The Bevan Brittan Health team has been advising the NHS since its inception in 1948 and has been ranked by Chambers UK Guide as number one in Healthcare for more than a decade. Over the past year, our 146-strong team has worked with over a third of all NHS bodies, the Department of Health, national regulators including the Healthcare Commission and the Commission for Social Care Inspection (now CQC), local authority social services departments and independent sector healthcare providers.
Put simply, we understand the issues facing our clients better than any other law firm and provide a fast, efficient and value-for-money service.
Primary care is still on a change trajectory as we see increasing commercialisation, consolidation and the registration of primary care providers by CQC. The development of effective and high quality primary care services is one of the keystones of demand management and delivery of the out of hospital care agenda. Sound contracts are useful tools in achieving this, combined with a level headed approach to performance management. We have developed precedents for PMS and SPMS as well as APMS contracts that we make available to clients, the latter covering, for example, health services, urgent care and new health centres. We regularly advise clients on the interpretation of contracts and tactics where particular issues arise. We advise on all areas of primary care regulation, including the contractual relationship between independent contractors and PCTs, funding issues, powers, disciplinary cases and practice.
In the worst case scenario, Bevan Brittan’s experienced list management team can support the way in which you have to make difficult decisions about the inclusion, deferral, suspension or removal of a practitioner from the various PCT primary care practitioner lists. We have advised extensively on the implementation of the regulations in relation to all four practitioner groups, successfully representing PCTs on appeal before the FHSAA and assisting PCTs though the often lengthy GMC, GDC, GOC and RPSGB processes which tend to track alongside these cases. We offer practical solutions to such matters and have a wide range of precedent letters that can be used to assist you. In the last resort, we can help you recover funds and obtain a successful prosecution in cases of fraud.
We are proud of our work on the Equitable Access to Primary Care project, where we acted on 90 of the 250 national projects. We advised on the establishment of LIFT, acting as central advisors to Community Health Partnerships, PUK and the Department of Health in the creation of the overall structure for the scheme.
We are at the forefront of development of the Retained Estate Solution Model (also known as Strategic Estate Partnerships or the Strategic Estate Development Model). In addition, we are heavily involved in LIFT Express (the expansion of LIFT into non-LIFT areas).
We regularly advise the Family Health Service Appeal Unit and the Pharmacy Appeal Committee of the NHSLA on disputes between PCTs and primary care.