The GPC has negotiated for GPs to receive a £2m uplift to the global sum as a reimbursement for the added workload that will come when Capita rolls out its new patient record transfer scheme.
The GPC said that under the contract deal, ‘£2 million will be added to the contract to account for increases in practices’ workload as a result of changes to the primary care support services, provided by Capita’.
It said ‘this is to cover the extra work involved in bagging and labelling patient records as the current pilot is extended across England’.
Spread across England’s 7,500 GP practices the funding agreed under the GP contract deal translates to just £266, although this will be weighted based on list size.
The scheme, which has been piloted in Yorkshire, is due be rolled out in phases across England once Capita receives ‘the necessary assurances’, according to a spokesperson.
NHS England has said that the aim of the scheme, which sees GP practices indvidually bagging and labelling patient records for transfer with a barcode, is to increase the speed and security of record transfers.
GPC deputy chair Dr Richard Vautrey said that although ‘there is demonstrable new work to do’ he thinks that ‘the amount goes some way to resource that and as the scheme is rolled out nationally it will be clearer what the long-term implication is’.
The national roll out of bag and barcode was meant to happen in 2016, but Pulse at the time that high turnover practices boycotted the scheme over its workload implications.
Asked when the scheme would start, a Capita spokesperson said: ‘Following on from completion of the pilot, and once we have the necessary assurances, the proposed new service will be rolled out in phases across the country. On average, the current record movement time in West Yorkshire is seven working days.’
