Private firms paid millions by the NHS to ‘stop patients being sent to hospital by their GP’
Durham Labour MP Roberta Blackman-Woods criticised a local scheme that screened referrals for serious illnesses
THE NHS is paying private firms millions to stop patients being sent to hospital by their GP, an investigation has found.
Controversial middlemen are overseeing referrals in a bid to “manage demand”.
Critics say it is a futile money-saving exercise which endangers patients.
More than a third of the NHS’ clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England admitted using the “referral management centres”.
These can reject a GP’s letter recommending a patient sees a specialist.
The centres, a third of which are run by private firms, have pocketed £57million since April 2013.
Only 14 per cent of CCGs showed they saved money, the British Medical Journal found.
GPs warned they will lead to delays for patients.
Overall, there were 93 referral management schemes in operation across 72 CCGs, with some CCGs having more than one scheme.
In October, Durham Labour MP Roberta Blackman-Woods criticised a local scheme that screened referrals for conditions including cardiology, gynaecology and gastroenterology.
Ms Blackman-Woods wants them axed, adding: “A private company should not have the power to overrule a GP.”
Graham Jackson, from NHS Clinical Commissioners, said they helped “in terms of peer review, education, caseload management and choice”.
Chris Naylor, from health think tank the King’s Fund, said: “It is important not to judge referral management schemes on purely financial measures.
“Their main focus should be on improving the quality of referrals rather than on reducing costs.
“While there may be some potential to save some money, an effective scheme will highlight under-referral as well as over-referral, and so lead to people getting referred who otherwise may not have done.
“Compared to other ways of improving the quality of referrals, referral management centres come with significant overheads and can potentially introduce new clinical risks.
“It is important that local schemes are evaluated to make sure the benefits, both financial and clinical, outweigh the costs.
“Our research suggests that the best approaches tend to be those based on regular peer review of referral data and audits at practice level, as well as collaborative working between GPs and specialists.”