Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of GP surgeries that are failing to meet their obligations under regulation 15A of the National Health Service (Personal Medical Services Agreements) Regulations 2004, as amended, to establish and maintain a Patient Participation Group.

NHS England is responsible for the assessment of general medical practices compliance with contractual requirements.

NHS England operates an annual practice declaration to support its local teams assess contractual compliance. The annual declaration was amended this year to include key areas of enquiry in relation to the new responsibilities to establish and maintain a Patient Participation Group.

The NHS (Personal Medical Services Agreements) Regulations contain steps which NHS England may take where a practice does not comply with the terms of the agreement. These include issuing a remedial notice and, if no action is taken as a result of this notice, a breach of contract notice which could result in NHS England withholding money, due under the agreement, or terminating the agreement.

NHS England does not currently hold information nationally on the use of contractual sanctions. NHS England is developing its reporting systems to identify the number of breach notices issued periodically and to identify common themes associated with contractual non-compliance.