Ockham Healthcare is running a series of podcasts and blogs on local locum GP chambers because of the impact they can have on an area struggling with GP recruitment. In this second blog in our series Ben Gowland calls on CCGs to do what they can to support their development – but warns against trying to control them.

In the second in our short series on local locum GP chambers Ben talks to Mark Sage a newly qualified GP who opted to work as a locum and found the support he needed within his local locum GP chambers. If you missed the first podcast in this series (which explains all about chambers) you can find it here.

Ben is worried that the General Practice Forward View does not fit with everything else that is going on including the Sustainability and Transformation Plans and the new CCG assessment and improvement framework. In his latest audioblog he warns of the consequences of not joining up the dots.

Can GP practices work in closer collaboration with the local Acute Trust and yet not lose their independence? Ben talks to Dr Berge Balian, a long-standing GP who was appointed Associate Medical Director for Primary Care at Yeovil District Hospital and is one of the clinical leaders for a Primary and Acute Care System (PACS) model. He tells Ben how GP and hospital services have come together, how GPs were convinced to support this new model and how the whole system has benefited.

Locum Chambers are groups of local locum GPs who work together through a shared management structure to support GP practices in a local area. If your area does not have one, Ben Gowland outlines 10 reasons why you should.

One in four GPs is a locum. A local locum GP chambers can be incredibly effective in recruiting and retaining locum GPs into an area and in this podcast we hear from Richard Fieldhouse, a locum GP who developed the first Locum GP Chambers and helped set up the National Association of Sessional GPs. He tells Ben what a Chambers is, how it works and how it benefits practices and sessional GPs.

Increasing GP cynicism about the Government’s Forward View is understandable, argues Ben Gowland in his latest audioblog and, without a clear financial plan, the criticisms can only increase.

Nigel Grinstead is one of the UK’s foremost experts on General Practice operating at scale. He has been involved in most of the country’s largest and most successful GP partnerships. In this episode of our podcast he talks to Ben about the benefits and challenges of General Practice at scale and launches the new Provider Exchange website.

Dr Steve Kell was, until April this year, chair of Bassetlaw CCG and national co-chair of NHS Clinical Commissioners. In this podcast he explains to Ben why he has given up both of these roles and gone back to being a full-time GP. In particular, he talks about the exciting work his practice is undertaking as part of a pilot site for the Primary Care Home.

Continuing our mini-series of podcasts looking at other professional roles in General Practice, Ben talks to Dr Neil Langridge who is a Consultant Physiotherapist in a GP practice. He tells Ben about his role and the positive impact that it has had on patients and the GP workload.