The British Medical Association (BMA) has spoken out against Capita’s £94 million contract with NHS England and Improvement (NHSEI) due to “a litany of failures.”

Capita announced yesterday (7 June) that it has secured a three-year extension to continue to fulfil the Primary Care Support England (PSCE) contract until 2025, building on the existing PCSE contract it won in 2015.

The London-based firm said it has made service improvements including the launch of the PCSE Online platform, which digitises previously paper-based services such as ordering medical supplies, tracking medical records, accessing pension records and processing payments.

But the BMA said it has repeatedly raised concerns about Capita’s management of medical records, practice payments, pensions administration, maintaining the GP Perfomers List and communication with patients.

WHY IT MATTERS

BMA pensions committee deputy chair, Dr Krishan Aggarwal, said that 40,000 women did not receive important information around cervical screening from Capita, causing an impact to patient safety, GP workload and GP finances.

However, Capita says it has invested significantly to ensure the delivery of complex digital transformation projects for NHSEI, which it is delivering more efficiently and at a lower cost to the client.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

PCSE supports front line primary care provision in England by providing key services to GPs, optometrists, dentists, and pharmacists, using digital innovation and service improvement to improve provider and patient experiences. 

ON THE RECORD

Dr Aggarwal said: “With thousands of GPs’ pension records missing data, the handling of pensions administration nearly seven years on from Capita winning the contract continues to be appalling, with GPs unable to access accurate information about their pensions records. 

“This can have a significant impact on their wellbeing and their financial planning, which can also result in them being hit with exorbitant tax charges. These failings led to NHS BSA reporting NHS England to the Pensions Regulator and it is therefore astonishing and extremely disappointing that NHSEI continues to subcontract this part of the PSCE contract via Capita.

“Given this contract has been renewed for a further three years, it is essential that Capita urgently fixes its systems and ensures that accurate timely information is made available to GPs and their practices. Capita must make addressing these outstanding issues its priority and the BMA will continue to hold it to account if it fails to do so.”

Al Murray, Capita CEO, said: “The extension of our contract with NHSEI reflects our focus and commitment to continuing to improve and deliver for the organisation, as for all our clients and customers.

“We are proud to have introduced a number of significant digital capabilities which have helped make the services we deliver for England’s primary care practitioners more efficient.

“This renewal reflects our ability to retain and continue to work with important clients and partners by successfully delivering for them.”

NHSEI declined to comment.