Parliamentary debate over private firm ‘interference’ to North Durham GPs
There's calls for an investigation into the use of private firms at GP practices in Durham.
Durham City MP, Roberta Blackman-Wood, is leading a debate at Westminster Hall in parliament today.
It’s after North Durham CCG introduced a Rapid Specialist Opinion project in October, where GPs now pass referrals onto a private firm, when they believe patients may need to see a specialist.
Cardiology, gynaecology, dermatology and gastroenterology cases are affected.
Roberta has concerns over the year-long contract with About Health Group, a London-based firm which provides services to the NHS. She said:
“We’re quite worries that it will just be an addition tier of bureaucracy that might actually lead to a worsening of patient’s health further down the line and this might actually incur greater costs for the NHS.
“I want the Health Minister to say that he’s going to investigate the situation, that he’s going to check whether, for example, it’s legally possible for the CCG to send people’s medical details to a private company without letting them know.
“My constituents don’t want a private company to be interfering in saying whether they can be referred to a specialist or not they think that that is something GP’s should be doing. There really is very strong public resistance to this.”
The scheme is being tested in North Tyneside too, where BMA Chairperson and GP Dr George Rae is based. He said:
“I’m sitting on at the present time two referrals which have been put back to myself for me to be able to move it forward for the patient. With everything else that I am doing within the NHS at the present time then that is another obstacle to have to circumvent, another box to have to tick.
“I would hope that it’s just short term experience within the NHS but it seems to be moving out. Its moved out to another area in the North of England and it’s not inconceivable that it might be something which starts to happen across the whole of England and Wales.
North Durham CCG told us ‘**Rapid Specialist Opinion is being put in place to make sure practices follow clinical guidelines which have been agreed locally with GPs, hospital consultants and many other relevant practitioners.
‘This will improve referral quality and ensure that all referrals follow the most recent clinical guidelines. This will ensure that patients are treated in the most appropriate way, first time.’
‘Independent specialists/consultants are NHS professionals contracted by the RSO provider to triage referrals based on the agreed clinical guidelines. The** GP will submit the same clinical information relevant to the referral as they would have sent to the chosen provider, had RSO not been in place. Patients are offered choice by the GP as they would be for any other referral. RSO provides a response within a maximum of 2 working days. The onward referral takes then takes a maximum of 1 working day.’
The cost of each referral letter to About Health is £10 whereas the CCG say the approximate cost of an unnecessary outpatient appointment varied depending on the specialty but is typically around £150.
Durham City MP, Roberta Blackman-Wood has raised concerns over the lack of a public consultation but the CCG insist so there was no requirement for them to consult with the public.
Watch the debate at 11am here: http://parliamentlive.tv/