The Medical Chambers Newsletter: January 2025

I have now left Collingham Church View Surgery as a salaried part-time GP and will therefore likely meet more of you, or at least you might see my name more often on medical records in 2025. I will continue as an NHS Appraiser and GP Mentor through GPM Plus. I will also be facilitating again at the Leeds half-day release course (hopefully with a very wise ST1 group!). In short, I have much more free time on my hands, so please feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, etc.

Monthly meetings on the last Thursday of the month will go ahead as scheduled. I have "volunteered" for the January meeting and look forward to seeing you all on screen again. I thought I would spend some time on a Q&A session and provide an update on contraception and HRT. Please feel free to let us know what other topics you think might be useful later in 2025, and we will endeavour to cover them. Attendance at these meetings has fallen in late 2024, and I hope this is not due to a lack of relevance of the topics. These meetings are part of the offer to members and provide an ideal way to stay in touch with your colleagues as well as be appraisal ready.

The WhatsApp groups have gone a little quiet too – another useful resource as a Chambers member. Remember that if you decide to look something up, it will likely be a learning opportunity for your colleagues (sharing learning doubles your Continuous Professional Development hours – not that we count these anymore as an appraiser!).

In 2025, we hope to survey our members and check in on those in radio silence mode and gather feedback on how we can improve our service to members (and practices).

The politics of 2025 remain very active with talk about NHS reform that seems to have (so far) bypassed the idea of GPs being at its centre in all but name only. Sessional rates for GP locums remain low nationally, although we have held our own in November and December. The BMA is holding a Sessional GP unemployment virtual rally on Wednesday, February 12th, from 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM, which is open to non-members, and I hope to attend.

Thanks, Kirsty.

Stay connected with The Medical Chambers 

Communication Channels:

• WhatsApp Groups: We have two active WhatsApp groups (East and West) for instant clinical support, updates, and discussions. Members can choose to join one or both groups. Carolyn and Kirsty manage both groups.
• Not on WhatsApp? Reach out to us, and we'll be happy to welcome you to the group.
• Out of Office Hours: Contact Carole or Sarah via ImpaxHub's Emergency Contact function (sends an email to admin@medical-chambers.com).
• Office Hours (Mon-Fri, 8 AM - 5 PM): Call us at 01904 297 995 or send a message via WhatsApp (for work-related enquiries only) at 07842 114473.

Resources for Members:

• NB Medical: Access a wealth of free medical content by creating an account on NB Medical using the code xxxxx.
• 14 Fish Discount: Chambers members receive a 15% discount on the 14 Fish Appraisal Toolkit.
• NB Plus Discount: Existing 14 Fish customers can get NB Plus for £295 (usually £345). New Chambers members will receive a free 1-year NB Plus subscription (terms and conditions apply).

Recommend a Practice and Earn £150!

Refer a practice to The Medical Chambers. Once they register, book, and pay for a session, you'll receive a £150 bonus directly deposited into your bank account. Contact admin@medical-chambers.com with the practice's contact information (name, phone number, email) to get started.

Where can you find us:

https://www.medical-chambers.com/

https://www.facebook.com/themedicalchambers

https://www.instagram.com/the_medical_chambers/

2025 – What’s your membership plans?

We're reaching out to get a sense of your Chambers membership plans for 2025. We understand that work can be unpredictable, and membership needs can fluctuate.

Perhaps you've been meaning to connect with us but haven't had a chance yet. Any update, even a brief one, would be greatly appreciated. It helps us understand your needs and plan accordingly, including whether we need to consider adding new members to areas where we've seen some departures. (Please note a recruitment freeze is still on but we have a waiting list)

To help us get a better picture, could you let us know by email, WhatsApp or even phone call if easier:

• Are you planning to stay on with Chambers for the next 12 months?
• Have you found alternative work and no longer require Chambers' support? If so, please let us know so we can archive your ImpaxHub profile and remove you from our distribution list. 
• Have there been any changes to your career path (e.g., partnerships, salaried positions) that might have reduced your need for sessions?
• Have you got work that's taken/taking you away from Chambers? We do have members that come back to us after a hiatus so do keep us in the loop if its only temporary, we would rather not lose you completely but at least know you still need us at some point. 

As a reminder, The Medical Chambers offers:

• Sessional booking service: Access to our network of practices requests.
• Full administrative support: Including booking, invoicing, NHS pension, workflow, and IT support.
• Clinical governance and CPD: Education for appraisals and revalidation support through NB Medical and our Clinical Leads.
• An admin team that works Mon to Fri 8-5pm: We can help with as much or as little as you need us, we can be a useful middleman between you and a practice when needed

Your membership fee is 10% + VAT for every month you work through us. We actively promote your availability (if its listed) twice a week and provide you with a system that shows you all the sessions our network of practices needs.

We're committed to making freelance work as stress-free as possible and helping you avoid the isolation that can come with locum work.

Please don't hesitate to get in touch and let us know where you stand.

We know many of you are consistently looking for work and actively use our services. However, if your situation has changed, please let us know so we can adjust our records accordingly. We'll be reaching out individually to members who have been inactive over the past year to see if Chambers is still the right fit.

The Medical Chambers website and social media content – we need your help!

Last year, we enjoyed our 'Member Spotlight' series, where we learned more about each other. Many of you participated, and it was fantastic reading your submissions! This year, we're excited to delve into the world of Locum GPs. Hear firsthand what it's like to be a locum – enter your submission here ‘The Locum Life: In Their Own Words’:

https://forms.office.com/e/4UreYwf1rm

Alumni Members

Understanding Alumni Members

Some members of our network may be referred to as "Alumni."

• Who are Alumni? Alumni are former Chambers members who have stepped back from regular locum work but wish to maintain their connection with the Chambers community. Their ImpaxHub profile is archived to prevent them from receiving daily "Find Work" emails.

Benefits of Alumni Membership:

• Support and Guidance: Alumni often provide valuable support, knowledge, and wisdom to current members through channels like WhatsApp groups and monthly meetings.
• Networking Opportunities: Maintaining an Alumni connection allows you to stay connected with the Chambers network and potentially benefit from valuable contacts within the community. They continue to be invited to monthly meetings and social gatherings.

Upcoming meetings or social gatherings

Our monthly meetings take place on the last Thursday of each month at 7:00 PM, excluding school holidays. These meetings are bookable through Eventbrite. We highly value the expertise within our membership and warmly welcome event proposals from both current members and our esteemed alumni. All upcoming meetings are listed on our Eventbrite page. Please register your interest to ensure you don't miss out!

Visit Eventbrite to book a place and save the date.

Useful Updates

We will continue to circulate slides and relevant links following chambers monthly meetings.

The following are regular update general newsletters you can subscribe to:

• https://www.westyorkshire.icb.nhs.uk/
• https://www.leedslmc.org/
• https://www.england.nhs.uk/gp/

Au Revoir’s, Goodbye’s, congratulations and thank you’s

We received this feedback from a Harrogate practice about one of our GPs (it has been passed on), which we thought we would share with all:
“Your locum GP worked 2 days for us in November and I have had really positive feedback from patients and staff, one of our partners said, "really good documentation in notes when a patient needed following up" I thought it would be nice to pass this on.”

As a final touch, we'd like to share some photos from our 2024 holiday celebrations, showcasing the camaraderie and hard work of our East & West Chambers teams, Directors, Clinical Leads, and administrative support.