An inquiry has been told how neighbouring practices have come under 'considerable pressure' since the closure of the Camden Road Surgery

Published: 1 June, 2012
by TOM FOOT

NHS officials have admitted they were powerless to stop an American health giant from suddenly selling a Camden GP surgery to another private firm – and are seeking legal advice to stop it happening again.

North Central London (NCL) NHS Trust associate director Tony Hoolaghan, speaking at the inquiry into the closure of Camden Road Surgery yesterday (Thursday), revealed how they lost control of the GP practice.

He said he had sought legal advice after UnitedHealth sold shares in three Camden surgeries to The Practice Plc in April last year.

The financial transfer shocked patients who were not informed about the deal until after it was done. Health bosses had not vetted or approved the new operators.

One year later, Camden Road Surgery has closed, triggering a public inquiry at the Town Hall.

Mr Hoolaghan said: “We took legal advice at the time and we were informed that what had happened was legal. We couldn’t prevent it from happening. There was no change to what the new deliver had to do – no change in the performance monitoring.” 

He added: “We are seeking legal protection for next time.”

Camden’s original Alternative Provider of Medical Service (APMS) contract with UnitedHealth to run Camden Road, King’s Cross and Brunswick practices expires in March next year. Mr Hoolaghan said NCL would launch a tender for the two remaining surgeries, allaying creeping fears that they are also facing closure.

Councillor Paul Braithwaite said: “I think we have identified a flaw in the contract,” adding that the closure had created a “large hole” in GP cover in Camden Town and Cantelowes.

NCL chief executive Caroline Taylor, speaking to the panel, said: “We are talking to our solicitors about it. There is nothing to suggest that private providers are worse in any way for patients.”

This was not the opinion of Caversham Practice partner Dr Steve Amiel who, in written evidence submitted to the panel, said: “We are hearing anecdotal evidence from Camden Road patients of the fragmented care they received during the tenure of United Health and the Practice Plc. 

“Equally, anecdotally, clinicians at our practice are concerned in some cases that there appeared to be little continuity of care at Camden Road and this might have impacted on clinical decision making.

“The Caversham is on record as opposing the takeover of three practices by private providers, whose prime duty of care was to their shareholders, rather than their patients. We feared exactly the outcome for Camden Road patients that has sadly come about.”

The first day of the inquiry – last month – heard concerns from Dr Paddy Glackin, secretary of Camden Local Medical Committee, that patients’ conditions were being missed or not properly recorded because of the high turnover of locum doctors since the UnitedHealth turnover in 2008. 

A New Journal analysis of the surgery’s statistics found that 19 out of the 21 conditions recorded there had dramatically declined between 2008 and 2012.

The inquiry heard that patients were told about the surgery’s fate just a few weeks before its closure on April 13.

Dr Amiel, in his evidence, said: “We found about the closure from the Camden New Journal. I gather other practices have said the same thing.”

Since the closure, Dr Amiel said his Kentish Town practice had seen “considerable pressure on both clinical and non-clinical staff, on waiting times to get an appointment and patient satisfaction".

In further written evidence, Jagdish Vaghela, who has run the Biotech Pharmacy in Camden Road for more than 30 years, said: “In conclusion, we feel that patients have been compromised. 

“There was and still is a genuine need for a surgery in place of or in the vicinity of the previous Camden Road Surgery, which will cater for the elderly and house-bound patients, and also those who are unable to walk very far. 

“The problems that came about had a strong link to the privatisation of the practice.”

NCL chief executive Caroline Taylor said she was “personally comfortable” with the closure and the way patients had been allocated.

At the time of the meeting, 2,746 patients had been re-registered, 417 have moved away, and 1,500 were still at large. The majority of the 1,500 were aged 16 to 30, Ms Taylor said.

The nature of how the panel put questions was, at times, more conversational than some campaigners had hoped for.

But inquiry chairwoman Cllr Angela Mason received applause from the public gallery when she said: “The nub of this is the very sudden closure of the surgery. I think it was badly done and you didn’t give enough time for the process – and we cannot understand why.”

The panel will file a report to the health scrutiny committee later this month.