THE government appointed watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), will be able to use new powers from 2012 to close GP practices, British Medical Association members magazine, BMA News has warned.
The magazine also indicated that a new criterion of what is a ‘good practice’ will be how many patients the GP refers to hospital.
If the regulator decides that there are too many referrals to hospitals, then the GP practice will be regarded as poorly performing, and will face fines or even closure.
According to a Department of Health (DH) impact assessment published in the past fortnight, 0.5 per cent of practices – about 40 across England – could be forced to shut.
The DH estimates that reducing adverse incidents and referrals to secondary care through better regulation of primary care will save the NHS approximately £63m over ten years.
Regulations will come into force on April 1, 2010. All primary care trust providers, including GP practices, will have to be registered by April, 2012.
The CQC will have enforcement powers to issue warning notices and fines or suspend registration.
Non-compliance could result in fines of up to £50,000.
It its response to the DH ‘consultation’ on the proposals, the BMA warned that doctors seem to be facing ‘noticeably tighter regulation than other health professionals’.
It also warned against the duplication and added bureaucracy, and suggests registration should take place every five years.
The DH is proposing annual registration.
The BMA ‘disagrees that emergency admissions are caused by inadequate regulation of primary care’.
Around one in ten practices would be inspected each year. Half would be chosen at random, with the rest being selected because they were deemed to be at ‘highest risk’.
BMA News suggests that the government intends to save £63m over ten years by carrying out this policy.
It warns that around 40 GP practices could close when registration standards change in 2012.
It says that ‘this is the estimate of the Department of Health (DH)’, which has also ‘warned that up to three per cent of England’s 8,600 practices would struggle to achieve standards required by the CQC (Care Quality Commission)’.
