Londonwide LMCs' CEO Dr Michelle Drage invited to City Hall

Londonwide LMCs' CEO Dr Michelle Drage invited to City Hall


A meeting to be held by the London Assembly at City Hall on Thursday 6 February to discuss access to general practice services in London will be attended by Londonwide LMCs CEO Dr Michelle Drage.

In particular, the meeting will explore the challenges facing primary care within the context of wider pressures on the healthcare system in the capital including increasing demand, reducing budgets, impact on access, and reducing the pressure on hospital-based services.

This is the first of two meetings looking at general practice services in London, and builds on the Health Committee’s previous work on A&E pressures and out-of-hospital care 



provision for older people. The meeting will focus on the challenges facing access to general practice and the interplay with the wider healthcare system in the capital. It will also examine the specific challenges of access to general practice during winter.  

The meeting will be held in public and is webcast live.

Dr Drage said “I’m glad the London Assembly is focusing on general practice and addressing the pressures that GP’s and their patients face daily and how those challenges impact on patient access and ultimately patient care in London. It will be a our chance to also highlight the long working hours, shortage of GP’s in London and the increasing bureaucracy GPs and their teams are having to deal whilst the share of resources to general practice has halved over the last 5 years. It will also be a huge opportunity for us to show how Health and Wellbeing boards and commissioners should focus their efforts on supporting improvements to the General Practice workforce and infrastructure, along with strengthening the provision of community, social and mental health services around practice populations, patients and service users in their local neighbourhoods".

Other invited guests include Mr Ali Aksoy, Director, Hackney Refugee Forum, Mr CJ Patel, Pharmacy London,  Dr Clare Gerada, NHS England (London), Ms Frances Hasler, Director, Camden Healthwatch and Ms Lucy Jones, UK Programme Manager, Doctors of the World UK.

The webcast can be viewed by accessing the link below:

https://www.london.gov.uk/mayor-assembly/london-assembly/webcasts