New President’s Report
Firstly I would like to thank Iain for his excellent leadership over the past two years and his attention to detail with the Conference.
I am taking over as President at a very exciting time for GPs and Musculoskeletal Medicine.
GPs have been handed a golden opportunity in the form of Commissioning and the demise of the PCTs, to change practice in their area. We need to provide leadership in Musculoskeletal commissioning for GP Consortia around the country and John Dickson is already arranging a commissioning workshop to produce a ‘toolkit’.
Several of our members are actively involved in commissioning musculoskeletal services. In my own area we have opened a new Community Rheumatology Service which was commissioned by local GPs and the PCT. This has been an exciting project and has really improved the patient-journey for those with inflammatory arthritis. I have been deeply involved in commissioning the service and getting it up and running.
I think it is important for Commissioning Consortia to undertake ‘needs assessments’ and discover what the real health-needs in their community are. The involvement of patient-groups is essential here as we need to survey the existing users about their views on the services. GPs and Primary Health Care teams are also stake-holders and users of these services and their views should be formally sought, before any new commissioning is planned. Make sure that your voice is heard locally!
Many of us work as GPwSI; PCTs are often at fault for not valuing and investing in their GPwSI. A member of the Steering Committee told me recently that he had resigned as a GPwSI because his PCT did not recognise his need for formal appraisal and ongoing education. Secondary care services are suspicious of GPwSI as well and this has been a problem for a long time and still continues.
I have heard from colleagues that GPwSI have not been allowed development time to attend meetings or work on their service development. Consultants have a defined number of SPAs (personal development and administration sessions), which are recommended by their Royal Colleges. GPwSI should be allowed the same kinds of concessions to ensure that the non-patient based parts of their role are recognised and can continue un-interrupted. Good services are not measured solely on the numbers of patients seen! Perhaps we need to produce an “ideal job-plan” for GPwSI?
As a society, we need to support our members who work as GPwSI and those who bring such skills to their own GP practices. ArthritisresearchUK are planning a conference for GPwSI in 2011 and hopefully this will help with morale and in defining the educational and development needs of GPwSI.
I sincerely hope that GP Commissioning Consortia will continue to value their specialised GPs. We need to ensure that the needs of GPwSI are in the public domain and easily accessible for reference.
I was recently successful in my application to be a Trustee of ARMA (Arthritis and Musculoskeletal alliance), and hope to continue these work-themes with ARMA.
In May (25th to 28th) EULAR is hosting its annual conference at the Excel in London. The focus this year is on Primary Care and there is a dedicated Primary Care Section on Friday and Saturday. I do hope that many of you will be able to attend.
Finally, enclosed with this Newsletter is the Programme for the PCR Annual Conference to be held in York from 17th – 19th November. We hope you are able to join us at what promises to be an outstanding meeting and when we will also be celebrating 25 years of the PCR Society.
May I wish you all a Happy and Peaceful New Year.
Louise Warburton
President