Chair’s introduction
As Chair of Waltham Forest LMC, I am delighted to welcome you to our latest newsletter.
General practice continues to face significant challenges, from increasing demand and workforce pressures to the ongoing impact of changes across primary and secondary care. Against this backdrop, your LMC remains committed to representing, supporting and advocating for every GP practice in Waltham Forest.
Over recent months, we have continued to raise concerns around workload transfer from secondary care, maternity prescribing requests, access to diagnostics, domiciliary phlebotomy services and a range of interface issues affecting both practices and patients. We are also working closely with colleagues across North East London to ensure that the voice of Waltham Forest general practice is heard at every level of the system.
I would encourage all GPs, Practice Managers, PCN colleagues and GP trainees to join us at our forthcoming borough event on 25 June. These meetings provide an important opportunity to hear the latest updates, share experiences, influence local priorities and strengthen professional networks across the borough.
Thank you for the work you do every day on behalf of your patients and communities. Please continue to share your concerns, ideas and examples with us so that we can represent you effectively.
Best wishes
Dr Asad Ashraf
Chair
Waltham Forest LMC membership and contact info
Waltham Forest LMC GP event – 25 June 2026
The next Waltham Forest LMC GP event, held in partnership with Londonwide LMCs, coincides with PLT.
- Date: Thursday 25 June 2026
- Time: 1.00 – 4.30 pm (Network lunch 1-2pm)
- Venue: Eternity Hall (Peter May Centre), 135 Wadham Road, Walthamstow, E17 4HR
- Parking: Free on-site
Topics covered: National Contract, PCN DES, Local contracts and Neighbourhoods. Arrive for a network lunch at 1pm.
The event is free to attend, but places are limited so please register in advance via Eventbrite.
Open to all Waltham Forest GPs, Practice Managers, PCN Managers and GP ST3s. Please feel free to share with colleagues at your practice.
Any queries, please reply to this email or contact your LMC rep.
Local engagement
Requests for GP prescription from maternity service
The LMC remains concerned that Waltham Forest practices continue to receive requests from maternity services asking GPs to prescribe or act on results that should be managed by the maternity provider. Practices reported that this remains a borough-wide issue, with some receiving multiple requests each day. The most common examples discussed were requests for iron, aspirin for high-risk pregnancies, MSU results and antibiotics. In some cases, requests for antibiotics were reportedly made without adequate results being available, or based on results that were several weeks old.
The LMC has raised this with Barts/Whipps Cross and will continue to press for a clear and safe provider-led process. The concern is both workload and patient safety. Practices are asked to send examples to the LMC if they experience this issue so that we can evidence the scale and nature of the problem.
Homerton maternity prescribing and wider pathway issues
A similar issue exists for Waltham Forest patients accessing Homerton maternity services. The Homerton has previously advised that arrangements should be in place for patients outside City and Hackney to collect prescriptions from the hospital, rather than being directed back to their GP. However, practices reported that this does not always appear to be happening consistently. Practices also flagged related Homerton issues, including semen analysis referrals and requests for GP Med3/sick notes following secondary care procedures. The LMC will continue to raise this through the relevant sector and interface routes.
Quality alerts
The LMC is aware that concerns have been raised about Omnes ultrasound reporting, patients being offered sites that may not be active, podiatry workload transfer, fracture clinic access, Med3 requests and referral rejections. When we raise these issues on your behalf to the ICB, commissioners ask for specific evidence before they will act.
Practices are therefore asked to submit quality alerts and share anonymised examples with the LMC where there are concerns about patient safety, poor communication, inappropriate workload transfer or service access problems.
Link for NEL quality alerts.
MSK, MRI access and referral chasing
The ICB decision to remove direct GP access to MRI has increased pressure on the MSK pathway, with significant additional referrals and long waits. The Whipps Cross MSK service has provided contact details for patients to chase referrals after they have already been referred – phone: 0207 480 4628; or email bartshealth.wfmsk.community@nhs.net. Practices should not give these details automatically at the point of referral, but may use them where patients are chasing because they have not heard from the service. If patients call the service, they will book them an appt as they’re more likely to engage with physiotherapy if they are actively chasing an appointment.
Domiciliary phlebotomy
The decommissioning of domiciliary GP phlebotomy from April 2026 has created predictable difficulties for housebound patients and care home residents. The LMC and Federation are engaging with NELFT and commissioners to explore recommissioning a more workable local model, potentially through PCNs and/or the Federation. We will keep practices updated on progress.
District nursing authorisation forms and palliative care
The London regional group is in the process of piloting a digital solution utilising the Better UCP platform. To utilise this the patient will need a Universal Care Plan but, if successful, this will negate the need for the GP to complete paper MAR Charts and only require the GP to prescribe the EoL medication through the clinical system.
CQC and practice support
Practices are reminded that Londonwide LMCs and local LMC representatives can provide support where practices are dealing with CQC issues or wider system issues affecting inspections. LMC support can be valuable not only for practice-specific concerns but also where an issue reflects wider system pressures or failures.
North East London sector issues
Many issues affecting Waltham Forest 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 NEL enhanced services review, the new NEL community anticoagulation service, NEL Quality Alerts, Blue Badge requests and other topics. You can read it here NEL Newsletters.
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 are hearing examples of practices losing figures in the region of 5% of registered patients since this change, with greater numbers expected to follow. They 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.
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 Waltham Forest 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 Waltham Forest LMC committee, including meeting dates and previous local and NEL newsletters.