GP Contract Imposition Survival Guide
The GPC is developing survival guides for practices and GPs to help guide them through the contract imposition.  Parts of this guidance are already available on the BMA website. Further guidance will be published over the next few of weeks so keep an eye on the website. Current survival guidance include:

• Locum pension contributions – for both locums and employing practices
• QOF – clinical changes, increase in upper thresholds, reduce time periods
• Funding and finance
• Enhanced services – risk profiling and care management, dementia, online access, remote monitoring
• Vaccinations and Immunisations

Premises Guidance
This guidance provides information on various elements of premises information including stamp duty land tax, lease arrangements and the new premises costs directions.

New Enhanced Services Guide
NHS Employers and the NHS England have published this guidance on Enhanced Services (ES) in 2013/14 that will make use of the General Practice Extraction Service (GPES) and Calculating Quality Reporting Service (CQRS). The guidance includes the two extended Clinical Directed Enhanced Services (DES) and other new/existing ESs including the 4 new DESs and immunisations and provides primary care organisations with information to help support the continuation or introduction of these services.

111 Feedback forms
As you will be aware 111 has now gone live in Tees. We would be interested to hear your comments as to how the service is working – good and bad. It is also important that you ensure that you raise any concerns with the providers and the CCG using the healthcare professional feedback form in order that these can be addressed to ensure the service is a safe and effective as possible. Please also send any issues that arise to the LMC so we are aware as to what is being experienced on the ground. Questions have been raised with regard to 111 repeat callers and how these will be handled. This has been discussed nationally with regard to patients taking responsibility for contacting GP practices rather than the GP being responsible for contacting the patient. This is certainly an approach we have requested for the start and are encouraged that national discussions have resulted in this. As soon as we have a local update as whether the new national line will be adopted we will forward this to you.

QOF Business Rules v25
The new QOF Business Rules v25 have been published here.

Error in Prescribing General Practice Guide
There is an error in the Prescribing in General Practice guide previously circulated 26.03.13 please use this new guidance. In the Q&A section, in response to the query ‘Can my GP supply me with drugs directly rather than going to a pharmacist?’ the guidance states: ‘a dispensing doctor is allowed to supply drugs to named patients who live more than one mile by road from a pharmacy’ where as it should say, ‘one mile as the crow flies’.

Study Leave Guidance for GP Trainees
Study leave enables trainees to direct their own learning, meet their educational needs as set out in their personal development plan, and cover the wide range of knowledge and skills required by the RCGP curriculum. This guidance note has been produced by the GP Trainees Subcommittee to provide GP trainees with the information they require for a broad understanding of their entitlements to study leave and how the process works.

NICE QOF Advisory Committee
NICE is currently recruiting for specialist membership of the QOF Advisory Committee, and are seeking applications from GPs (salaried and trainee), Practice Managers and Practice nurses and a range of other groups. GPC urge members and practice staff to apply and would suggest that those that do so have not just a clinical interest but some political understanding, bearing in mind how the group’s recommendations have been imposed this year. Further information including how to apply is available on the NICE website. The deadline for applications is Wednesday 24 April. Note that NICE changed its name to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence from Monday 1 April 2013.