New provider found for East Barnwell Health Centre

A new provider has been found for a Cambridge GP surgery after doctors said they can no longer run it amid spiralling costs and a lack of funding.

The four GPs at East Barnwell Health Centre announced in June that they were handing back their contracts as of October.

They said the practice had been left “financially unviable” by service charge rises of 400 per cent in nine years, coupled with inadequate local and national funding.

The Cambridgeshire Integrated Care Board has now announced they intend to award an Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) contract to Malling Health.

The seven-year APMS contract value is £7,764,179.12, according to a prior information notice published by the ICB, and the Cambridge Independent has been told this is £40 per patient per year higher than the current partners have been receiving under their GMS (£2,184,000 over seven years) contract.

The outgoing GPs say they are relieved to have confirmation of the new provider, but say the situation remains “deeply painful” for them.

In a statement, they said: “We hope this will give some reassurance to patients and staff regarding the future of the practice, and we will work with Malling Health to ensure a smooth handover on 9 October.

“This remains deeply painful for us, the four outgoing partners, who had no desire to give up our GMS contract. Had timely support been offered to us when we were repeatedly raising our concerns, this outcome could have been very different. We remain committed to the importance of doctor-led, continuity of care in general practice, particularly in deprived communities like ours, and we fully support our GP colleagues as they raise awareness locally and nationally.”

Malling Health will take over the running of the surgery in October if no objections are received before 16 September.

A statement on the Cambridgeshire ICB website said: “This new contract will start on 10 October 2024 and be for a period of seven years with the option to extend for up to a further three years. Once the standstill period has passed, formal contracts will be finalised and patients will be sent a letter week commencing 16 September. We would like to reassure patients that there is no need to re-book any existing appointments and repeat prescriptions can be ordered as usual.”

Malling Health said it could not comment further until the period for objections to be raised had ended.