Dear GP and Practice Manager Colleagues,
Re: Practice Webinar – Network Contract Local Enhanced Service (NC LES) Agreement – 12.30pm – 1.30pm Tuesday 13 December 2022
This email contains important information for Newham & Waltham Forest practices about the new contractual mechanism for delivering Local Enhanced Services with effect from 1 February 2023, and information on a webinar on 13 December 2022.
From 1 February 2023 LES services, currently commissioned from Newham & Waltham Forest GP practices through a Supplementary Network Services (SNS) contract, will be contracted through a Network Contract Local Enhanced Service Agreement (NC LES) with each individual network member practice, similarly to how the PCN DES is commissioned.
The same new contractual mechanism has already been rolled out in Tower Hamlets.
Newham & Waltham Forest have worked with local and Londonwide LMCs to ensure that the contractual mechanism is fit for purpose, and is currently finalising the suite of documents that each practice will receive in the New Year.
In the meantime, attached to this email are two core documents for practices to familiarise themselves with. These documents are in final draft form and may be subject to minor amendments between now and issuing the final versions in January, including personalising them to individual practices:
- NC LES: the main contractual document that describes how services should be delivered. Click HERE to view and download.
- Recognised Practice Network (RPN) Policy: the concept of RPNs has been introduced to preserve the existing collaborative arrangements between groups of practices to deliver LES’s without relying on the PCN DES or PCN structures i.e. if the PCN DES is decommissioned, practices can continue to collaborate to deliver LES’s via the NC LES in ways described in the RPN policy. This concept was developed at the request of, and in partnership with, Londonwide LMCs. N.B. All existing Newham & Waltham Forest PCNs will automatically be accepted as RPNs under the NC LES agreement. Click HERE to view and download.
Please be assured that the service specification requirements (and associated payments) that will be included in the NC LES documents are the same as those that practices in Newham & Waltham Forest are currently delivering under the SNS contract.Webinar on 13th December 2022
A joint webinar will be held for all Newham & Waltham Forest practices on Tuesday 13th December from 12.30pm until 1.30pm to present the reasons for this change, take practices through the documentation, and give practices a chance to ask questions. It is strongly recommended that a representative from each practice attends.Please click HERE to register your place, the joining link will be shared with those registered 24 hours before the event.
The webinar will be recorded and uploaded to the Training Hub website shortly after the session.
The Integrated Care Board will issue the finalised NC LES documents to Newham & Waltham Forest practices in early January 2023. Practices will be asked to sign up to the terms of the NC LES for a commencement date of 1stFebruary 2023.
Practices can raise questions at any time by emailing Becky Mayhew at the NC LES project team on beckymayhew@nhs.net.
Kind regards
Newham and Waltham Forest Primary Care Team
NC LES Project Team
