Our Focus

It is expected that priority will be given to issues of ‘national importance’ related to LMCs and/or General Practice. Areas which are excluded from potential support by GPDF include:

Criminal matters

Libel / slander / defamation

Professional performance issues

Request where the practice or LMC is not contributing to the GPDF quota to the satisfaction of the board

Commercial issues where there is no point of principle applicable more widely

Representation in relation to HMRC enquires

Issues related to NHS Pensions and NHS Pension providers

Issues outside England, Scotland or Wales

Issues covered by BMA

Representation of a GP appearing ‘in front of’ medical practitioners tribunals

Case Studies

A dispute between Littlewick Medical Centre, a levy paying practice of Derby & Derbyshire LMC, and NHS England over reimbursement claims for Childhood immunisations was settled with the support of the GPDF.

NHS England had withheld payment on the basis that the practice had not used the correct system for claiming. After Derby & Derbyshire LMC took up this case on behalf of the practice, legal representation and costs were supported by the GPDF. Further to legal discussions, a GPDF-funded solicitor successfully secured a decision from the Family Health Services Appeal Unit in favour of Littlewick Medical Centre, ruling that NHS England’s communication of the system change had been insufficient.

A full reimbursement of £27,000 was made to Littlewick Medical Centre by NHS England. The GPDF’s support and financial backing for this case were critical in achieving a successful outcome, clearly demonstrating how the GPDF can support individual GP practices with specific cases, that build legal precedent for practices everywhere.

GPDF has provided the resources to Paul Cundy to develop a useful guidance for all GP practices on their GDPR obligations. GPDF commissioned its lawyers to work with Paul on the development of information packs for LMCs to help prepare them for the introduction of GDPR.

This was followed by a series of workshops for LMCs, both event-based and by webinar, to provide further information and an opportunity for questions and answers. At these sessions, further advice was provided to LMCs on how they should guide their constituent practices.

GPDF was aware that the current Regulations and SFE in England are set out in diverse publications. Confirming an interpretation can be time consuming because reference to several documents is needed, many of which may amend a previous amendment.

A firm of experienced solicitors in the regulatory and legal areas were commissioned to produce a consolidated set of Regulations for General and Personal Medical Services, the Performers List and the SFE.

With positive feedback from the initial consolidated documents, we have entered into an agreement with DR Solicitors to update the documents annually. Copies will be made available to LMCs to assist their GPs and practices.

How to Find out More

Support may be offered by the GPDF to GPs and/or Practices via an LMC ‘sponsor’, with engagement of the LMC (i.e. support will not normally be provided directly to an individual GP without the knowledge or involvement the appropriate LMC).

The full Policy for supporting legal issues may be found here

If you would like to make an informal enquiry to the GPDF about the potential for support related to a legal matter, please download and complete this short enquiry form. It would be helpful if the enquiry were to address the eligibility criteria in the Policy.

Please email the completed form to [email protected]

Any requests for Legal support would be considered by the GPDF Executive team, and if considered appropriate would be submitted to the GPDF Board for approval.  The GPDF Executive team may choose to seek views and input from others as they see fit before the Board discussion to assist in fully understanding the implications for support.

For the full GPDF guide on submitting an application for Legal Support please follow the guide here: How to submit a LEGAL SUPPORT REQUEST to GPDF – Full guide

What we do for LMCs and General Practice

Strengthen Voice

We help to strengthen the ‘Voice’ of LMCs and GPs

Initiatives

We fund initiatives that support effective functioning of LMCs

Dialogue

We engage in dialogue with stakeholders to share knowledge and learning