Talking General Practice

In this engaging discussion, Ruth Rankine, Director of Primary Care at the NHS Confederation and seasoned health professional, shares insights on creating a neighbourhood NHS. She emphasizes the shift towards community-based care and the need for integrated neighbourhood teams. Ruth explores the challenges of redesigning GP contracts to accommodate new roles and collaborative practices. Additionally, she highlights how Primary Care Networks can enhance healthcare delivery by focusing on local needs and improving outcomes while navigating financial hurdles in the current system.

The government aims to create 1,000 new GP jobs, but is struggling to meet this target before the deadline. Discussions reveal how the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme has reshaped the GP workforce, leading to concerns about planning and support in implementing new roles. The Care Quality Commission faces significant backlog issues that may jeopardize GP practice ratings. Meanwhile, a positive change in policy for exam resits for disabled GP registrars highlights a move towards inclusivity in the medical field.

In this engaging discussion, Richard Fieldhouse, Chair of the National Association of Sessional GPs, sheds light on the critical role locum GPs play in the NHS. He delves into the current job market crisis, revealing how it impacts locum rates and job security. Richard emphasizes the need for better utilization of locums and shares insights on their unique contributions to general practice. He also offers valuable advice for newly qualified locum GPs on navigating their careers and building strong relationships with practices.

The government’s recent £889m funding uplift for GPs sparks debate on whether it can truly stabilize practices. The discussion delves into the challenges of rising costs and recruitment difficulties faced by general practice. With NHS waiting lists skyrocketing, the impact on patient care is critical. Innovative payment plans for GPs aim to reduce hospital referrals, yet questions about workload compensation linger. Additionally, proposed reforms to streamline efficiency and enhance direct referrals are explored, highlighting technological needs and workforce issues.

In this engaging discussion, GP partner Tommy Perkins, co-founder of Medics Money, and Andy Pow, a seasoned medical accountant, share insights on the financial landscape for general practices. They tackle the looming financial pressures from rising minimum wage and insurance contributions, stressing the need for practices to ensure profitability. The duo emphasizes the necessity of adapting GP contracts for sustainability and navigating NHS pensions, particularly with the complexities of the McCloud remedy. Their practical advice aims to empower doctors in managing their finances effectively.

This week Emma speaks to chief executive of the National Academy for Social Prescribing Charlotte Osborn Forde and Dr Radha Modgil, a GP and TV and radio broadcaster, who is also an ambassador for the National Academy for Social Prescribing.In this conversation Charlotte and Radha explain some of the evidence to support the use of social prescribing, what works in projects on the ground and the important role GPs have to play within social prescribing.They also discuss some of the challenges facing social prescribing, what practices and PCNs can do to ensure their social prescribing initiatives are a success and how they would like to see social prescribing develop in the coming years as part of the government’s 10-year plan for the NHS.This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower. It was produced by Czarina Deen.Useful linksFrom GPonline - The evidence to support the use of social prescribingFrom GPonline - The benefits of green prescribing in the NHSNASP report - The impact of social prescribing on health service use and costsNASP report - Building the economic case for social prescribingPreventing and Tackling Mental Ill Health through Green Social Prescribing Project - government evaluation Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The podcast dives into the looming winter pressures on the NHS, highlighting an expected surge in illnesses and hospitalizations. Concerns about declining locum pay and the impact on GP practices are raised, alongside potential industrial action from GPs in Wales and Scotland. A bright spot emerges with a remarkable success story from an area in England that drastically reduced its patient-to-GP ratio through innovative recruitment strategies, showcasing a model for others to follow.

NHS England has estimated that practices spend around 10-20% of their time on 'lower-value administrative work and work generated by issues at the primary-secondary care interface', so what can we do to address this?This week Emma speaks to GP Dr Jonathan Griffiths the associate medical director for Primary Care at NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB about work he’s been doing in his area to solve some of these challenges.In this conversation Jonathan explains some of the main problems that happen at the interface between primary and secondary care, how they are aiming to address these in Cheshire and Merseyside and the key things he’s learned through doing this work.He also talks about why it is so important for the NHS to look at this as a system-wide issue and what the government and NHS England need to do centrally to help support local efforts to address these problems – as well as how this work applies to the interface with other sectors such as community services and mental health.This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower. It was produced by Czarina Deen.Useful links●     NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Consensus on the Primary and Secondary Care Interface●     RCGP Primary-Secondary Care Interface Guidance - which is based on work in Cheshire and Merseyside●     Academy of Medical Royal Colleges publication - General practice and secondary care: Working better together - provides multiple examples of work that is aiming to improve working between primary and secondary care Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Nick and Emma discuss whether GPs are likely to step up collective action after GPs at last week’s England LMCs conference voted in favour of balloting the profession on ‘more significant’ industrial action. GPs at the event also voted to hold a special conference on the impact that the rise in employers' national insurance contributions, and Nick and Emma explain what that might mean and how it could affect collective action.They also discuss some of the other debates that were of interest from the conference - on the GP jobs crisis and integrated neighbourhood teams. And they talk about the latest data from GPonline’s GP Workforce Tracker and what that tells us about the state of the GP workforce in England.This week’s good news story is about a report that sets out the evidence to support the use of social prescribing from the National Academy of Social Prescribing.This episode was presented by GPonline editor Emma Bower and deputy editor Nick Bostock. It was produced by Czarina Deen.Useful linksGPs back call to ballot profession on 'more significant' industrial actionBudget threatens 'collapse' of general practice as LMCs back special conferencePractices could be forced to switch salaried GPs for locums to avoid NI costsWhere in England are patients per GP rising fastest?GP Workforce Tracker: How does your ICB compare?The evidence to support the use of social prescribing - from GPonlineNational Academy for Social Prescribing report Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this engaging discussion, Dr. Gareth Gupta, a Kent GP and prominent figure in the BMA England GP committee, dives into the pressing challenges facing GP premises in England. He reveals the dire state of these facilities and argues for urgent government investment to bolster primary care infrastructure. Their conversation covers the struggles practices face with funding, the impact of recent cost directions, and the crucial role of modern premises in enhancing healthcare delivery. It's a call to action for a healthier future in general practice!