In this issue: North Central London Councils win LGC health and social care award; Gynaecology high-volume low-complexity hub helping to reduce waiting lists for patients; Additional diagnostic capacity to be established at Wood Green Shopping Centre; Changes to NCL patient transport services; Frances O’Callaghan appointed Designate Chief Executive for the North Central London Integrated Care Board and more.

Frances O’Callaghan has been successfully appointed as the Designate Chief Executive for the NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) for North Central London, following an open and robust recruitment process. The North Central London ICB will come into existence in 2022 when the Health and Care Bill is passed, as a new NHS body.

Earlier this month, NHS England/Improvement published a document called ‘Our plan for improving access for patients and supporting general practice’. The document is focused on outlining a package of support to increase capacity in, and access to, general practice. This includes an announcement of a £250 million ‘Winter Access Fund’. We are working with all north central London (NCL) GP practices to co-produce a General Practice Winter Access Plan for NCL with them. As the basis for our response we will use the wealth of suggestions GPs and practice staff have already talked to us about. We have also thanked all our incredible primary care colleagues for the incredible job that we know they are doing in tremendously challenging circumstances.