GP practices have been asked to retain normal opening hours throughout the Christmas holidays while commissioners decide whether out-of-hours services are unable to cope with the added demand. Official guidance, issued by NHS England, says GP practices can “only” close early on non-Bank Holidays if they have a “prior written agreement with both the provider… Read more…

The Government has been called upon to scrap controversial plans to cut NHS support for pharmacies in a bid it believes will save £22billion. A nationwide petition brought to public attention by the National Pharmacy Association managed to attract almost 2m signatures in September – and this month MPs are calling upon the Government to… Read more…

A number of GPs are holding back from providing unfunded services to their patients, in hopes that Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) will grant them the funds needed to continue. According to reports, GPs under Lincolnshire Local Medical Committee (LMC) are the first to take such ‘organised action’ under an LMC in a bid to receive… Read more…