NHS England will review Primary Care Support England (PCSE)’s services ahead of its contract expiry in 2025, Pulse reports.
After a question from Feryal Clark, shadow health minister and MP for Enfield North, health minister Edward Algar reported 19,681 GP pension records in error, according to the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA).
Clark asked what assessment the Department for Health and Social Care has made of the effectiveness of the delivery of the GP pension scheme administration by PCSE against its key performance indicators, as set out by NHS England.
The NHS Pension Scheme was opened to GP locums in 1997 after NASGP lobbied the BMA for the right for them to enrol and claim.
Pensions problems are one of the commonest problems that NASGP supports its salaried and GP locum members with. Two weeks ago, one full-time locum advised that since last October only one of her monthly locum A forms has been processed despite the locum uploading every record.
Locums may face more challenges from 1 October when the ten-week rule returns for locum B forms.
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, says: “We’ve already reported this week how stressed GPs are, so much so that a third are considering leaving early. One thing we shouldn’t have to worry about is that, when we do get to retire, our future investments are being safely handled.
“We fully welcome this view, and very much hope that NHSE takes a system-based approach to this investigation, in particular examining what failings there are in its own scheme, as well as looking at how the scheme has been handled by PCSE. The results must not be focused on blame, but have constructive outcomes for PCSE or whichever provider they are replaced by.”