130 staff members lose their jobs as large GP federation goes bust

A large GP federation covering 540,000 patients has gone bust, resulting in 130 redundancies and ‘significant’ disruption to patient care.

Hundreds of appointments have been cancelled and staff will not be paid for September, Pulse has learned.

Innovations in Primary Care (IPC), a GP federation in West Sussex which brings together 12 PCNs, announced on Friday that it had ‘ceased trading’ and is now beginning liquidation proceedings.

The federation’s directors said this was ‘due to the inability to secure any long-term contracts from Sussex ICB’ as well as funding for their current contract funding failing to keep up with high inflation.

IPC provides extended access GP appointments for patients across West Sussex, as well as chronic wound care, services at urgent treatment centres, and support to its local practices.

A neighbouring federation, Alliance for Better Care, has agreed to take on the urgent treatment centre contract, held with the ICB, which means 40 jobs have been ‘saved’.

Sussex ICB confirmed that its contract with IPC for vasectomy services has also been ‘novated’ to other providers.

However, the future of other patient services is still yet to be confirmed, with IPC directors ‘continuing to explore’ how to maintain them.

Sussex ICB told Pulse that IPC provided enhanced access for five of its PCNs and the ICB is ‘working with them to understand how these services can be maintained for local patients’.

IPC clinical director Dr Neil Iosson told Pulse that over 350 booked appointments were cancelled between Friday and today and ‘many more’ are expected to be cancelled over future weeks.

‘It will result in a lot of additional work for practices and significantly disrupt patient care,’ he added.

Dr Iosson also said that ‘sadly’ the federation has been forced to make ‘about 130 people suddenly redundant and staff will not be paid for work in September’.

Before Friday’s announcement, the federation employed 179 people, meaning almost three-quarters of the workforce have now lost their job.

Sussex ICB told Pulse that it is working with partners to understand how further staff roles can be maintained, and that it expects specific ARRS staff to be transferred to practices and other providers under TUPE regulations in the coming days.

Pulse understand that there were 34 ARRS staff employed via IPC rather than directly by their PCN.

The official statement from IPC directors said: ‘It is with a very heavy heart and great sadness that we need to tell you that Innovations in Primary Care Ltd, a GP Federation, ceased trading and will appoint an insolvency practitioner to take us through liquidation.

‘We as a board of directors, and the whole senior leadership team, have worked very hard to try to maintain the business as a going concern in an environment where real-terms contract values have been eroded at both Primary Care Network (PCN) and NHS Sussex level.’

They said that the federation, which is owned by shareholder GP practices across the area, supported more than 30,000 people on behalf of local practices and 80,000 patients through 111 or UTCs over the past 12 months.

Despite responding ‘quickly and flexibly’ to the pandemic and the establishment of PCNs, the federation has ‘been unable to obtain long-term contracts beyond 12 months’ from any of its ‘major clients’ recently.

As a result, the federation underwent ‘significant restructuring’ over the last 18 months, however this has not been ‘sufficient to stabilise IPC’s financial position and allow it to continue as a viable trading company’, the directors said.

A spokesperson for Sussex ICB said they are ‘very sorry for everyone involved’ and for the ‘difficult decision’ the directors have had to take.

They continued: ‘Our priority in recent days has been, and continues to be, to ensure that staff are supported and that patients can continue to receive services that they need, minimising the impact on any other part of the system.

‘We took immediate action to maintain urgent treatment centre services at St Richard’s Hospital and Worthing Hospital for this weekend, and we are grateful to Alliance for Better Care for their support to continue these for local people.

‘We will also be working with the five PCNs who were directly supported with appointments and their individual GP practices to understand how there can be continuity of services, employment of ARRS staff can be maintained, and people can receive the care they need within primary care.’