LMCs to take on Sessional GP issues

#LMC2010

In case you hadn’t noticed, the Conference of Representatives of Local Medical Committees took place recently in London. And in between literally hundreds of motions, several of those that were passed are very close to the heart of Sessional GPs. The significance of these is to provide the formal mandate for the GPC over the next 12 months, and their acceptance by the conference has to be taken seriously.

And for us Sessional GPs, this really is great news because we can hold our local LMCs to making sure all these points are actively pursued at a local level – a fantastic opportunity for us insist LMCs take us seriously.

And for us Sessional GPs this really is great news as it demonstrates that the profession as a whole is willing to take our issues seriously and lobby for our agenda.

NASGP member Jessica Harris is a Sessional GP representative for Oxfordshire LMC, and passionately believes that Sessional GPs should get involved in the work of their LMCs . This would enable them to influence the way general practice works both locally and nationally, and get a better deal not only for Sessional GPs but also for our patients.

So here we provide a quick guide to the motions and give some ideas on how Sessional GPs can make them come true.

241 With regard to PCO management of locum GP superannuation, this conference believes that:

(i) payments to locums by practices are sometimes slow

(ii) PCOs should exercise sensible discretion on the maximum timescale for locums to submit the forms locum A and locum B

(iii) locums should be allowed to pay superannuation contributions by direct debit or standing order, with a reconciliation at the year end.

(Proposed by Paul Roblin on behalf of Oxfordshire)

Parts (i) and (ii) Carried
Part (iii) Carried unanimously

• What local SGPs can do:
  • Request that your LMC keeps a close tab on local practices by formally writing to them all to explain the need for prompt payment.
  • Work with your LMC – ideally through your local SGP Group leader – to feedback about any practices who take too long to pay.
  • Work with your LMC secretary to ensure your local Sessional GP rep(s) on the LMC meets with the local head of superannuation to ensure they’re up to speed with superannuation issues affecting Sessional GPs. Feedback any helpful information from the PCT direct to your local SGPs.
  • Figure out what avenues your PCT has to lobby the NHSPA about creating a modern payment system that doesn’t involve writing cheques!

(820*) 42. That conference welcomes the GPC Sessional GPs Representation Working Group Report and endorses its recommendations in full.

(Proposed by Vicky Weeks, GPC, on behalf of Agenda Committee)

Carried
You can read about our support for this here

(311*) 43. That conference:

(i) believes that all employers of salaried GPs should offer salaried GPs terms and conditions that are no less favourable than those in the model salaried GP contract

(ii) calls upon the BMJ Group to explicitly state in advertisements for salaried GP posts whether or not the salaried GP model contract is being offered

(iii) believes that only good can come from greater engagement of sessional GPs with their LMCs

(iv) recognises the increasing role in general practice played by salaried, freelance and part-time doctors and seeks strong representation for them

(Proposed by V Weeks, GPC, on behalf of the Agenda Committee)

Parts (i), (iii) and (iv) Carried
Part (ii) Carried as a reference

• What local SGPs can do:
  • Request that the LMC does a survey of Salaried GPs in its constituency to find out how many are employed on the BMA Salaried GP Contract; how many on other terms; and of those how many are less favourable than the model contract
  • Forward the survey results to the Sessional GP Subcommittee and ask them to take any necessary action.
  • Find out how to belong to your LMC, how to stand to be an elected representative, and put yourself forward at the next election!

(327*) 44. That conference, in respect of sessional GPs:

(i) calls for financial help to be provided to those who require a period of supported learning

(ii) asks the GPC to highlight the current lack of a dependable system for informing peripatetic sessional GPs about important NHS and PCO information

(iii) instructs GPC to pursue maternity, paternity and adoption leave benefits for locum GPs who provide a locum service to the NHS

(iv) is concerned at the lack of support mechanisms for locum GPs

(v) deplores the lack of employment opportunities for sessional GPs.

(Proposed by V Weeks, GPC, on behalf of the Agenda Committee)

Parts (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv) Carried
Part (v) Carried as a reference

• What local Sessional GPs can do:
  • (i) and (iii) relate more to what the GPC needs to do, but they’ll still need support from their local LMCs
  • (ii) and (iv) need evidence, and the best way to feed this back to the LMCs is for Sessional GPs to attend local SGP meetings and get their SGP LMC reps to formally feed this back to the LMC. If you don’t have an LMC rep, request that your LMC sends a rep to your meetings to listen to your issues and concerns.

The bottom line is that Sessional GPs must play a significant part of the responsibility in ensuring their LMCs represent their interests. Leave a comment to let us know what your LMC is doing, and if you’ve had any successes or failures in your neck of the woods.

GP conference in association with #NASGP Maximise Your Potential As A Locum GP

We’re delighted to announce that we’ve been working with GP to bring you a one day conference for Locum GPs. It’ll take place on the 6th October 2010 at Regent’s College, central London, and is focused on making the most out of being a locum GP. There’ll be advice on how to:

# Be more tax-efficient and optimise your earnings
# Market yourself effectively and stay employed.
# Manage your CPD and pass revalidation
# Improve your patient care and avoid complaints
# Try new ways of working to be more effective.

To find out more, and benefit from the EXTRA early bird discount for NASGP members (save £90), visit the conference website here.

June edition of #NASGP Newsletter available online now

With our 53rd edition, we’ve some news about enhanced representation for Sessional GPs at the BMA; Sara wants to get us all communicating; Liz reckons some of us locums could make smaller tax payments in July; Judith extols the virtues of good old paper textbooks; plus our usual roundup of Sessional GP Groups from across the UK.

Independent #BMA representation a step closer

The BMA’s GPC Sessional GP Subcommittee has pulled off a major coup by getting its plan to change the way Sessional GPs are represented on the GPC past its first hurdle by having it accepted by the GPC – completely unscathed! Currently, Sessional GPs are under-represented and so our employers are making political decisions for us, despite the obvious conflict of interest in employers representing their own employees. These changes however, if all goes well, could mean, for the first time in the BMA’s history, that salaried and locum GPs have at least some autonomy within the BMA. Not quite independent representation, but it’s a leap in the right direction.

Because of the scale of some of the plan’s proposed changes, it still has to go through a series of committees, from the GPC’s Financial Committee, BMA committee, the conference of LMCs in June and the BMA Annual Representatives Meeting.

Assuming all of that goes as intended – and there certainly seems to be a palpable appetite for a change in the way Sessional GPs are represented on the GPC from all sides – we can expect to see some significant changes.

The most fundamental change will be that the Sessional GP subcommittee, for the first time, will have ‘formal delegated authority to act on matters that relate wholly or primarily to sessional GPs’. In a word, autonomy from the rest of the committee, representing a sea-change from the current system where all business involving changes to Sessional GPs has to be passed via the main committee.

In order to discharge its new powers, the GPC has also agreed to double the size of its committee to 16 members, to increase the number of meetings to 4 a year and to appoint its own executive committee. Members of the sub-committee will continue to be elected from across the UK, with new provision to ensure that representatives are elected from 12 geographical regions and that the subcommittee contains both salaried and freelance GPs.

What some may see as contentious is that only 4 spaces will be guaranteed for Sessional GPs on the main GPC committee (the spaces which exist at present). However, the current situation is that the GPC only co-opts 4 sessional GPs on an informal basis, so the new arrangement will cast this in stone. Additionally, there is absolutely nothing to stop any Sessional GPs who wish from applying for the elections, held every year, for one third of the regional seats on the GPC.

On the assumption that this is all going to pass successfully by all the necessary political processes of the BMA, perhaps the only potential fly in the ointment remains in what actually happens outside the GPC – namely, us sessional GPs. After years of emasculation and disenfranchisement, and an underlying collective cultural sense of not being ‘proper GPs’, Sessional GPs need to realise what a positive career choice working as a locum or salaried GP can be, and what a vital role we play in delivering primary care. One really proactive step, therefore, that each of us can take is to contact our Local Medical Committee. I’m not suggesting that you serve on its committee, simply to register your support and ask them what they can do for you. Although many of us may perceive LMCs as a bunch of stuffy old grey fuddy-duddys in their current form, they actually serve a statutory role directly between the individual GP and the GPC and are simply the embodiment of our own local demographic. LMCs are, very much, simply what we want them to be and, for us as GPs (assuming the Sessional GP Sub-committee manages to get its plan passed through all the relevant committees) it will become increasingly hard not to blame ourselves for their potential shortcomings. A great first step would be for you to lobby your LMC to support the GPC’s paper on its way through all these various committees.

The NASGP is relieved that the GPC has begun this process of emancipating its representation of Sessional GPs, but also realises that it’s not yet all in the bag. The BMA still has bridges to mend when it comes to the representation of salaried GPs in practice disputes; many Sessional GPs will need a lot of persuading that the BMA/GPC have their best interests in mind and are still capable on delivering this new Plan; and a huge amount still needs to be done to reverse the learned helplessness that so many Sessional GPs experience. Not that any of that should stop us Sessional GPs being open to the new GPC plan, and we all look forward to the hope of change that the full adoption of this plan could signify.