The South West London LDC met online on Tuesday 11 March.
The meeting was open to all registered members in south west London from 7:30 where the following items were discussed:
Attendees heard that several members had put themselves forward to be portfolio holders recently, including Babar Wahid (Wandsworth) and Komal Patel (Merton). This is in addition to other members who are active on behalf of the LDC including Nabeel Muneer (Merton) leading on engagement with the South West London Training Hub, Misch Sachdev (Croydon) leading on engagement with Croydon Council, Angelic Khera (Croydon) leading on engagement with Healthwatch Croydon and Sushil John (Croydon) leading on engagement with the Local Pharmacy Committee and Local Optical Committee.
The pilot model looking to increase access for children and those with long term conditions has closed for expressions on interest, of which there were sufficient across the area to run. The LDC had been involved in the development of the pilot model, though there remained concerns over some aspects of it and the LDC would relay back to the Integrated Care Board how it can improve engagement and the development of such pilots in the future. The LDC would do that through their regular meetings with the ICB where they enjoyed a good relationship. There had been a dentistry day for south west London last year and this was going to be followed up with a second early in the new financial year. This day would bring together all local stakeholders to develop a vision and expectation for NHS dental services in the area which would hopefully inform future plans.
South West London had been allocated an additional 6402 urgent dental care appointments from the government’s pledge to deliver an additional 700,000 urgent dental care appointments. As urgent dental care provision in London was already advanced and working well however, this was not expected to be implemented. This was later confirmed by the commissioning hub in an email of 17 March where it was stated that “London ICBs have a satisfactory volume of UDC capacity, it is anticipated that no further commissioning of urgent care appointments is required.”
The meeting then answered some questions that had been submitted in advance, including why associate pay does not increase when there is a contract uplift and how to apply for more UDAs. In answer to the first it was explained that contract value uplifts are often below the increase cost of running a practice so does not necessarily result in more money being available, but that this is a matter for individual practices to manage. In response to the second the response was the commissioning hub continued to manage the allocation. The LDC was urged to work with stakeholders to use more sessional payments over UDAs,
the date of the next meeting for members will be included in future newsletters.
