Baroness Jolly
Main Page: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Lord Bethell
The noble Baroness raises an important question. The Government are aware of the issues faced by out-of-area commissioning, and particularly of the concerns of Hammersmith and Fulham Council. We are looking at its concerns about its budget provisioning. We do not recognise all the numbers, but we are trying to understand them better. I reassure her, however, that we are putting in measures to ameliorate the situation. We are looking at ways to disaggregate a patient list if there are large numbers of digital-first patients; we are making more timely adjustments to CCG budgets, moving to quarterly rather than annual assessments; and we are looking at how to apply technology to under-doctored areas.
Baroness Jolly (LD)
My Lords, how confident is the department that NHS England is ready to deal with the addition of a new model of access to GP services? Does the Minister have a view on whether legislation would be required to achieve this?
Lord Bethell
To date, there has been no articulation of a need for further legislation.