This site is intended for health professionals only


Serious issues with GP training payments since Capita handover, warns BMA

GP practices are not receiving reimbursements for training payments since this became the responsibility of Capita, the BMA has warned.

Practices from a wide range of regions said that since NHS England regional teams stopped doing the task, and it was outsourced to the NHS England support services provider, the new payments system has ‘hit serious problems’.

The BMA said the issues spanned Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Humberside, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the North East.

It added that this comes at a time ‘when practice budgets are being squeezed’ and ’causing serious issues for the practices involved’.

Dr Krishna Kasaraneni, the GPC’s education, training and workforce subcommittee chair said: ’Capita’s incompetence at delivering a service that they have signed up to is extraordinary. Practices up and down the country are now left without support for calculation of trainees salary and are not getting the salary reimbursed.

’Practices cannot absorb this level of financial drain at a time when they are stretched to the breaking point already. We have escalated this as a matter of priority to NHSE and anything less than immediate resolution will not be satisfactory.’

Practices are resonsible for paying GP registrars but Primary Care Support England (Capita) for reimbursing the cost.

A Capita spokesperson said: ‘There has recently been some confusion regarding the different elements of this process across all parties which has resulted in some delays. All reimbursements due will be paid during September and where necessary back dated to August.’

This is the latest in a string of issues with primary care support services chronicled by Pulse.

Recent problems included Capita mistakenly flagging patients for removal from practice lists in error, and practice staff being put at risk after a two-week delay in removing a violent patient.

Earlier this year, GP practices were struggling with delayed transfers of patient records as well as a lack of basic clinical supplies.

The GPC also said that practices reported patient notes going missing, leading to the Information Commissioner’s Office enquiring about information governance breaches.

Last month, the GPC passed a motion of no confidence in Capita for its primary care support services in light of the failures, which it claims are putting patients at risk.