GPs working for the Covid Clinical Assessment Service (CCAS) claim they have been facing incorrect, delayed or ‘complete non-payment’ for their work on the service, Pulse reported this week.
GP locums from NASGP’s CCAS support group talked to Pulse to expose problems with the service.
NASGP members have raised concerns about pay, with some reporting that they had not been paid for work in May until August, despite calls to payroll and HR.
Some NASGP members have been advised by their indemnity provider that they may not be covered for prescribing. Other members have questioned the safety of the system, working without a senior clinician to consult on shift or without clinical induction.
GP locums have struggled to use CCAS’s shift booking system, and raised concerns about staff retention as GP locums are often recruited ‘on reserve’ or booked a short notice or even after a shift starts.
Back in July Dr Richard Fieldhouse, co-founder of NASGP, raised strong concerns to the team at NHS England about lack of work for locums and the situation at the CCAS 111 service, which is run by South Central Ambulance Service.
Last month Pulse also reported that CCAS had stopped nurses and paramedics from handling patient calls after an audit revealed more than half did not pass safety criteria.
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