GP practice shuts down after insurance lapses
A GP practice has shut its doors completely after its insurance lapsed, leaving thousands of patients without access to a doctor. The NHS watchdog has been notified and it is understood it will be contacting the surgery to establish the circumstances of the closure. The situation at the Blandford Group Practice, which runs four medical centres in Dorset and cares for about 24,000 people, comes amid mounting concern over the difficulties patients face in seeing GPS face to face.
A GP practice has shut its doors completely after its insurance lapsed leaving thousands of patients without access to a doctor.
The NHS watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has been made aware of the situation and it is understood it will be contacting the surgery to establish the exact circumstances surrounding the closure.
The situation at the Blandford Group Practice, which runs four medical centres in Dorset and cares for about 24,000 people, comes amid mounting concern over the difficulties patients face in seeing GPS face to face.
Before the pandemic, about 80 per cent of consultations took place in a doctor’s surgery. The latest monthly figure is 58 per cent, with little change since officials vowed in May to give all patients the right to a “face-to-face” appointment.
A statement on the group’s website on Monday night said “arrangements are being made to ensure urgent care can continue” after its public liability insurance had lapsed.
The insurance covers practices against cases of patients suffering injury or harm on their premises.
But patients said yesterday that the surgery was not answering phone calls and they were concerned about accessing prescriptions.
Geoff Smith, 58, a teacher from Blandford, said his nine-year-old grandson is epileptic and relies on medication to control his seizures but the family are “really concerned” the surgery will not sign off his repeat prescription.
“He has three serious drugs which have to be prescribed to control his epilepsy … and my daughter doesn’t know whether or not that prescription, which needs to be repeated this week, will be issued because we can’t contact the surgery and we don’t know what they’re doing,” he said.
The practice said: “The Blandford Group Practice has had to make the difficult decision to temporarily postpone non-urgent routine appointments due to a lapse in public liability insurance.
“Our team is working extremely hard to put measures in place to allow services to return to normal at the earliest opportunity, this includes the weekend vaccination clinics. We would like to reassure patients that this is an insurance issue and not a clinical care issue.”
The surgery’s remote consultation platform is also unavailable, the statement said. The practice did not respond to requests for comment.
NHS Dorset CCG said: “We are aware of the situation at the Blandford Group Practice and are continuing to work alongside local partners to support them.”
It is understood the CQC could issue a regulatory response if the practice is at fault for the insurance lapse.
Dr John Hughes, chairman of the campaign group GP Survival, said: “Most GPS, in addition to seeing patients, are spending two, three hours a day simply dealing with the admin and that’s just the doctors’ side of stuff. This is the first overtly dramatic case but it’s certainly one of the main things that’s quoted in the reasons GPS are leaving the profession.”
The Royal College of GPS has called for a “system-wide programme to eradicate unnecessary workload” after doctors and GPS find themselves “snowed under with bureaucracy”.