Patient 'anxiety' as GP company hands back surgery

A GP management company that was criticised by patients, doctors and the first minister is handing back its only Cardiff-based surgery.

Safety, staffing and supply concerns at practices managed by Leicestershire-based eHarley Street were revealed by BBC Wales at the end of last year - prompting criticism from Eluned Morgan.

Corporation Road Surgery in Butetown will be the sixth Welsh surgery managed by the company to be handed back to the local health board.

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said it "appreciates this will cause anxiety" but was trying to find a "solution".

eHarley Street has been asked to comment.

The surgery will be handed back to the health board on 29 August, with the board saying it recognises the announcement will cause "anxiety" for patients, and "appropriate healthcare" would continue until then.

A letter seen by BBC Wales said the partners at the practice were "resigning from their GMS (General Medical Services) contract".

The GP partners running the surgery are the same people who run eHarley Street, which is a private company based in Hinckley, Leicestershire.

A meeting will be held next week to discuss how future services for the 3,000 patients will be delivered.

The health board said its focus was "to ensure services are provided closer to home".

In November BBC Wales revealed locum doctors were refusing to work at Welsh surgeries managed by eHarley Street, because of claims they were owed about £250,000 in unpaid wages.

Doctors also warned of "dangerous" staffing levels and "potentially catastrophic" supply shortages at practices supported by the GP management company.

All of the claims were denied by eHarley Street, who at the time said it did "not hold any contracts for General Medical Services (GMS) in Wales".

Until recently eHarley Street managed nine Welsh surgeries:

• Brynmawr Medical Practice, Blaenau Gwent
• Blaenavon Medical Practice, Torfaen
• Pontypool Medical Centre, Torfaen
• Bryntirion Surgery, Bargoed, Caerphilly
• Tredegar Medical Practice, Blaenau Gwent
• Aberbeeg Medical Practice, Blaenau Gwent
• Gelligaer Surgery, Caerphilly county
• Lliswerry Medical Centre, Newport
• The Corporation Road Surgery, Cardiff

The GP partners who ran the surgeries said they were being handed back because of "political, financial and operational pressures".

Last month BBC Wales revealed NHS officials took months to meet doctors following complaints about surgeries run by eHarley Street in the Aneurin Bevan health board area.

At the time the health board said it placed the surgeries under enhanced monitoring after concerns were raised.

In a previous statement, the eHarley Street partners who run the surgeries said they faced "significant financial constraints" but were "committed to addressing these challenges".

Senedd members have already called for answers to how the Leicestershire-based private company came to operate within the Welsh NHS.

In December there were demands for an inquiry into eHarley Street after patients, some with terminal illnesses, said they were having difficulty accessing appointments and treatments.

In a statement, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said: "The health board appreciates this will cause anxiety for patients and the local community, but we are working hard to find a solution to maintain services for the patients of Corporation Road Surgery.

"Our focus is to ensure services are provided closer to home and together with our stakeholders we will establish a way forward to ensure future provision of GP services to all existing patients.

"In the meantime, we will keep the local community updated with details of future provision as we work through a solution."