Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how NHS England makes a judgement on the financial sustainability of a GP practice when considering whether to close it.

General practitioners (GPs) are independent contractors and hold responsibility for managing the business. It is for the partners of GP practices to make judgements on the financial sustainability of their practices.

If a partnership becomes financially less viable, it is for the partnership to decide whether the financial risks are worth continuing to take. The practice may make the decision to merge with another practice or federate, in order to create back office efficiencies and provide primary care at scale. Alternatively, the partnership may at this point choose to hand back its contract. NHS England would not close the practice.

The General Medical Services (GMS) Regulations 2015 govern how NHS England commissions primary care. These regulations restrict from whom NHS England can commission. For example, they prohibit NHS England from commissioning from a practice that has declared bankruptcy. They also require NHS England to terminate a contract with an individual practitioner or remove a partner in a partnership agreement if that individual is declared bankrupt.