Labour calls for 'inquiry' into outsourced NHS contract failings

The Labour Party is calling for an “immediate investigation” into the failings of a major NHS contract outsourced to private firm Capita to handle patient notes, GP payments and cancer screening.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth has called on the secretary of state for health, Jeremy Hunt, to step in and pay GP trainee salaries directly.

This follows a letter from the British Medical Association (BMA) which set out failings in the national contract providing support services to NHS GPs, pharmacists, opticians, and dentists.

Mr Ashworth says: “Will you agree to undertake a thorough investigation into how these sustained failings were allowed to take place under the watch of your Department?

“The public will rightly want to understand why this service was outsourced in the first place and how it became yet another example of botched privatisation.”

In a letter last week chair of the BMA’s GP Committee Dr Richard Vautrey said there have been “systematic failings” across the service since NHS England appointed Capita as the sole provider two years ago.

This includes delays to patient registrations, which are “affecting patient care and practice cash flow”, patient notes “going missing” as Capita moves them across the country when a patient changes practices, and, practices not being properly paid to cover the salaries of GP trainees at their practice, meaning they are having to pay the junior doctors directly out of the practice budget.

The BMA also raised concerns about other the services that Capita is responsible for and which are due to be overhauled next year, including the national system for inviting women for cervical cancer smear testing, and sending out test results.

Capita accepts that there have been issues with the transition, but says it is improving and that it is being blamed for some areas which are outside its control – such as GP training payments in parts of the country it does not administer.

Mr Ashworth’s letter says: “Clearly PCSE services remain far below the high standards rightly expected by the public. Instead of delivering high quality care, Capita’s failings are placing GP services and staff under needless additional pressure with significant ramifications for patient safety.

“New systems for cervical screening and GP payments and pensions that are also contracted out to Capita are due to go live next July. However, the BMA has declared it has “no confidence” in Capita’s ability to deliver these services.”

He added: “These failings must never be allowed to be repeated. I look forward to receiving your assurances that the matter is being dealt with swiftly and with the severity it requires.”

A Capita spokesperson said: “This is a major transformation project to modernise a localised and unstandardised service, which inevitably has meant some challenges.

"This letter does not accurately reflect our involvement and responsibilities in PCSE, nor does it reflect our recent correspondence from NHS England who have recognised the improvements and significant progress being made across services in 2017, which has been demonstrated through improved and increasing customer satisfaction. We are continuing to transform locally managed operations into a modern and efficient national customer-focused service for NHS England and all primary care organisations.”

The Independent approached the Department of Health for comment but had not received a response at time of publication.