48hr Wheezy Children
The LMC has received many complaints about the ongoing expectation on general practices to provide reviews to children 48 hours after being admitted or being seen in ED with wheeze.
Whilst these are small numbers it is a clear indication of a commissioning gap that despite discussions for over 2 years has never been resolved.
The LMC has gained legal opinion, and our solicitors have drawn up two documents – one which has been sent from the LMC to the ICB, and the other a notice that each practice should send to the ICB. Both of these documents are included in the same email with this newsletter and will be available on the LMC website.
Once your practice has issued the notice to the ICB, every time the practice carries out a 48 check after the child was seen in the hospital, then the practice should send an invoice to the ICB. The legal advice is that the LMC cannot set the price, and this is up to individual practices. We recommend that practices refer to the BMA guide regarding setting fees. Invoices should include the usual terms for a commercial invoice.
The ICB have advised that they are working on a solution. We invited them to provide wording for this newsletter, but despite a delay in sending it out we have not received any.
As the ICB accepts that this service is non-core we expect that they will pay invoices without issue. If there are any problems please inform the LMC.