The GPC plans to challenge the CQC on plans to hike fees tor GP practice inspection by an ‘unprecedented’ amount next year.
Commenting on the CQC’s fees consultation launched yesterday, GPC chair Dr Chaand Nagpaul said GPs would be ‘staggered’ at this proposal coming at a time ‘when many are struggling financially’.
He said that, if adopted, the new fees would see GP practices ’collectively paying £40 million a year’ towards ’an imposed system they do not have confidence in’.
He said: ’[This] adds insult to injury and will do nothing to repair the poor standing of the CQC with the GP profession at large.
’This significant financial burden could be the final straw for many GPs and practices with many already having to cope with swingeing cuts to their core budgets and escalating costs of keeping a practice open.
’[The GPC] has been consistently raising concerns about this process in our discussions with the CQC and during the consultation we will robustly challenge these wholly unjustified and damaging proposals.’
He also said the Government’s assurance it would resource GP practices to cover fees with a £15m injection of funding via the GPC contract ‘provides no assurance that the costs will be fully met, nor that it will be recurrently available’.
The CQC has proposed to increase the fees for GP inspection by more than 550% within two years, translating to an increase of £15,000 for some practices.
The fee for the 2015/16 year represented a 9% increase on 2014/15.
