NHS England continues to receive between 5,000 and 10,000 items of clinical correspondence a month that have been sent in error by GP practices to Capita, according to a report by the National Audit Office (NAO).
Under rules introduced in May 2015, GP practices that receive clinical correspondence that does not relate to patients on their practice list are meant to return it to the sender. This marked a departure from previous arrangements, under which practices passed this data to their local primary care support service for processing and redirection to the correct practice.
The GPC says NHS England ‘has still not launched an effective information campaign aimed at GPs’ despite continuing confusion among practices two years after the rule change. And despite thousands of letters continuing to be sent to Capita, the private provider’s primary care support contract does not require it to redirect letters.…read more
