Trust wins contracts for four more GP practices

A community health trust has won four more APMS GP contracts, bringing the total number of GP contracts under its control to ten.

The East London Foundation Trust (ELFT) now provides GP care to 80,000 registered patients across north east London, Bedfordshire and Luton, with all but one of the practices under APMS contracts.

The four new contracts, which have been in place from the start of this month, are now ‘integrated’ with the trust, bringing in over 30 staff and 17,500 patients.

According to the ELFT, this ‘union’ of GP practices highlights its ‘alignment with the NHS England Fuller stocktake report’, which in 2022 argued for better integration between primary care and other NHS services.

However, the trust told Pulse it has a unique model where practices are run under APMS contracts won by the trust, rather than being subcontracted.

Two of the practices, the Cauldwell Medical Centre in Bedford and the Kingsway and Bramingham Medical Centre in Luton, had previously been run by the large GP chain Operose Health.

The trust said its collaboration with GP practices focuses on ‘enhancing patient experiences and fostering strong partnerships with local health and social care organisations’.

‘This union highlights ELFT’s commitment to local population health and its alignment with the NHS England Fuller stocktake report,’ the trust’s primary care team added.

ELFT deputy CEO and chief operating officer Edwin Ndlovu said: ‘It is an exciting time as we collaborate to focus on community-centric healthcare, forging stronger connections, and innovatively addressing essential health challenges.’

Last year, a leading think tank argued that widespread implementation of trusts managing GP services will not fix the main issue facing general practice – that the supply of GPs does not meet the current demand for care.

Ahead of the Fuller Stocktake’s publication, then health secretary Sajid Javid put his backing behind a report which recommended phasing out the GMS contract by 2030, with the majority of GPs contracted by providers such as hospital trusts.

Government officials had also visited the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust’s salaried GP model, which managed nine GP practices, to explore ‘alternative ways to deliver primary care’.

Under the Wolverhampton model, practices subcontracted their GMS contracts to the trust.

Pulse previously reported that the Royal Wolverhampton Trust had struggled to fill GP vacancies across its fully salaried practices amid ‘high’ cost pressures.