We represent all GPs and looking after the interests of GPs means looking after the interests of the whole practice. We particularly value our close working with Practice Managers.

Yes, we are local as our name suggests but our influence extends over national issues too.

Technically, your LMC covers the area of the county – or to be more precise, covers those practices whose main surgery is in the county. NHS England has to recognise only one LMC for each specific area, though LMCs can cover a greater or smaller geographical area depending on local arrangements. Across the East of England, the regional LMCs may on occasions work closely together, but we all maintain our own offices and employ our own staff.

The LMC represents you in negotiations locally on all matters that affect General Practice with the CCG, NHS England, the STP, the Acute and Community Trusts, Educational and Local Authorities, the Police and third parties.

The LMC operates as the link between local GPs and their national negotiating body, the General Practitioners Committee (GPC). The GPC is a Branch of Practice Committee of the BMA and is recognised as the sole negotiating body for all NHS GPs with the government. Our Chair, Dr Diana Hunter has an elected seat representing Cambridgeshire GPs, as does our CEO, Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer who also has a seat on BMA Council, speaking up for all doctors across the East of England.

We represent the best of General Practice – aiming to help the local NHS become something we can all be rightly proud of. We are instrumental in agreeing and operating local procedures such as those for performance assessment, management of the local performers list, post payment verification, enhanced commissioning negotiations, contractual affairs – the list goes on. The LMC is the only body that represents all Cambridgeshire NHS GPs as providers.

The LMC is here for all local GPs. Our job is to look after you, so you can concentrate on looking after your patients. We urge you to get in touch with us whenever you feel in need of representation, support or advice.

Your LMC is independent and owned by the GPs we represent. We are not restricted by being a union or by the rules of being an NHS body and we are not part of the BMA.

Every member elected to our Committee represents all GPs in their patch be they partners, salaried GPs, locums – in fact, every GP who is registered on the local Performers List and each and every practice across the County. The LMC operates an election process that allows some seats to be reserved for under-represented groups of local GPs to ensure a fair balance.

We have a Constitution that sets out our democratic processes, and we have open and fair elections for all of our seats. Our processes have to comply with the law and have to be recognised by NHS England. But representation is about more than just democracy: it is about professionalism.

The LMC supports individual doctors and partnerships in difficulty. We help doctors with a broad spectrum of problems – from complaints to legacies from patients! We support individual GPs and practices to resolve their differences with professionalism and integrity. We support doctors through the local performance procedures, through suspension procedures, and through GMC hearings. GPs are helped by being supported by an LMC that has experience of dealing with a great many problems, and we have witnessed most ways of falling below the high standards of the profession. The LMC is greatly involved in all aspects of the local performance procedures and works closely with our other regulators in the CQC and GMC.

Of course, some doctors get accused of things they have not done, and some accused of things they have done. Sometimes the accusation misunderstands the actions of the GP or fails to see the whole picture. The LMC will always support any GP in difficulty, but the LMC does not condone bad practice and always strives to avoid bringing the profession into disrepute.