Chorley GP will mount 'second chance' bid to keep control of her village surgery

Dr. Ann Robinson has been battling against a decision by the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) to hand the contract to run Withnell Health Centre to a conglomerate which operates almost 40 practices across the North West.

When the health service’s intention was announced last month, the long-serving GP blasted what she said had been a lack of consultation with patients - 1,500 of whom were moved to send written objections about the plans to transfer the Railway Road facility to SSP Health.

As the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) revealed on Wednesday, the ICB has now decided to re-run the procurement exercise in which Dr. Robinson lost out - giving her a second chance to retain control of the village surgery.

The organisation said it was responding to “the large number of concerns raised by staff, patients and residents”.

Dr. Robinson received the news while she was abroad on holiday and told the LDRS that she was “absolutely delighted”.

Confirming that she would be preparing a fresh bid, she added: “It means that the patients’ opinions will be listened to, as the ICB has committed to carrying out a full engagement exercise to understand what our population wants.

“This is a triumph for local democracy and means continuity of care for our patients at this very difficult time for the NHS.”

The ICB has said that interim arrangements put in place at the start of 2022 - which meant that Dr. Robinson would remain in charge while the initial procurement process was carried out - will now continue for a further 18 months. They had been due to end in April when the contract was to have been transferred to SSP Health.

Withnell Health Centre’s former lead GP, Dr. Margaret France - who worked at the practice for a total of 30 years before handing it on to Dr. Robinson in 2013 - had helped lead the campaign to keep her successor in post.

Responding to the ICB’s rethink, she said that it was “an incredible achievement” for all those who had fought for just such an outcome.

“I do think it’s been seen as a test case for ICBs [nationwide] and the whole procurement and tendering process.

“It now gives 18 months to really get everything together and make sure that all the right things are in place to get the maximum score,” said the now Cllr France, who represents the Chorley North East ward on Chorley Council.

However, SSP Health - which had previously said that it planned to retain the team at Withnell and pledged to build upon the surgery’s good reputation - had a warning for those who it claimed had attempted to sully its own name in recent weeks.

The firm’s chief executive officer, Andy Scaife, said: “Some individuals have unfairly and knowingly made misleading and, in some cases, completely false, statements about SSP Health both in the press and on social media. This is neither in the interests of patients or the public procurement processes which we robustly adhered to.

“Despite having done nothing wrong throughout this process, we have not been in a position to fully defend ourselves due to the constraints of the process. However, we will now be considering our position and duly reserve the right to pursue any individuals who have made false or defamatory statements towards us through the due legal process.

“The ICB has publicly acknowledged its failings in the procurement process, specifically with regard to the patient engagement process, in awarding a new contract for the management of Withnell Health Centre.

“SSP Health has complied fully and in good faith with each stage of the procurement process and throughout has acted in the best interest of Withnell Health Centre’s patients,” Mr. Scaife added.

Explaining the decision to re-run the procurement of the Withnell Health Centre contract - a process sparked after the previous partnership operating the surgery, in which Dr. Robinson was the principal partner, was dissolved in late 2021 - ICB chief executive Kevin Lavery said:

“A full and robust review of the commissioning process, which includes the procurement of services for Withnell Health Centre has taken place following the large number of concerns raised by staff, patients and residents over the past number of weeks.

“I would like to reassure our local population that we have listened.

“The review looked at each of the stages of the process, including decisions made by the ICB and Chorley and South Ribble CCG - which is no longer in existence. During the review, we found the patient engagement that took place was not thorough enough and, due to this, a decision has been made to abandon the current procurement process.

“As the public body responsible for commissioning GP services in Lancashire and South Cumbria, we do have a duty to undertake an open procurement process for the service provided at Withnell Health Centre and all interested providers have to be fairly considered.

“The ICB intends to undertake further engagement with patients and the community in Withnell and launch a new procurement process to award the long-term contract for the service. To ensure the continuity of services at Withnell Health Centre the current interim arrangements will be extended by 18 months.

“I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to the community of Withnell as we recognise we could have done more to keep patients informed. Going forward, we are committed to doing better with our public engagement and would like to reassure our local population that securing high-quality services remains a priority for the ICB,” Mr. Lavery added.

The LDRS understands that there could be financial implications for the ICB of its decision not to proceed, as it had previously declared it intended, to transfer control of Withnell Health Centre to SSP Health.

The now defunct Chorley and South Ribble Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) contacted patients by letter last February, telling them that they “should not be concerned about the future of the practice” and that the forthcoming 12 months would be used to undertake “the necessary due diligence” before a longer-term contract was awarded.

The letter did request patient views on their experience of using Withnell Health Centre, which it was explained would be fed into the analysis done ahead of the awarding of a new contract.

However, Dr. Robinson believes that the reassuring tone of the correspondence led patients to believe that nothing would change for them in either the near or distant future.

ICB bosses have previously apologised for not doing more to inform patients of the process that was under way to re-tender the contract - and its possible outcome.