Andrew Murrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Murrison on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of changes in the number of registrations of care home residents at GP surgeries since the end of retainer fees in 2015.

Alistair Burt

Information is not collected centrally on whether a patient, registered with a general practitioner (GP) practice, is resident in a care home or their own home.

GP practices provide National Health Service primary medical services under contracts with NHS England. These contracts do not distinguish between residents of care homes and other patients. Residents will be registered with a GP practice for core primary medical services whether or not a retainer is paid to a practice and are entitled to receive the same treatment from their GP as those living in their own homes.

Retainer fees may be charged by a practice for providing services not covered by their contract with NHS England. However, the refusal of a care home to pay practices a retainer should not affect access to NHS primary medical services for residents of care homes.