NHS England and CCGs investigating half-day closing sub-contracting arrangements

NHS England and various London CCGs have been carrying out analysis of practices’ opening hours based on the information provided in their E-Declarations. Some commissioners have identified practices who have declared that they close for half a day per week and have examined their sub-contracting arrangements in line with the guidance issued by NHS England in December 2017.

In the majority of the cases that we have seen so far, commissioners have determined that the practices’ sub-contracting arrangements are not satisfactory as they are not meeting their patients’ reasonable needs. Their definition of patients’ needs is derived from the 2017 NHS England guidance.

Practices in this situation be given three months to either terminate their current sub-contracting arrangements and open throughout core hours (8:00am to 6.30pm), or make alternative arrangements with a sub-contractor who is able to provide access to services as defined in NHS England’s guidance. Practices have been warned that failure to comply with this Contract Advisory Notice will result in contractual action against them.

As NHS England’s guidance was issued by their national team, we have escalated this issue formally to the BMA’s General Practitioners’ Committee (GPC), because they are responsible for national level negotiations.

If your practice receives a formal breach/remedial notice from NHS England/your local CCG, please notify our GP Support team as soon as possible at: gpsupport@lmc.org.uk.

You may also wish to refer to our Winter Planning Guidance.

Last updated : 25 Jan 2019

Superfast broadband vouchers worth up to £3000 are available. (11 Sep 2015)

The government’s superfast broadband connection vouchers are still available to small and medium sized businesses in 22 super connected cities across the UK. London is one of the 22 super...

Don’t let your NMC registration lapse – important information for nurses and practice managers. (11 Sep 2015)

From November 2015 anyone who allows their registration to lapse will need to make an application for readmission to regain access to the registrar. This could take between two...

Updated Subject Access Requests (SARs) guidance from the BMA (11 Sep 2015)

The BMA has issued guidance Focus on’ guidance on Subject Access Requests (SARs) for insurance purposes. The guidance has been updated following the Information Commissioner’s Office input and includes...

Training and development events for GPs and practice staff (11 Sep 2015)

Reflective Practice Masterclass (10 October 2015, 13 November 2015 and 4 December 2015) – Each master class helps individuals to identify both the organisational and psychological barriers to change and...

Increased savings on magazine subscription packages with DLT Magazines (11 Sep 2015)

DLT are the UK’s leading supplier of magazine subscription packages to businesses. Offering permanent discounts of up to 70% off cover prices and a range of over 150 leading titles,...

Egg-free flu vaccine Optaflu now available (11 Sep 2015)

MASTA, one of the Buying Group’s approved flu vaccine suppliers for the 2015-16 season, is now carrying stocks of the egg-free flu vaccine Optaflu. This can be delivered out with...

Retired Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) indicators update (11 Sep 2015)

Following concerns highlighted by practices in relation to the request from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) to extract data related to retired QOF indicators, the BMA’s General...

Friends and Family Test - act now to avoid a breach notice (11 Sep 2015)

We are aware that there may be some confusion about the data required for the Friends and Family Test (FFT). NHS England data on the monthly returns show that many...

Warning for practices over PBX phone systems (11 Sep 2015)

There are reports that some businesses have recently been victims of PBX (Private Branch Exchanges) fraud where a hacker accessed their phone lines and made premium rate calls at a...