Practices have received comms from NHS England entitled: Cloud Based Telephony Data Collection: Data Provision Notice. This relates to data collection via CQRS of nine metrics of cloud-based telephony data. Cloud-based telephony has been promoted within GP practices for some years, as part of NHS England’s Primary Care Access Recovery Plan.
From October 2024, NHS England will extract data monthly via Cloud Based Telephony system suppliers. This data is anonymous, that is, no patient identification information is included.
The nine metrics
- Call volume
- Call abandoned
- Call times to answer
- Missed call volumes
- Time period abandoned
- Call backs request
- Call backs made
- Call length times
- Total number of inbound calls that are answered
Data Provision Notice (DPN)
As is indicated by NHS England, the Data Provision Notice (DPN) is issued under a Direction from the Secretary of State, and it is a legal requirement for GP practices to accept this requirement of data provision under section 259(i)(a) of the Health and Social Care Act 2017. If colleagues are interested in the long arm of the State’s legal powers, and the specific purpose and detail of this DPN, this is available here.
The BMA’s legal advice is that practices have a legal duty to accept this request.
Colleagues will appreciate that, if it was possible, GPC England would have highlighted this request from NHS England for data-sharing, for a purpose unrelated to direct patient care, as obviously within the scope of Collective Action, and practices could be encouraged to refuse to agree to this request.
However, the legal format of this DPN means that practices may be at risk of a remedial or breach notice by not accepting this request. It is no part of GPC England or the LMCs plans for GP Collective Action to place partnerships at risk of contractual sanctions, and therefore GP practices should not refuse this request.
Payment
This DPN underpins one of the three components of the Primary Care Network (PCN) DES 2024/25 Capacity and Access Improvement Payment (CAIP). This DPN relates to Cloud Based Telephony and was planned to commence in October 2024.
Under the PCN DES, practices can be paid 10% of the total funding available within the Capacity and Access Payments (CAP) when, acting on behalf of PCN member practices, the PCN Clinical Director (CD) confirms to the commissioners that within PCN member practices:
- Each practice has digital telephony implemented (including a call-back function)
- Each practice confirms compliance with the DPN (which as noted above legal advice indicates not doing so may constitute a contract breach)
- Digital telephony data is routinely used to support member practices capacity/demand service planning aid quality improvement discussions.
There are exceptions allowable if a practice is unable to adopt cloud-based digital telephony or has a system unable to deliver the metrics listed: in this case the PCN CD should discuss this with their commissioner.
LMC View
Just as GPC England and the LMC do not wish to see Collective Action result in Contractual sanctions, neither should it have a significant financial impact on practices. Since the DPN must be legally accepted, and member practices’ telephony systems are what they are, if these together mean a PCN would therefore be compliant with the ‘better digital telephony’ component of the CAIP, then LMC recommends PCN CDs confirm such compliance and trigger this component of the CAIP funding.
However, GPC England and the LMC continue to advise all PCN member practices defer authorising their PCN CD to confirm compliance with the ‘simpler on-line requests’ component of the CAIP. This is because compliance with this CAIP component requires practices online consultation platforms to be open “at least” during core hours. In parenthesis, colleagues will realise this phrasing indicates NHS England would be content with practices leaving their online consultation platforms on 24/7, accruing workload continuously, clearly this is neither appropriate nor safe. PCNs will be entitled to full year payment even if compliance with this component isn’t confirmed until March 2025.
In fact, given the financial benefit (10% of the total CAP which is £29.2 million across England and for each PCN equates to £0.464 multiplied by the PCNs Adjusted Population on 01 Janary 2024) that PCNs could potentially accrue, practices may decide not to confirm this component of the CAIP at all. If colleagues consider the potential workload implications, and loss of control of potential demand, of a continuously open online consultation platform throughout core hours to be too high a liability in terms of workload, then simply advise your PCN CD not to confirm this element of the CAIP. There are no contractual risks to this decision, and perhaps a justifiable financial one. Payment for each of the three CAIP components can be made separately.