- GPs at the LMCs conference in Liverpool this week hit out at the 'woeful neglect of investment in GP premises', and demanded a comprehensive DH strategy.
- LMCs have backed industrial action over 'unfair and unnecessary' cuts to NHS pensions, and backed plans for GPs to pull out of commissioning as part of the action.
- Follow live updates from the 2012 LMCs conference in Liverpool as GP leaders from across the UK debate key issues affecting the profession on 22 and 23 May.
- Health secretary Andrew Lansley has said the NHS Commissioning Board will ensure nurses play a role in clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), after warnings they have been left out.
- Ballot papers will be sent out next week after the RCGP revealed the names of six candidates in the running to become its next president. Below are short biographies and statements from each of the candidates.
- Prime minister David Cameron and health secretary Andrew Lansley will face calls to resign at the UK LMCs conference in Liverpool this month.
- The RCGP has hailed a 'momentous day for general practice' after Medical Education England backed its call to extend GP training to four years.
- A DH adviser whose clinical commissioning group (CCG) was forced to merge to cover the same geographical area as a former PCT has said it will remain 'dramatically different'.
- Community health services in Surrey are to be run by a private company in a deal worth £500m over five years.
- National Association of Primary Care president Dr James Kingsland received an OBE for services to general practice at Buckingham Palace.
- Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) stand to inherit a grim financial legacy from PCTs despite a report showing they are on track for efficiency savings worth £5.8bn in 2011/12, GP leaders have warned.
- DH staff have received gifts including a Japanese kimono, a glass model of Hong Kong, an engraved glass obelisk, Korean tea and a 'small metal glove puzzle' in the course of their duties since 2010.
- Community health services in Suffolk are set to be outsourced to private international company Serco in a £140m deal.
- BMA leaders in Scotland have warned that the Scottish government's failure to plan for GP premises improvements is undermining development of local services.
- GPs remain divided on the potential impact of the Health Bill after it completed its passage through the Lords yesterday.
- Practices will be able to set up online accounts to begin the process of registration with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) from July this year.
- The BMA is disputing DH guidance ordering GP practices whose phone lines cost more than local rates to negotiate a revised deal or call patients back at their own expense.
- A forum set up to boost representation of GPs in rural areas is likely to be formally recognised as a permanent part of the RCGP this month.
- Six out of 10 people trust health professionals more than David Cameron or Andrew Lansley on NHS reforms, a poll for a major union has found.
- Royal colleges taking part in a Downing Street summit on the Health Bill today have been accused of 'betraying' the NHS after groups critical of the reforms were not invited.
