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Membership

Why be a member?

The two Local Medical Committees in Essex are funded by GPs for GPs.  They are the only organisations in Essex whose primary role is to promote and protect the interests and welfare of all GPs working in the County.  This applies equally to salaried GPs employed by PCTs.

Recent negotiations with PCOs on a range of issues arising from the implementation of new GMS and PMS arrangements have reinforced the need for an effective, united local voice for GPs.  In order to ensure that the Committees are truly representative it is essential to maintain strong communication links with local GPs.  Local members have a crucial role to play in providing this link.

It is essential that the Committees are kept up-to-date with issues that are important and relevant to local GPs.  The fact that decision making has been devolved to thirteen PCOs in Essex has made it increasingly difficult to monitor the implementation of new initiatives and ensure that the interests of GPs are not being undermined.  The current management arrangements mean that the role of local members in acting as a point of contact for local GPs and gathering intelligence on local issues of concern is more important than ever.

A few current issues are:

• Monitoring of expenditure on primary care
• Unresourced work in general practice
• Protection of existing PMS financial baselines
• Practice Based Commissioning
• Choose and Book
• Premises Funding
• GP Recruitment/Retention initiatives

The LMCs' Constitutions explain in more detail how the County is divided into LMC Constituencies.  At present the number of local members to be elected is one for every fifteen constituents.  Committee meetings are held monthly, except August, and members are paid an attendance fee of £75.00 plus travelling expenses.   All additional LMC work is paid for at a rate of £75.00 per hour up to a maximum of £225.00.

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