Working as a trainee LMC Rep
The following bellow has been written by Pippa Bell .
I am currently a GPST3 working in Eyemouth Medical Practice and have been lucky enough to be given the opportunity to sit on the Borders LMC committee as a trainee representative for the past 9 months.
This has been a fantastic opportunity to gain an insight into the work that goes on “behind the scenes” by a group of locally elected GPs. I must admit that prior to attending these meetings I had no idea how much “non-patient facing” work goes into ensuring appropriate and efficient delivery of patient services and also acceptable GP remuneration and working environments.
We meet every second month in the evening for a couple of hours and discuss everything from the negotiations between the GPs in the region and the Health Board about what services should be delivered by who, who gets paid what and issues surrounding the GP contract. The meetings are attended by elected representatives (GPs) of the various clusters and then the issues/ concerns raised by the committee are taken back to the Health Board for negotiation.
Individual members of the LMC take on roles that they are interested in “taking forward”, including pharmacotherapy, urgent care, first contact physio, mental health, IT, vaccines, CTAC, premises and communications, amongst many others! These members then liaise with other committees and the health board to discuss how best to manage these services. This seems to be another full time job in its own right for many of these GPs!
It seems that there is an endless stream of work involved in identifying service/patient needs and in working out how to most efficiently and effectively provide them. My involvement in the LMC has opened my eyes as to how much interaction and communication is needed between the primary and secondary care clinicians physically delivering the services on the ground and the Health Board itself. I am not sure how I thought it all happened before attending these meetings but I now feel I have a much better understanding of just what it entails!
I can see how, in the future, as a GP partner, it would be important to be a part of these discussions as all of this directly impacts on the day to day workings of every practice. GPs are, in my mind, in an intriguing position as “business owners” as, on the one hand they “run their own business” but on the other hand are also to some degree at the mercy of the Health Board as to how the demands of the general public are met. The two are therefore inextricably linked and, as such, involvement in these discussions and having an awareness of what is going on behind the scenes can only have significant benefits.
I personally cannot recommend involvement in the LMC enough and am very grateful for the opportunity to be involved.
