NHS officials have abandoned plans to award a £12 million rural general practitioner contract with a private company following a public outcry.
The fight over who runs the Whitnell Health Center in Brinscoll, a village near Chorley, Lancashire, has been highlighted I Earlier this month, the David vs. Goliath moment was considered. The UK Physicians’ Association said the controversy showed a much broader trend, namely the assumption that “more is better when it comes to primary health care”.
The Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) initially selected SSP Health, the largest primary health care provider in the North West of England, as their preferred choice to run the centre, but declined, agreeing to the admitted absence. public.
ICB now has Dr. Ann Robinson, Whitnell’s only partner to have worked at the center for 10 years, was given an 18-month contract during which a new bidding process for the future center would be conducted. Dr. Robinson said it I that her patients were “unaware” that the SSP, which runs 40 clinics, was entitled to a 10-year contract and “didn’t really have a chance to speak out about it.”
Earlier this month, she said her employees allegedly refused to work for SSP, calling the process “similar to how a supermarket fights Tesco.”
Patients formed the Whitnell Rescue Health Center action group, led by counselor Margaret France, who has been a general practitioner at the center for 30 years.
House Speaker and Chorley MP Sir Lindsay Hoyle emailed residents about the decision on Wednesday morning, expressing concern about the situation. He said that the 18-month contract of Dr. Robinson was given “time to allow the ICB to start a new bidding process for a long-term service contract.”
Sir Lindsay said: “ICB stated that the involvement of local users in the future process will be more thorough. I’m sure you’ll agree that this is good news. It will be Dr. Allow Robinson to continue with treatment while a new process can be done with real consultations.”
ICB head Kevin Lavery said he was “inundated with public feedback”.
In a statement on Wednesday, he said: “A full and thorough review of the commissioning process, including the procurement of services for Withnell Medical Center, has come after significant concerns have been expressed by staff, patients and residents over the past few weeks. I want to reassure our locals that we were listening.
“During our review, we found that the patient engagement currently taking place was not thorough enough and therefore the decision was made to terminate the current procurement process.
“ICB intends to continue working with Withnell patients and the community to initiate a new procurement process for a long-term service contract. To ensure business continuity at Withnell Medical Center, the current transitional arrangements will be extended for another 18 months.”
Apologizing to residents, Mr Lavery acknowledged that the ICB “could do more to educate patients.”
SSP Health said it intends to keep the team at the medical center and build on its reputation to continue to provide “the best care possible.”
SSP CEO Andy Skaife said the company is considering legal action against the decision. He said: “Today, the ICB publicly acknowledged its shortcomings in the procurement process, especially in relation to the patient retention process, in awarding a new contract to operate the Withnell Medical Center in Chorley.
“SSP Health has followed every step of the procurement process to the best of its ability and has always acted in the best interests of Withnell Health Center patients. However, some individuals have falsely and knowingly made misleading and in some cases outright false statements about SSP Health, both in the press and on social media. This is not in the best interests of the patients, nor is it in the best interests of the public procurement procedures that we strictly followed.
“While we did nothing wrong during this process, the limitations of the process prevented us from fully protecting ourselves. However, we will now reconsider our position and reserve the right to sue anyone who makes false or defamatory statements against us.”
Dr. Robinson was contacted for comment. The first tender process began when the previous incumbent for which Dr. Robinson was the main partner, was dissolved at the end of 2021.
Source: I News
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