal single point of access
We invited Simon Cannon, who is responsible for rolling out the single point of access for MSK in Tower Hamlets. We were impressed by his commitment to addressing things about the current service that we are most concerned about. The waits are already coming down for services, he is committed to better communication with GPs and he is aware of many of the frustrations we have when patients seem to get lost in the system. Please continue to fill in service alerts if you have concerns about the service.
Children’s ADHD
We are concerned about the ICB’s shared care policy which seems to have been shared with some Tower Hamlets practices. It has not been agreed by the LMC and of course, we would highlight the need for adequate resources to come to practices in order to undertake the shared care work. We will keep you updated as we try to establish what our local clinic is asking practices to do.
Adult ADHD
Practices have been asked to sign up to a new ADHD LES. We have considerable concerns about the resourcing of the LES as well as lack of formal shared care. Londonwide LMCs have emailed an analysis of the specification to all practices with advice on what practices should consider to make an informed decision whether to sign up. Further information will be available in the NEL sector newsletter from Londonwide LMCs.
Clinical waste
We have been working hard to try and resolve the issues of clinical waste not being picked up as the provider of the contract changed. Extra capacity is being put on. However, if you are having problems, please fill out this form . Thank you to all practices who have shared information so we have been able to escalate the issue.
LMC UK conference
Onajite Riamah and Emma Radcliffe were the Tower Hamlets representatives for the conference in Belfast. The agenda was broad and motions were passed in support of GPs and the crisis we are facing. Worryingly, there is now significant support for a move towards the privatisation of General Practice. We understand this is an act of desperation, but one which we would not support as an LMC. We heard North Central London LMCs about the interface policy document they have introduced – there’s some principles in there we should all be aware of. Kent LMC also demonstrated how they negotiated a huge range of LESs (including one for DOAC monitoring). This has given us further inspiration to campaign for similar in North East London.
DOACs
OACs remain a top priority and we continue to work on this. We have written to the Medical Director of the Royal London Hospital and we are awaiting a response from him and the ICB. We will keep you updated.
GP Forum
Thank you to all those who came to the evening. We had over fifty people attend. We are collating your comments and feedback with the GP Care Group and we will be making sure your thoughts and opinions about neighbourhoods are used to influence the neighbourhood agenda.
Weight loss medications
We are very concerned about the lack of a commissioned service for weight loss injections. The ICB have issued a statement on their website . The Londonwide team will be publishing some advice that will be circulated to practices and also included in the NEL sector newsletter from Londonwide LMCs – please look out for that.
Eating disorders
GPs have raised concerns that they are being asked by mental health teams to do the physical monitoring of patients with eating disorders. We need to establish whether this is the case and if so we will need examples to evidence the issue. If you have experienced this, please contact our office support ian.williamson@lmc.org.uk.
NHS health checks
Following lobbying by the LMC, Public Health have confirmed that these are to remain on EMIS and not be moved to a third-party online platform (Health Diagnostics).
PCN engagement
We have reps in each network and the Practice Nurse and Practice Managers forums, and we continue to act on concerns raised. One way of getting in touch with LMC members would be via your PCN meeting or PCN CD.
North East London sector issues
Many issues affecting Tower Hamlets also affect other boroughs in NEL and we work closely with our counterparts to address and resolve them at sector level. We produce a NEL newsletter for the sector work. The most recent issue covered the 2026-27 GP contract, policies & guidance, Proactive Care QOF, strengthening LMC influence and other topics. You can read it here NEL Newsletters.
Tell us about your practice’s purchasing needs and win a £20 gift voucher
Our new survey on what you buy, and why you buy it, will help us improve our offer of goods, services and training. Five respondents will also win a £20 gift voucher. The survey covers several areas, you only need to fill out the ones relevant to you – we know how busy everyone working in general practice is!
- 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!
Engaging with Tower Hamlets 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 Tower Hamlets LMC committee, including meeting dates and previous local and NEL newsletters.