It was announced today that the BMA is launching legal action against NHS Property Services (NHSPS) over “unjustifiable” rises in service charges faced by GP practices. Practices leasing their buildings from NHSPS have seen their charges rise over the last three years, with no agreement, and sometimes being billed for services they are not receiving. Earlier this year we wrote to NHSPS setting out why we believe they are acting unlawfully, but received no acceptable response. Therefore, the BMA is now taking NHSPS to court.
At the LMC England Conference Friday, in response to this, the GPC Chair said: “It’s not acceptable that practices in NHS Property Services premises are left to pick up the cost of an unjustifiable hike in charges. As such, we will very shortly be lodging a legal test claim in court which, if successful, would provide a template for GP practices to defend unlawful claims for service charges by NHSPS. We must and we will stand up for GPs and take legal action when it’s necessary to defend our profession.” Read full statement here. It was reported by the HSJ, Pulse and GP Online, and again in another GP Online piece.