E Joyeaux, representative from the North
East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (NENC ICB), provided
Members with an update regarding the Foundations Harris Street GP Practice
contract; the following points were made:
- This update was provided from the perspective of the NENC ICB; unfortunately,
practice partners were unavailable to attend today’s meeting.
- Reference was made to the stakeholder letter circulated with the
agenda.
- As per the terms and conditions of the
primary care contract, notice could be served at any time with standard
six months’ notice.
- 1,756 patients would be affected by the
closure, which had been a very difficult decision to make. The reasons for the decision could not
be disclosed by the representative.
- Usually, GP practices had in the region of
7,000 patients registered in order to make the
practice financially viable. This
was therefore a very small practice.
- The majority of the patients registered were
non-English speaking and therefore, as a vulnerable cohort, each would be
allocated an alternative practice and have registration completed on their
behalf. This would help ensure that
gaps in service provision were avoided as far as possible. Patients would be contacted via letter
again by the end of February 2023 with details of the practice they had
been registered to. The alternative
practice would be the closest to their home address.
- In acknowledging the current difficulties being experienced by GP
practices across Middlesbrough, it was explained that work was being
undertaken to support affected practices in coping with the additional
pressure of potentially taking on an extra 200 patients. Financial resource would be provided to,
for example, employ additional reception staff.
- The information had been conveyed to patients in seven different
languages via letters, text message and posters, the latter of which had
been displayed at such venues as the International Centre and Citizen’s
Advice Bureau.
During the
discussion that followed, Members raised several points with the
representative; the following information was provided in response:
- In terms of the number of affected patients that were asylum
seekers, and the measures put in place to ensure access to translators
during the 12-month transition period, it was explained that, nationally,
the NHS had contracted Language Empire to supply interpretation
services. All GP practices had
access to these services.
- Regarding the services that would be lost following amalgamation,
and the replication of these, it was explained that the services being
lost were standard General Medical Services (GMSs) for primary medical
care; Harris Street had become a ‘specialist’ enhanced service for asylum
seekers. The service was separate
from the core, but would be rolled out and linked
back to migrant health services.
Reference was made to GP practices being independent businesses,
and the different operating methods that they utilised, for example: some
triaged, some offered specific times for appointments, and some offered
online consultations. The support
package being offered would be in the form of a one-off payment for
practices to assist with the transition.
Work would be undertaken with partners, such as the Strategic
Cohesion and Migration Team, to ensure that new asylum seekers had opportunity to
enroll. Proposals regarding the
enhanced service would be submitted to the ICB Governance Board in due
course.
- It was confirmed that the ICB had not been
made aware of the intended closure prior to the official notice being
received.
- In terms of monitoring the successful
transition to other providers, this would be carried out and performance
reported back to the Health Scrutiny Panel in the autumn. It was commented that, theoretically, no
patient would drop off the system as, owing to classification as a
vulnerable group, all would be physically registered. A Member queried how patients could find
out which practice they were registered to if, for example, they moved home. In response, it was explained that
Healthwatch could usually signpost to practices; the NHS contact centre could assist with registration. If patients were removed from one
register due to a house move, for example, they would automatically be
registered elsewhere and their records transferred, therefore there would
be no gap in care.
- It was explained that, owing to the
patient list size and a subsequent lack of viability, there had not been
any interest from other GPs.
Different contracting options had also been looked at prior to the termination
of the contract, but again, this had not been a viable option for
providers.
The Chair thanked
the representative for the information presented.
NOTED