GP contracts worth £10m awarded without proper checks

A health board failed to carry out proper checks before handing over multi-million pound GP contracts to a health provider that was criticised by patients, doctors and the first minister.

BBC Wales first revealed safety, staffing and supply concerns at practices managed by Leicestershire-based eHarley Street Primary Care Solutions in 2024.

Now an Audit Wales investigation has found Aneurin Bevan University Health Board failed to carry out proper due diligence checks before awarding contracts worth £10.1m to run eight GP surgeries.

The health board said recommendations were being "put in place" but added there could have been "further scrutiny".

eHarley Street has been asked to comment.

BBC Wales revealed concerns in November 2024 when locum doctors refused to work at GP surgeries managed by eHarley Street, claiming they were owed £250,000 in unpaid wages.

Doctors also warned of "dangerous" staffing levels and "potentially catastrophic" supply shortages at practices managed by the company.

All the claims were denied by eHarley Street at the time.

Patients, including those with terminal illnesses, also reported difficulties accessing appointments and treatment, prompting calls for an inquiry.

In January 2025, former first minister Eluned Morgan said she was "deeply concerned" and warned there would be consequences if the situation did not improve.

The company had previously managed nine surgeries in Wales:

• Brynmawr Medical Practice, Blaenau Gwent
• Blaenavon Medical Practice, Torfaen
• Pontypool Medical Centre, Torfaen
• Bryntirion Surgery, Bargoed, Caerphilly county
• Tredegar Medical Practice, Blaenau Gwent
• Aberbeeg Medical Practice, Blaenau Gwent
• Gelligaer Surgery, Caerphilly county
• Lliswerry Medical Centre, Newport
• The Corporation Road Surgery, Cardiff

They have all now been handed back.

At the time eHarley Street said its "operating model is not suited to the current structure of primary care in Wales", and said it would "meet all contractual requirements".

It added there was "chronic underfunding, outdated funding formulas and burnt-out workforce" in Wales, and it had spent "personal and private funds to stabilise operations and recruit clinical staff".

The health board has now been criticised by the Welsh public spending watchdog for the way it awarded the contracts.

Audit Wales found the health board should have carried out "greater due diligence checks on the partnership's business model" before it awarded £10.1m worth of GP contracts.

It also found that the health board failed to properly assess the risk of awarding multiple contracts to a provider with just two doctors who "did not directly provide local care" and relied on recruiting staff to deliver services.

The watchdog said the partnership "quickly got into financial difficulties" despite the health board handing over £1.2m in "sustainability funding".

It found the health board "acted appropriately to protect services" but should have done more to scrutinise the partnership's business cases and financial plans.

It said there was "no evidence" it had made any Companies House checks into the "partners' wider business interests".

Eventually all of the GP surgeries managed by eHarley Street were handed back, forcing the health board to step in at short notice.

Former Blaenau Gwent MS Alun Davies, believes there were "failings at every step of the way" and said "serious lessons need to be learned".

He said he would call on the new Senedd Health Committee to launch a fresh inquiry into the "failures" surrounding these contracts and the wider delivery of primary care services.

"The health board needs to review its own actions and hold itself to account, but I want to see an inquiry from the Senedd, and I want to see some accountability from the Welsh government."

Davies said he wanted to make sure the problems faced by his former constituents were not "swept under the carpet" and there was "real accountability for these failures".

In a statement, Audit Wales said: "The partnership's subsequent financial difficulties and the return of contracts created disruption and uncertainty for patients and staff".

The watchdog also said the Welsh government needed to update its 2006 guidance to deal with the kind of business model used by eHarley Street, which had already been operating in NHS England.

Audit Wales said the health board had changed some commissioning and procurement processes but warned further improvements were needed to prevent similar failures.

A spokesperson for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board said it welcomed the report, accepting all recommendations - which were "already being put in place",

It added its priority throughout had been to keep GP services running safely and consistently for patients.

They said that while contracts were awarded "in line with existing policy and national regulations, there was learning to be taken and further scrutiny could have been applied to financial and workforce plans and the cumulative risks associated with awarding multiple contracts to a single GP partnership".

The Welsh government said: "We have responded to Audit Wales acknowledging the issues raised and will review and update the current guidance to better reflect the modern primary care landscape and evolving GP partnership and business models."