In a letter to LMCs, GPC chairman Dr Laurence Buckman said GP leaders must insist in all local negotiations that consortia elections are an ‘inclusive and open process’.

The GPC warned last week that emerging consortia across the country were ignoring GPC guidelines and excluding sessional GPs or barring them from standing in board elections.

Dr Buckman's letter said all consortia must have a democratic electoral process to ensure local professional confidence is maintained.

 

• Click here to read the full letter

He said all GPs working in a practice must feed into decisions about which consortium they would join.

Dr Buckman said: ‘It is essential that this policy is implemented everywhere. If we do not ensure this happens, we are at risk of disenfranchising a large section of our profession and LMCs must play a vital role in preventing that.

‘There is no good argument to support not involving all GPs whatever their contractual status.’

Dr Vicky Weeks, chairwoman of the GPC's sessional GP subcommittee said that despite GPC guidance that elections must be inclusive, many consortia were ‘going off and doing their own thing’.

She admitted that it would be very difficult to de-construct board arrangements that were already in place, but pointed out that these were only transitional arrangements.   

‘When it comes around to the next tranche of board elections these issues need to be raised and readdressed,' she said.

‘But that doesn’t preclude consortia actually including, and making attempts to include, sessional GPs in any decision making processes now.’

Dr Weeks said it was important that shadow consortia update sessional GPs about what is happening at board level and when meetings will be held.

‘The problem is if sessional GPs are not on these information cascades then they don’t get to know what’s happening,’ she said.

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