Important communication from Oak Tree GP partners

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Dear patients

Despite our best efforts, we are currently experiencing difficulties in recruiting additional doctors and paramedics to our team and therefore we are currently experiencing a temporary reduction in our clinical capacity. This means that we may have limited availability for appointments and longer waiting times for non-urgent consultations.

As you may be aware, primary care is currently facing some challenges in terms of finances. Each General Practice is independent from the NHS and is run as a small business.  They are commissioned by the NHS to perform various services known as core and enhanced medical services. This contract and the money it attracts is imposed on general practice by the NHS. The amount of money paid to each practice by the NHS is determined by The Carr Hill Formula which calculates how much money each patient on their particular list should cost.

Despite our best efforts to manage costs and seek additional funding opportunities, the financial state of our sector continues to be challenging to say the very least, with pressures coming from all sides.

We would like to share with you all some of the issues:

• Increase of our list size due to new house developments and population growth in Didcot.
• Our core income (GMS income, general medical service contractual payments) will only rise by 2% this year. This is the money that pays for everything in the practice, wages, gas, electricity etc.
• General practice like any other sector will face a 9.80% rise in the minimum wage. Small businesses like us are completely unable to reflect this increase in our current pay scales to reward our admin team and clinicians.
• When the primary care networks were introduced part of our global sum was removed and added to payment for the network. What we can spend this money on is dictated by NHSE and we really have no control or say over it. This means we have reduced money for our individual practices.  
• We as a practice only get paid for 76% of our total number of patients due to the Carr Hill Formula. In essence this means we are under paid for the work we do by 24%.

We understand that this may cause inconvenience and frustration, and for that, we sincerely apologise. Please know that we are actively working to resolve this issue and restore our services to their full capacity. However, it is important for us to be transparent with you all about the challenges we are facing. 

In the meantime, we kindly ask for your patience and understanding.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation during this challenging time.

Dr Geddes, Dr Procter, Dr Ellis and Dr Couchman

Published: Apr 8, 2024