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GP leaders to vote on wholesale rejection of the network DES

England LMC leaders will vote on whether the profession ‘should reject the PCN DES’ as they meet for a conference next week.

The motion, to be presented by Berkshire LMC, suggests the network DES is ‘a Trojan horse to transfer work from secondary care to primary care’.

It urges the GPC to survey the profession on whether they intend to sign the DES and goes so far as to say it ‘poses an existential threat to the independent contractor model’.

Last month,  Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire LMCs told practices they ‘cannot recommend’ that they sign up to the network DES, despite it having been revised, due to ongoing ‘significant’ concerns about the extra workload it will create for GPs.

The LMCs conference will also vote on whether the deadline for signing up to the DES should be deferred to October. 

The BMA GP Committee will host the special conference of LMCs to discuss the impending GP contract changes on 11 March.

The conference will be held at the Mermaid Conference Centre in London and will allow regional representatives to discuss the 2020/21 deal which has been negotiated between the BMA and the Government.

The motion to hold a special conference was passed at a GPC meeting in January, before the GPC reached an agreement on the contract.

Other motions set for a vote include bids to make publication of high earnings anonymous; calls for incentives to offer 15-minute consultations; and calls to increase the £120 per bed care home premium.

Motion in full

AGENDA COMMITTEE TO BE PROPOSED BY BERKSHIRE: That conference believes the PCN DES is a Trojan horse to transfer work from secondary care to primary care and that:

(i) this strategy poses an existential threat to the independent contractor model

(ii) there should be immediate cessation of LES and DES transfers from practice responsibility to that of PCNs

(iii) GPC England is mandated to urgently survey the profession to get feedback on whether they intend to sign the new PCN DES

(iv) GPC England must urgently negotiate investment directly into the core contract as the only way to resolve the crisis in general practice is by trusting GP partners with realistic investment

(v) the profession should reject the PCN DES as currently written.

Source: BMA