GPC - The procurement process for new primary care services - a new guide for GPs - 21 May 08

• Extract from : http://tinyurl.com/67dexg

A new guidance note to help GPs navigate the bidding process for new primary care services is now available from the BMA’s GP Committee (GPC).

“New NHS Primary Care Procurements” pulls together all the publicly available information on the procurement process and is a factual guide to help GPs and LMCs understand the changes taking place in primary healthcare.

The guidance sets out the timescale, principles and process of procurement and advises GPs and LMCs to engage with local consultation processes. It also suggests that LMCs and GPs closely involve their local authority’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee wherever new services are being proposed as these can be very influential.

Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA’s GP Committee says:

• “There’s a huge amount of uncertainty around general practice at the moment so if GPs want to bid for a new service, or if they want to oppose one, we hope they will find this guidance useful.”

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• Local Copy

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Introduction

• In October 2007, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Lord Darzi, published an Interim Report of the NHS Next Stage Review. This England only report highlighted the variation in quality and access to primary medical care services across the country. It made the immediate recommendation that Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) procure new GP practices and GP-led health centres to remedy these health inequalities. In December 2007, the Department of Health launched the procurement framework ‘Delivering equitable access to primary medical care’, and has since sent a number of letters to the Strategic Health Authorities and the BMA concerning this procurement process. This guidance draws together the various documentation that is publicly available and intends to provide GPs and LMCs with a factual guide to the local changes taking place in primary healthcare.

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