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The Government has clawed back more £1.2m in potential overpayments to GPs it employed during the pandemic, and says it is still in the process of recovering around £800,000.
In a recent report on the health response to the pandemic, the spending and governance watchdog pointed out that, as of February, the Government was trying to recover more than £2m of payments to GPs.
A Treasury spokesperson told Express that this was because “there were issues in respect of reconciling differences between practice and Government held records.”
GPs were brought under the employment of the Government in April last year, to assist in the effort to tackle the first wave of covid, and staff an ‘Urgent Treatment Centre’ at the hospital.
Though the option to extend the contracts was there, it was deemed unnecessary, and the arrangement was ended in August that year.
According to the report from the Comptroller and Attorney General, the contract provided that each GP would take part in 10 sessions a week supporting the Government’s health efforts.
It added that “private work was permitted with approval from the Group Medical Director, with income accruing to the Government unless it was agreed that the disruption to the contract with HCS was minimal.”
Pictured: Doctors across 13 GP practices had part of their practice's infrastructure and salaries paid by the Government across these four months.
A total of £4.4m was then agreed as a withdrawal from the Health Insurance Fund, to be reserved as funding for the GP and surgeries contracts, both for salaries and infrastructure.
The salaries themselves were based on commensurate positions in Health Care Services, with the running costs of each practice independently verified between the 13 practices involved.
The contracts required that each practice would provide key data on costs and GP fees each month, and allow the Government to audit and adjust the monthly payments.
However, the report states that not all monthly returns required were received from all practices during the contract period, and that the final returns due one month after 9 August 2020 were not all received by Health Care Services until the week commencing 2 November 2020.
Pictured: The Government is still recovering up to 40% of £2m worth of payments owed.
In total, the amount paid by Government during the period was 90% of estimated ‘reasonable costs’, verified at the start of the process, and payable later, with claims showing that expenses exceeded this expected sum by £205,000.
Two practices submitted claims below this 90% advance, and four at a level 18% to 50% above that expected.
According to the report’s totals, £6.61m was spent by the Government on GPs during their covid response, split into:
As of 5 February 2021, four cases were still under discussion and one overpayment was being considered for reimbursement, with the remainder were being finalised.
In addition, over £2m of the income received by surgeries during the period was still unpaid to Government and being recovered.
When asked by Express how much of the outstanding amount is currently remaining, the Government spokesperson said that as of 12 May, "just over" £1.2m had been recovered, and that "work is ongoing to recover the remaining funds.”
Pictured: As recorded in a previous scrutiny report, some GPs have been sceptical about the Government's ability to pay people correctly.
The topic of hiring and paying GPs as Government workers has been a contentious one amongst GPs themselves, many of which appeared unsatisfied with the Government’s handling of the arrangement and questions arising about the method of payment.
When consulted in November last year, over 50% consulted said they would probably or definitely not be receptive of future employment opportunities contracted by Health Care Services, and only 7% saying they definitely would.
One GP commented on the idea of becoming Government employees permanently: “It sounds good but, given my experience of working for 'the Government' over the last four months, I am very wary and sceptical.
“The government don't seem to be able to achieve simple things like sticking to the terms of our contract and paying people correctly so I'm not sure how they can achieve this complex change of system.”
Another said that “GPs don’t trust the government/health, and there is no sustainable funding mode."
Following this, in a November States sitting, the Health Minister assured that GPs would remain independent, saying: “I completely agree that the benefits of the GP service must be retained, such as the continuity of care for patients by their GPs and the availability of direct, timely access.”
He added: “GPs, community pharmacy, dentistry and ophthalmologists remain independent service providers.”
Express has contacted the Primary Care Body's Practice Manager Group for comment, and is awaiting a response.
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