Labour demands inquiry into delayed payments to trainee GPs

Labour is demanding an inquiry into how trainee GPs did not receive their salaries from a private firm that is meant to pay them on behalf of the NHS, the Guardian has reported.

After the Guardian disclosed that the delays had led to some family doctors being unable to pay their mortgage and having to seek help from a charity, Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, urged Jeremy Hunt to act.

The British Medical Association (BMA) believes hundreds of doctors in England have been left unpaid as a result of the errors by Capita.

Labour wants the Department of Health (DH) to step in to cover monthly salary payments own to trainee GPs which they did not receive from Capita.

Capita won a four-year contract from NHS England, worth £1 billion, to provide a range of support services between 2015 and 2019 to GPs in three areas of England, including paying trainee GPs’ salaries.

The BMA has sent a complaint to NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens about alleged failings by capita in making payments to trainees and other tasks it is contracted to carry out.

However, the firm denies that it is responsible for the fact that GPs have been forced to wait to receive salary payments and insists it has not failed to reimburse any GP salaries in the three areas.

It said delays had risen because other bodies had not provided it with information.

Jonathan Ashworth, shadow health secretary, said: “I’m sure you would agree that trainee GPs seeking charitable support to feed their families and being unable to cover their mortgages is an entirely unacceptable situation which requires urgent rectification.

“Whilst this deeply unfortunate situation continues, will you instruct your department to pay these trainees directly so that they are not forced to seek help from charities? Moreover, will you agree to undertake a thorough investigation into how these sustained failings were allowed to take place under the watch of your department?”

Capita said: “Where we have been given all the information in these two and a half areas, we have reimbursed these practices. We can’t reimburse any money when we don’t have any information on who we need to reimburse that money to. To suggest there is a backlog of our own making is completely inaccurate.”

Norman Lamb, former health minister, said: “This is clearly an absolutely unacceptable situation. Leaving hard-working doctors unpaid at the end of the month is a humiliating blunder. The government should be ashamed that this has been allowed to happen on their watch.

“Hunt must agree to undertake a thorough assessment of how this was allowed to happen, and what other errors have occurred since Capita took on this contract. Ultimately if the government cannot give hard-working NHS staff a guarantee that this will not happen again, they clearly need to reassess their decision to commission out this service. I will be writing to Jeremy Hunt to request that he undertakes this review.”

Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “We are dismayed and deeply concerned about this disgraceful situation. Many trainees already face financial hardship during their years of studying at medical school and many of them have families, mortgages, and huge financial responsibilities.”

An NHS England spokesperson said: “We are holding Capita’s feet to the fire on needed improvements and, in the meantime, the lead employer for Health Education England or the GP practice are responsible for paying their GP trainee salaries and are subsequently reimbursed for this. Backlogs are being prioritised by Capita.”