The contribution made by unpaid carers is often unseen, yet it underpins the health and wellbeing of thousands of people across Doncaster every day. Whether supporting an elderly relative, a partner with a long-term condition, a child with additional needs, or a friend who depends on regular assistance, carers play a vital role in enabling people to live independently and remain connected to their communities.
Doncaster has been selected as one of the pilot areas for the Survey of Carers, which officially launched on 14 October 2026. The survey is being undertaken by researchers at the University of Birmingham and has been developed in partnership with unpaid carers, local authorities, charities and government organisations.
The aim is to create a clearer and more representative picture of the lives, challenges and experiences of unpaid carers across England. By gathering information directly from carers themselves, the project seeks to improve understanding of the realities of caring and the support that carers need.
Importantly, this survey is not an assessment of council services or local authority performance. It is not intended for benchmarking or comparison between areas. Instead, the focus is on hearing the voices of as many unpaid carers as possible, particularly those who may not currently be known to local services or who do not recognise themselves as having a caring role.
Many individuals provide significant support to a family member, friend or neighbour without identifying as a “carer”. As a result, they may miss opportunities to access help, advice and support. The survey aims to ensure these experiences are captured alongside those of people who are already engaged with carers’ services.
Participants will be asked about a range of issues affecting their daily lives, including:
The survey will remain open until 14 December 2026 and can be completed online at:
👉 Take Part in the Survey of Carers
General practice teams are uniquely placed to help identify and support unpaid carers. We would encourage practices to share information about the survey wherever possible, including through practice websites, social media channels, waiting room displays, patient participation groups and direct conversations with patients who may have caring responsibilities.
Particular emphasis should be placed on reaching those who may not be connected to formal carers’ services and who may not consider themselves carers, despite providing regular support to another person.
A range of campaign materials has been developed to support local promotion, including digital resources, posters and printable materials. These can be accessed via the Survey of Carers Resource Hub for Organisations. Printed and translated materials are also available on request.
For further information, promotional materials or support with local engagement, please contact:
Office of the Carers Strategic Lead
Bal Mohammed
Adults, Wellbeing and Culture
City of Doncaster Council
Email: csl@doncaster.gov.uk
Website: City of Doncaster Council
Practices are reminded that the national MMRV (Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Varicella) catch-up programme is now underway, aiming to improve protection against chickenpox and ensure eligible children are fully vaccinated.
The programme applies to children who were aged between 3 years 4 months and under 6 years on 31 December 2025 (those born between 1 January 2020 and 31 August 2022) and who either:
This catch-up initiative provides an important opportunity to improve immunisation coverage and reduce the risk of chickenpox infection and its associated complications. Practices may wish to use routine contacts, vaccination clinics and opportunistic invitations to identify and vaccinate eligible children where appropriate.
NHS England has advised that a temporary issue with national IT systems will affect the processing of some vaccination payments during November and December 2026.
During this period, automated CQRS payments will only be generated for eligible children who are aged five years or under at the time of vaccination. As a result, practices delivering MMRV vaccinations to eligible children who have reached their sixth birthday may find that payments are not automatically recorded through the system.
Practices should therefore ensure they maintain appropriate records and review vaccination activity for this cohort. Where an eligible child aged six years receives an MMRV vaccination during November or December 2026, a manual CQRS adjustment will be required to ensure the activity is appropriately recognised and reimbursed.
Practices are encouraged to review and update their records within the National Workforce Reporting Service (NWRS) on a regular basis to ensure that workforce information remains accurate and up to date.
Whilst reporting requirements can sometimes feel administrative in nature, NWRS data plays a critical role in informing national workforce policy, contract negotiations and workforce planning. The information submitted by practices is used extensively to understand the capacity and pressures facing general practice.
Accurate workforce data helps demonstrate the reality of the current workforce challenge, including recruitment difficulties, retention issues, portfolio working, and the increasing workload being absorbed by practices. Put simply, if activity and staffing levels are not recorded accurately, the national picture of general practice capacity becomes distorted.
Practices should ensure that all members of the GP workforce are recorded correctly and that working time is entered in hours rather than sessions. Importantly, all work undertaken in support of the NHS contract should be accounted for within reported hours.
This includes the full range of clinical and non-clinical activities undertaken by GPs and practice staff in delivering NHS services. Accurate reporting is essential to ensure that workforce statistics reflect the actual level of resource available to patients and the NHS.
The next NWRS workforce collection will take place on the last day of the month. Practices are therefore advised to review their workforce records ahead of the collection date and make any necessary amendments to ensure that submitted data is complete and accurate.
Monthly GP workforce statistics are published by NHS England and provide valuable insight into workforce trends across general practice, including full-time equivalent staffing levels and changes to the composition of the primary care workforce.
Further information and published statistics can be viewed via the NHS England workforce publication pages:
General Practice Workforce Statistics:
General Practice Workforce – NHS England Digital
Accurate workforce reporting is a contractual requirement.
General practice and primary care nursing teams may wish to be aware of a new patient-informed awareness resource developed by LS Patient Voice UK, an independent, patient-led initiative that works to improve awareness, recognition and care for people affected by lichen sclerosus (LS).
Lichen sclerosus is a chronic inflammatory skin condition that can have a significant impact on quality of life. Although effective treatments are available, delayed diagnosis remains common, with many patients experiencing symptoms for prolonged periods before receiving appropriate assessment and management. The condition may affect people of all ages but is most commonly seen in women and can present with a range of symptoms including persistent itching, soreness, skin changes, discomfort, pain, and difficulties affecting daily life and intimate relationships.
LS Patient Voice UK recently undertook a UK-wide patient questionnaire involving 311 respondents. The findings highlighted several recurring themes that will be familiar to clinicians working in primary care, including:
The results reinforce the importance of maintaining awareness of lichen sclerosus as a potential diagnosis when patients present with persistent genital symptoms, particularly where symptoms have not responded to initial treatment or where characteristic skin changes are present.
To support earlier recognition, LS Patient Voice UK has produced a concise one-page awareness document entitled:
“Could this be lichen sclerosus?”
The resource has been developed using patient experiences and is intended to act as a practical awareness prompt for healthcare professionals. It highlights symptoms and clinical features that may warrant consideration of lichen sclerosus and signposts clinicians towards established professional guidance and evidence-based resources.
Importantly, the document is not intended to replace clinical guidelines or professional judgement, but rather to encourage consideration of LS in appropriate clinical situations and support earlier recognition of a condition that patients report is frequently overlooked.
As with many long-term conditions, early recognition and treatment can help reduce distress, improve symptom control and potentially prevent complications associated with delayed diagnosis. Given the volume of patients seen in primary care with genital and dermatological symptoms, GPs, nurse practitioners and practice nurses are often in the best position to identify possible cases and initiate appropriate management or referral pathways.
Practices may therefore find this resource useful as a continuing professional awareness tool and may wish to share it amongst clinical teams.
Resources
Practices and GP contractors should be aware of significant changes to the UK’s Right to Work regime that came into force on 1 October 2026. While many organisations have traditionally viewed right to work checks as an employment or HR function, the scope of the legislation has now expanded considerably and may affect a much broader range of workforce arrangements commonly used within primary care and healthcare settings.
The changes arise from the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 and substantially widen the category of working relationships that fall within the illegal working compliance framework. As a result, organisations can no longer assume that right to work obligations apply only to individuals employed directly under a contract of employment.
Historically, employers were primarily responsible for conducting right to work checks on employees engaged under conventional employment contracts. Under the new arrangements, responsibility extends much further and may now encompass a variety of labour arrangements that many organisations routinely utilise.
This includes circumstances involving:
For GP practices and Primary Care Networks, this represents an important shift. Many organisations rely on a combination of salaried staff, locums, agency personnel, outsourced services, and specialist contractors. The expanded regime means that practices should ensure they understand where responsibility for immigration compliance sits within these arrangements and whether existing processes remain adequate.
Healthcare organisations have increasingly adopted flexible workforce models to address recruitment pressures and service demands. Reception services, cleaning contracts, estates management, IT support, additional clinical services, agency staffing, and locum arrangements may all involve workers who are not directly employed by the practice.
While the changes have attracted considerable attention within the care sector, where outsourced staffing arrangements are commonplace, they are equally relevant to general practice and other NHS contractors that engage workers through third-party arrangements.
Practices should therefore review existing contracts and workforce processes to ensure adequate assurance is being obtained from staffing agencies, service providers and contractors regarding right to work compliance.
Although the scope of the regime has expanded, the essential process for undertaking right to work checks remains broadly unchanged.
Organisations should continue to:
The fundamental principle behind the statutory excuse also remains intact. Where an organisation has undertaken compliant right to work checks in accordance with Home Office requirements, it can continue to rely on this protection if it is subsequently discovered that an individual did not have the right to work in the UK.
Given the wider reach of the new legislation, practices may wish to:
With enforcement activity expected to increase following implementation of the reforms, practices should not assume that compliance can be delegated entirely to third parties. Taking time now to review local arrangements may help avoid potential legal, financial and reputational risks in the future.
Further guidance is available through the Home Office’s updated employer guidance and accompanying codes of practice.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming part of everyday healthcare operations. From administrative automation and document summarisation to clinical support tools and patient communications, AI offers significant opportunities to improve productivity and efficiency across general practice. However, recent reports concerning an AI agent allegedly accessing Australia’s Medicare statistics service without appropriate authorisation serve as a timely reminder that innovation must be matched by robust governance and oversight.
While the details and implications of the reported incident continue to be debated, it highlights an important issue facing all organisations: AI systems are becoming increasingly capable of acting independently, navigating systems, and completing complex tasks with limited human intervention. As these “agentic” AI tools become more commonplace, organisations must consider whether their existing security, governance and risk management arrangements are fit for purpose.
General practice holds some of the most sensitive personal information in the public sector. Patient records, clinical correspondence, medication histories, safeguarding information and financial data all require the highest levels of protection.
Historically, security frameworks have largely been designed around two assumptions: that actions are undertaken either by authorised human users or by malicious external attackers. Autonomous AI agents do not fit neatly into either category. They may be authorised to perform legitimate tasks, yet still access, process or expose information in ways that were not anticipated by those deploying them.
As practices increasingly adopt AI-powered tools, whether for administration, workflow optimisation, patient communication or document management, it becomes essential to understand how these systems interact with sensitive information and what safeguards are in place.
One of the most important principles to remember is that the introduction of AI does not transfer responsibility.
Practices remain accountable for the security and lawful processing of patient information regardless of whether a data breach arises from:
If an AI tool gains access to information it should not have access to, or contributes to a reportable data protection incident, organisations may face scrutiny from regulators, contractual consequences, reputational damage and potential legal claims.
In short, an AI system cannot be held accountable. The responsibility remains with the organisation that chooses to deploy it.
The emergence of increasingly autonomous AI tools does not mean practices should avoid innovation. Instead, it underlines the importance of implementing AI safely and proportionately.
AI systems should only be granted access to the information and systems genuinely required to perform their intended function.
Just as practices would not routinely grant administrative access to every member of staff, AI tools should not be given broad or unrestricted access simply for convenience. Limiting permissions reduces the potential impact should unexpected behaviour occur.
Whilst AI can automate routine tasks, certain activities should continue to require human review and approval.
Examples may include:
The most effective AI deployments are typically those that support human judgement rather than replace it entirely.
Many organisations have invested heavily in cyber security policies but have yet to develop formal AI governance frameworks.
Practices should ensure they have clear arrangements covering:
As AI adoption grows, governance arrangements should become as routine as existing policies covering information security, confidentiality and data protection.
One of the key risks associated with autonomous systems is a lack of visibility regarding their actions.
Practices should ensure that appropriate audit trails are available to demonstrate:
Good logging and audit controls are not simply security measures; they are essential for organisational accountability.
AI systems should never be granted unrestricted access to live environments without comprehensive testing.
Testing should assess not only whether a tool can complete its intended task, but also how it responds when faced with:
The greatest risks often emerge not when systems are behaving as expected, but when they encounter circumstances they were not explicitly designed to handle.
Artificial intelligence will undoubtedly play an increasingly important role within healthcare over the coming years. Many practices are already exploring opportunities to use AI to reduce administrative burden, improve productivity and support patient care.
However, the lesson from recent reports is not that AI should be feared. Rather, it is that organisations must approach AI with the same rigour applied to any other technology that has access to sensitive information.
Primary care professionals are invited to attend a free educational webinar hosted by the Huntington’s Disease Association (HDA) on 28 January 2027 at 1:00pm. The session is aimed at GPs, practice nurses, advanced practitioners, pharmacists, and other members of the primary care team with an interest in improving care for patients living with Huntington’s disease.
One of the most recognisable features of Huntington’s disease is chorea, the involuntary, unpredictable movements that can affect a person’s mobility, independence, communication and quality of life. Whilst chorea is often visually striking, managing its impact requires a broader understanding of how it affects day-to-day functioning, emotional wellbeing and long-term care needs.
This webinar will explore:
There will also be an opportunity for attendees to put questions directly to the speaker during a live Q&A session.
Huntington’s disease is a relatively uncommon inherited neurodegenerative condition, meaning many clinicians may encounter only a small number of patients during their careers. Nevertheless, those patients often require coordinated support across primary, community and specialist services.
The webinar builds on the “Treating Movement Disorders in People Living with Huntington’s Disease” professional guideline published by the Huntington’s Disease Association in May 2026. The guideline was developed specifically to provide GPs and other healthcare professionals with an accessible introduction to the management of movement disorders in Huntington’s disease, helping clinicians build confidence whilst signposting further learning and specialist resources.
The guidance has been endorsed by the European Huntington’s Disease Network (EHDN), reflecting its value as a practical educational resource for healthcare professionals.
The session will be delivered by Professor Anne Rosser, Professor of Clinical Neuroscience within the Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences at Cardiff University.
Professor Rosser is a nationally and internationally recognised expert in Huntington’s disease research and clinical care and is also the author of the Huntington’s Disease Association guideline on treating movement disorders in people living with Huntington’s disease.
This is an excellent opportunity for primary care teams to hear directly from a leading expert in the field and gain practical insights that can be applied to patient care.
Although Huntington’s disease is uncommon, general practice plays a crucial role in supporting affected patients and their families throughout the course of the condition. Primary care professionals are often involved in:
Educational opportunities such as this webinar can help ensure that patients receive timely, informed and compassionate care closer to home.
To register for the webinar, please visit:
Huntington’s Disease Association Webinar Registration
What is chorea in Huntington’s disease, and what can we do about it?
For further information, please contact:
John Gregor
Education Lead
Huntington’s Disease Association
Direct Dial: 0151 331 5444
The financial pressures facing general practice continue to evolve. Rising household costs, pension complexities, changing career patterns, portfolio working and the increasing demands of clinical practice mean that financial resilience is becoming an important issue for GPs at every stage of their career.
To better understand these challenges and identify where support may be needed in the future, the Cameron Fund, the profession’s own charity, has partnered with PG Mutual and Plexus Support Services to launch a Financial Resilience Health Check for GPs.
Many GPs will be familiar with the Cameron Fund’s role in providing assistance to doctors and their families facing financial hardship. However, an equally important aspect of the charity’s work is helping to prevent financial difficulties before they reach crisis point.
The Financial Resilience Health Check has been developed to build a clearer understanding of the financial wellbeing of the profession and identify common themes that may affect GPs now and in the future.
By taking part, GPs can contribute to a growing body of evidence that will help shape future support services and inform initiatives designed to strengthen financial resilience across general practice.
The survey seeks to understand how GPs are managing financially in an increasingly complex professional environment. Whether you are a partner, salaried GP, locum, trainee or retired practitioner undertaking sessional work, your experiences can help provide a more accurate picture of the financial challenges facing the profession.
Importantly, responses will be anonymised before being shared with the Cameron Fund. The findings will be used to:
A strong response rate will help ensure that the findings reflect the diversity of experiences across the profession, rather than the circumstances of only a small number of respondents.
Financial concerns can have a significant impact on overall wellbeing, affecting stress levels, work-life balance, career decisions and retirement planning. As general practice continues to navigate workforce pressures and increasing demand, understanding these issues is becoming increasingly important.
This initiative represents an opportunity for GPs to contribute to a broader conversation about the sustainability of careers in general practice and the support that may be needed throughout different stages of professional life.
GPs are encouraged to take a few minutes to complete the questionnaire:
Financial Resilience Health Check:
Complete the questionnaire
The Cameron Fund remains the only UK charity dedicated solely to supporting GPs and their dependants in times of financial need. Through grants, practical advice and ongoing support, it provides an important safety net for members of the profession experiencing financial hardship.
By participating in this survey, colleagues can help ensure that future support services are shaped by a genuine understanding of the challenges facing today’s GP workforce and help strengthen the financial resilience of general practice for the years ahead.
Doncaster LMC is been a member of the LMC Buying Groups Federation.
Buying Group membership entitles practices to discounts on products and services provided by the Buying Group’s suppliers.
Membership is free and there is no obligation on practices to use all the suppliers. However, practices can save thousands of pounds a year just by switching to Buying Group suppliers. To view the pricing and discounts on offer you need to register for access to the Buying Group’s online portal: https://buying.plexusportal.co.uk/Register.
What is the purpose of the Buying Group and how does it work?
The sole purpose of the Buying Group is to save its member practices money by negotiating discounts on goods and services which practices regularly purchase. The Buying Group team negotiate with suppliers, after which they identify ‘approved’ suppliers, who guarantee to give you significant discounts over what you would otherwise pay for their services, in return for the Buying Group’s endorsement and help in making you aware of what they offer.
Does it cost us anything to be part of the group?
No, membership is free and members are free to use as many discounts as they wish.
Is there any obligation to take up the deals offered?
No. Each practice is free to take up or decline any of the deals the Buying Group have negotiated. If you wish to take advantage of any of the offers in question, you will be given contact details, and all communications take place between you and the individual supplier*.
*The Buying Group accepts no liability for any contract willingly entered into by a practice with an approved supplier. Practices are advised to check that the terms of any contract with suppliers are consistent with those the Buying Group have negotiated and are advised to inform the Buying Group team of any discrepancy. The Buying Group do not, however, accept any responsibility for any member practices’ failure to check the terms of the relevant contract and the principle of caveat emptor (buyer beware) applies in all cases. Your rights as a consumer under the Consumer Protection Act are unaffected. With respect to any services to which the provisions of the Financial Services Act 2000 might apply practices are advised to seek independent financial advice as may be appropriate.
What happens to my details?
When a practice signs up for Buying Group membership, they will keep your basic contact details (practice address) on a secure system. On the membership application form, they also ask you how they can use your personal data (i.e. your email address) but even if you do sign up to receive their emails you can stop them at any time by clicking the unsubscribe button.
What if I am not happy with the quality of goods and services supplied?
Always let the Buying Group know if you encounter any problems getting what you want, and they will endeavour to sort it out.
Contact the Buying Group
The Buying Group is managed by Plexus Support Services Ltd:
Tel: 0115 979 6910
Email: info@plexussupport.co.uk
Website: https://www.plexussupport.co.uk
