Appraisals Reminder and Updated Contacts

Participation in the PCT appraisal scheme is a condition of inclusion on the Performers list. The Tees PCT scheme is a compulsory annual appraisal in your birthday quarter. Please ensure you are up to date with your appraisals and/or contact Glyn Bosson, on 0191 502 6495 or glyn.bosson@northteespct.nhs.uk, for further details or to discuss your specific circumstance.

Performers List Responsibilities Reminder and Updated Contacts

There are a number of commitments doctors entered into when joining the Performers List including keeping the NEPCSA (North East Primary Care Service Agency) informed of home addresses and where you are working; informing the NEPCSA of any criminal charges, convictions or cautions but not fixed penalty notices; informing the NEPCSA of any investigation of your conduct by the GMC any other professional body or another employer. Please ensure you notify a member of the Performers List team at NEPCSA, 0191 275 4200 or NEPCSA, Performers List, 2nd Floor Partnership House, Regent Farm Road, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 3HD, of any change to your contact details. This is particularly important for locum GPs who may working in a number of practices.

Violence in Practices and Violent Patient Procedure Reminder

It is vitally important that practice follow the correct procedure when handling violence in practice, especially in the correct removal of violent patients, to ensure that all who work in primary care are protected. You may find this LMC guidance a helpful reminder. Please note the new contact details included in the guidance.

Underpayments in QoF

The Department of Health (England) will be writing to PCTs week beginning 7 February to inform them that an error has been identified within the Quality Management & Analysis System (QMAS), which calculates payments to GP contractors under the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF). GP contractors have, as a result, been underpaid for their achievement for the additional services indicators since 2004/05. These payments will vary as they will be based on the actual circumstances of individual practices. The letter will provide further information around how the level of underpayments has been calculated and outlines PCTs’ legal responsibility to make good the underpayments. The DH letter and FAQs will be published here shortly.

Medicine Supply and Distribution to Patients, Best Practice Guidance

New joint guidance has been published by the “Medicines Supply Chain Forum” which was set up by the Department of Health in response to problems being experienced in the supply chain resulting in stocks of medicine being disrupted and depleted. This guidance is designed to address these problems and to secure the integrity of the supply chain. The GPC, along with various other stakeholders from different branches of the healthcare sector, were represented on this forum and helped to shape the guidance which sets out “best practice” for manufacturers, wholesalers, pharmacies and doctors’ dispensaries, and prescribers. Note that this guidance supersedes the “Trading Medicines for Human Use: Shortages and supply chain obligations” which was published in 2009.

Partnership Agreements Reminder

We strongly recommend that GPs in partnership enter into a written partnership agreement and seek legal and accountancy advice in doing so. Partnership Agreements reduce both financial and non-financial risk and provide a detailed framework on which the ongoing management and administration of the partnership can be based. BMA has produced this guidance on partnership agreements. The BMA offers a partnership agreement drafting service exclusively for general practitioners. The service is provided by Neal Hooper, a BMA lawyer, offering high-quality legal advice and drafting, and can be accessed by calling 020 7383 6128 or emailing info.pds@bma.org.uk. To take advantage of the service at least one of the partners in your practice must be a BMA member. BMA members are entitled to the service at a competitive price of £1,500 plus VAT. Members can also take advantage of a fee of just £25 per annum plus VAT for the BMA to hold and store a final signed version of their agreement on behalf of their practice.