The 2022 UK LMC Conference took place 10-11 May - the first in-person UK LMC conference since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and it ran very smoothly. The conference was adeptly chaired by Katie Bramall-Stainer and her deputy Matt Mayer. Our thanks go to them, the rest of the conference agenda committee, the GPC secretariat, including Dominic Norcliffe-Brown, Kathryn Reece and Karen Day, Caroline Eason from the BMA conference unit, as well as the numerous other members of BMA staff who provided support during the conference.
The conference was opened by Dr Phil White, chair of GPC UK, who congratulated the profession for all its hard work during the pandemic, including rolling out remote consultations and the vaccination programmes in record times. Dr White admonished the media and Westminster government for their unfounded attacks on general practice, particularly the false claim that GP practices had been closed during the pandemic. Furthermore, he congratulated the BMA and GPDF on the success rollout of the Rebuild GP media campaign, intended to combat these false narratives and promote an urgent workforce strategy and safe workloads for GPs. Read the GPC UK Chair’s speech
Of particular note, the conference voted through a motion calling on the national GPCs renegotiating the GMS contracts to include workload limits in order to protect patients and staff. With a dwindling, overstretched workforce, this motion gives our national committees the mandate to demand an end to endless unsafe demands on our GP services. Read our safe working in general practice guidance.
The conference also urged the GPCs to negotiate a GP contract that incentivises continuity of care. In response, Dr Farah Jameel, GPC England Chair, said that “If continuity of care is to be rewarded and preserved, it will need to be measured and monitored and it will need new payment mechanisms. So we’ll need to spend some time thinking about these matters. We must reward continuity of care and it is right that we ask for it. We’ll need courage – from policymakers, from us and from parliamentarians.”
The resolutions will be published shortly on this page: Local medical committees
