I spoke about

– ensuring that the minutes of the last Council meeting reflected the fact that potential conflicts of interest in the authors of the Inquiry into Patient Centred Care in the 21st century report was noted

-that GPs had to be able to lead in deciding what  their own learning needs are rather rather than having this imposed by a protocol

-clarification on the role of the nominations committee in terms of deciding the characteristics of a ‘fit and proper’ person to hold Trustee office

– credentialing – this should not be a business opportunity, and GPs need to have the confidence that care of people with dementia, mental illness, in old age are core GP skills and should not be allowed to devolve away from being normal GP work (otherwise we risk making care for the majority worse, not better)

– Enquiry into patient centred care – I expressed opposition to tactic approval that GPs should work more with commercial and third sector providers. There is no guarantee that these will benefit patients and repeat experience with commercial providers has found numerous problems. It is a very English-centred report. The report urges more outcomes payments and more QOF, which ignores the numerous concerns about the harms this leads to and goes counter to the ‘patient centred approach’ the report calls for elsewhere. There was much about supposedly ‘consensus views’ but very little evidence in terms of citations or qualitative reporting.  There is an over optimistic view of the use of technology in the NHS which risks widening health inequalities.  I also raised concerns about how the authors were chosen and urged critical appraisal not acceptance of this report. (here – http://www.rcgp.org.uk/policy/rcgp-policy-areas/inquiry-into-patient-centred-care-in-the-21st-century.aspx)