'Reprieve' for Chorley GP who looked set to lose her surgery after 10 years as NHS bosses go back to the drawing board

Dr. Ann Robinson, the sole partner at the Withnell Health Centre, discovered last month that she had lost out in a procurement process that saw NHS bosses declare that they intended to hand the contract for the facility to GP conglomerate SSP Health, which operates almost 40 practices across the North West.

However, the announcement sparked uproar, with more than a quarter of the 5,500 patients registered at the Railway Road surgery lodging written objections with the NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB).

Dr. Robinson claimed that her patients had not been consulted and said that their interests would not be served by what she described as “supermarket GPs”.

Staff also threatened to quit and the local primary care network of other practices in the area said that it would refuse to admit the new provider to their group.

As the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) revealed last month, ICB bosses apologised for not doing more to inform patients of the process that was under way to re-tender the contract - and its possible outcome.

They have now announced that the procurement exercise will start again from scratch, a move which the LDRS understands could have cost implications for the health service in the region.

Dr. Robinson said she was “absolutely delighted” by the news.

Kevin Lavery chief executive of the ICB, said in a statement issued to the LDRS on Wednesday: “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.

SSP Health said last month that they were committed to retaining the team at the health centre and building upon its good reputation, so as to continue to give “the best possible care”.

Commenting on today’s developments, the firm’s chief executive officer, Andy Scaife, condemned how some of those opposed to the change of provider at Withnell Health Centre had portrayed the company.

“The ICB has today 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 in Chorley.

“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.

“However, 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 initial tendering process was sparked when the previous partnership operating the surgery - in which Dr. Robinson was the principal partner - was dissolved in late 2021.