Exasperation with GP support services

NHS England must take responsibility for and address the systemic failings in GP support services following last year’s takeover by private firm Capita. BMA GPs committee chair Chaand Nagpaul has written to NHS England to express his concern, following a ‘multitude of serious complaints’ from GPs regarding PCS (Primary Care Support) England. In his letter of 6 May, Dr Nagpaul (pictured) explains that shortcomings and delays in practices’ core administrative functions were resulting in increased workloads and impacting care quality for patients. He says: ‘Capita appears to have been considerably under-prepared for the level of work and resource required for the roll-out of new services related to patient records transfer and provision of medical supplies, and the reconfiguration of PCS offices. ‘The pilot and interim solutions continue to be unsatisfactory and have led to significant delays in receiving patients’ records, and increased workload, disruption and expense to practices.’   Delays and disruption Capita was last year awarded a seven- to 10-year contract to operate the then Primary Care Support Service by NHS England, which provides administrative and payment services to health providers such as GPs and pharmacies. The deal, worth up to £400m, meant that from 1 September 2015 Capita became the sole provider for the primary care support services framework in England. In awarding the deal, NHS England also ta...
Source: BMA News - Category: UK Health Source Type: news