19^th July 2011

Statement from Denise McLellan, Chief Executive, Birmingham and Solihull NHS Cluster

We are listening to the concerns patients have raised about changes proposed at the practice and we have taken steps to ensure that patients continue to receive a service from St James.

The PCT is there to act in the interests of patients and to ensure continued access to GP services. We have and continue to do this but in this instance we acknowledge we should have talked with patients sooner about why we gave notice to the existing provider.

We want to reassure patients that they can continue to receive a service at St James. There are currently two practices operating from St James, one run by The Practice PLC, a national GP provider and one run by Vitality, a local partnership of GPs. The Practice PLC has received notice from the PCT to cease from December this year, with the main reason being that they do not have a lease agreement in place for the accommodation.

The Vitality practice, which continues at St James, has capacity to see patients and they are currently in discussion with the GP and existing staff at The Practice PLC about them continuing to see patients in the building but under the management of the Vitality Practice. This would mean that patients had a high level of continuity of care. In addition, if any patients wish to register with another practice we will support them to do this and advise on local choices.

By way of background, we made arrangements five years ago, when a GP retired, to secure an on-going service through a national GP provider called Chilvers McRae. This secured continuity of care for patients and we were encouraged by Chilvers McRae’s proposed plans for service developments.  We later picked up concerns about patient experience regarding issues such as access and also we identified a heavy reliance on locum (freelance) GPs which did not offer the level of continuity we were looking for. More recently we were further concerned by public reporting about the financial viability of Chilvers Mcrae and we looked at alternatives, based around the opportunity presented by a five year break clause in the ten year contract.

Subsequently, The Practice PLC took over Chilvers Mcrae prior to the end of the five year period. They employed a regular GP at the practice.  However, it later emerged that The Practice PLC did not have in place a lease agreement with the current premises owners and as a result were given notice to exit the premises. The decision to terminate the contract went ahead on the basis that there was no suitable alternative accommodation in place and the additional costs of such accommodation in the current economic climate could not be justified by the PCT when there was space available at St James and at nearby practices.

We recognise and have listened to the positive comments as well as the loyalty shown to the current GP and staff employed by the Practice PLC. Whilst we cannot guarantee premises or the employment of GPs and staff who work for any GP practice, we have encouraged discussions between the two practices- Vitality and The Practice PLC. As a result we hope there may be some continued arrangements for staff from The Practice PLC as we recognise this as a potential solution for patients.

There is a meeting on the 20th July with patients where we are planning to update patients at the practice and listen to their views. We will decide on next steps after that meeting. Our preference would have been to inform the patient group first.

We want to reassure patients at St James that our intention is to ensure they continue to have access to good quality primary care in their locality.

ENDS

Notes to editors

The Birmingham and Solihull NHS Cluster comprises Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust, NHS South Birmingham, NHS Birmingham East and North, and Solihull Primary Care Trust.
 

The cluster has been entrusted by each of the four PCTs to lead the local NHS, receiving over £2.3 billion per year to commission and provide health care for 1.3 million people across the city and borough. Our vision is to strengthen commissioning, improve quality and assure safety, tackle health inequalities and make best use of precious NHS resources.
 

While PCTs will retain their Boards and statutory responsibilities, the cluster has appointed a single Chief Executive – Denise McLellan, who is the accountable officer for all four PCTs. Denise is supported by an Executive Team which comprises four directors, each of whom is leading on a specific areas of business and transformation.
 

The NHS faces unprecedented challenges in the years ahead. People are living longer, but with greater health and social care needs. People’s health prospects and expectations are improving, but through expensive drugs and technology that place an additional burden on our limited resources. Coming together in this way provides the best opportunity to tackle the challenges ahead and create a financially sustainable legacy for our clinical commissioning colleagues to whom we handover the role of commissioning in 2013. We have set out how we will do this in our blueprint for health and care across Birmingham and Solihull – the System Plan.

Until then, we will be uniting with patients, clinicians and a wide range of diverse organisations across the region to help us get the best in care and quality of life for all.