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<p>NHS England has considered the expansion of the service to Birmingham following
initial concerns, in particular regarding access to immunisation and screening programmes
for Babylon GP at Hand patients, and a solution has been identified. NHS England will
now work together with NHS Hammersmith and Fulham and Birmingham and Solihull Clinical
Commissioning Groups (CCGs), national screening services, and Babylon GP at Hand to
mobilise the service and agree a start date.</p><p>General practice payments are made
to practices according to their registered patient list size, so the funding for general
practice care will follow the patients. NHS England will shortly engage on changes
to out of area registration rules, some of the current payments to primary care providers
and the mechanisms by which new providers can enter the market.</p><p>The new General
Practitioner Contract Framework made two changes to the current payment system:</p><p>-
the rurality index payment will be amended to apply to patients living within a practice
catchment area only, rather than to all patients. This is to better reflect costs;
and</p><p>- the London adjustment will be amended to apply to patients resident in
London, rather than registered with a London-based practice</p><p> </p><p>CCG allocations
have been revised for 2019/20. Hammersmith and Fulham CCG’s allocation takes account
of the increased list size of the GP at Hand practice, with the CCG’s funding growth
determined by an assessment of the CCG’s fair share of overall funding and rules on
the pace of change in funding allocations.</p><p> </p><p>All patients registered with
the Babylon GP at Hand practice are recorded as patients of Hammersmith and Fulham
CCG.</p><p> </p><p>Hammersmith and Fulham CCG have commissioned an independent evaluation
of the Babylon GP at Hand practice. This will look at the impact of the service on
patient experience, primary care workforce, use of other services, such as accident
and emergency departments and walk-in centres, and system value.</p><p> </p><p>Babylon
GP at Hand will provide physical premises in both London and Birmingham for those
patients who require a face-to-face consultation. Under the current GP of Choice Policy,
the CCGs where ‘out of area’ patients live are required to ensure out of hours care
and home visits can be accessed by those patients in their resident area if they need
it.</p>
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