Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2015 to Question 17025, what plans he has to increase the borrowing and investing powers of clinical commissioning groups to ensure that employment terms and conditions for GPs encourage employment in areas with (a) an elderly demographic and (b) a high workload.

Alistair Burt

There are no current plans to increase the borrowing and investing powers of clinical commissioning groups. Responsibility for ensuring all patients have access to NHS primary medical services rests with NHS England.

Those providing services under a contract with NHS England, or clinical commissioning groups acting on their behalf, are independent contractors and not employees of the NHS.

Practices may employ general practitioners to assist them in the provision of services under the contract. Where they do so, they are required to apply, as a minimum, model terms and conditions of service as agreed between NHS Employers and the General Practitioners’ Committee of the British Medical Association.