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30th May 2006 -
Minor Surgery -
Excisions
Link to
letter outlining Stockport LMC's position in response to
Stockport PCT's decsions to unilaterally amend the
specification of a Directed Enhanced Service. |
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25th May 2006 -
Referrals to Complementary Therapists
GPC has
produced guidance for GPs regarding referring to
Complementary Therapists which is available by following the
link above or from the Guidance
Page |
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25th May 2006 -
GPC PBC Guidance Papers
GPC have
recently issued 2 guidance papers, entitled
PBC - Consortium Working and
PBC - Division of Freed Up Resources which can be
reached by following the appropriate links. |
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25th May 2006 -
Overseas Visitors Guidance
Update
GPC have
updated their guidance on Overseas Visitors Eligibility for
Treatment. The revised guidance can be found by following
the link above. |
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25th May 2006 -
LMC Chairman's 2nd Newsletter
Dr David Gilbert, your new LMC
Chairman as produced the following newsletter (available via
the link above) to update colleagues on changes within the LMC and
current issues. This edition includes Minor Surgery, Chronic
Kidney Disease & QoF, Practice Based Commissioning and the
PCT's Maternity Policy. |
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25th May
2006 - Maternity payments increased to £1500 per week
Your LMC can confirm that Stockport
PCT has raised maternity payments from £978.00 to £1500.00
per week for whole time equivalent from week 3 of maternity
leave up to the standard 26 week period. This is in line
with the recent announcement of the amended national
contract. The existing Locums and Maternity Policy for
Stockport PCT can be reached by following this
link. |
25th
May 2006 - Pandemic Flu
The joint
RCGP/GPC Flu Pandemic Emergency Planning Group have produced
a practical guide on infection control to help GP practices
plan for and respond to the threat of pandemic flu. The
paper entitled 'Infection Control for General Medical
Practices' is now available on the BMA website under Flu
Pandemic. It can also be accessed through the following link
http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/Hubflupandemicpreparations
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25th May 2006 -
Financial Implications of an
Increasing List Size Guidance
This guidance recently issued by GPC provides useful worked
examples to assist practices in assessing the financial
ramifications of a rising list whether it be a gradual
increase, the result of taking over another practice or the
allocation of patients to a practices following a practice
closure. |
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25th
May 2006 -
Access 2006/07
The GPC
have produced a short paper outlining the changes to Access
funding for 2006-07 outlining the New Enhanced Service which
replaces the previous combination of QoF Bonus points and
the previous Access Enhanced Service. |
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18th May 2006 - New PMS &
APMS Guidance GPC has recently issued new guidance for PMS practices
detailing how the 2006 changes to the GMS contract will
affect PMS contract holders. In addition, GPC has issued
guidance to
provide a factual background on APMS, suggesting ways in
which GPs can take advantage of this contracting route. It
offers guidance on tendering for APMS contracts, working for
APMS providers and contracting care through this route.
Throughout the document it also highlights areas where
inequities may arise and suggests ways GPs and their local
medical committees (LMCs) can work to ensure a level playing
field between different types of provider. |
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18th May 2006 - IM&T Webpage
The
promised IM&T webpage which includes recently issued IM&T
guidance is now available. Guidance documents currently
posted include a very useful publication
which provides an overview
of current developments in Primary Care IT including N3,
Smartcards, Choose & Book, Electronic Prescription Service,
GP2GP electronic records transfer, QMAS, NHSmail, IM&T DES, Data
accreditation and PRIMIS, GP Systems of Choice to name but a
few! |
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18th May 2006 - Requests for QoF Data
Practices
are reminded that under section 22 of the
Freedom of
Information Act,
data which is intended for publication would normally be
exempt from disclosure. As a result, it is legitimate to
refuse to disclose
information on QOF before it is published. Once
QOF data have been published, practices can refer enquirers
to the appropriate websites. A New Contract frequently asked
questions section has been can be reached via the
New Contract Aids link at
the bottom of each page of the LMC website. |
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18th May 2006 -
Private Fees & Collaborative Arrangements
The rates for collaborative arrangement have until 2006/07
been set by the DDRB and issued by NHS circular. The fees
previously covered by these arrangements included, for
example Blue Badge, Fostering, Priority Housing Reports,
Notification of Infectious diseases and Mental health Act
Sectioning Examinations. In the 2006 DDRB report, Doctors
have been advised to set their own fees for work done under
collaborative arrangements. In their guidance available from
this
link,
the BMA "advises doctors that it is their individual
decision whether or not to continue carrying out work under
the collaborative arrangements based on the rates published
for 2005/06. It is also the decision of individual doctors
whether to use the 2005/06 fee rates as a reference point
and then apply an annual increase based on their own rate.
Competition legislation and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT)
prohibit the BMA, Local Medical Committee’s (LMCs) and Local
Negotiating Committee’s (LNCs) from advising on fees, and it
is also illegal for individual doctors or staff to discuss
their fees outside their practice. The penalties for
breaching this law are severe and can be up to 10% of
organisation/practice turnover (not profit)."
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18th May 2006 - Next
LMC Meeting Date Change
To avoid clashing with England's World Cup match with
Sweden, the date of June's LMC Committee meeting has been
moved to 27th June 2006. The LMC's diary of events can be
reached by following this link.
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18th May 2006 - Annual
Conference of LMCs
The
Annual Conference of LMCs takes place on Thursday 15th and
Friday 16th June 2006. The agenda can be found by following
this
link. |
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11th May 2006 -
Personal Administration Fee Changes
As a result of the dispensing negotiations the personal
administration system for all doctors has changed in the SFE
2006. The on-cost and container allowance have gone but the
dispensing fee has been enhanced. This will mean that for
low cost items such as flu the typical dispensing fee
enhancement of £1.00 per item will more than offset the loss
of on-cost and container allowance income of 60p per item.
However, the impact on high cost items such as Zoladex will
see income falling by approximately £30 per 3-monthly
injection. More details are available from this
link. |
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