QUESTIONS have been raised about the future of four of Basingstoke's GP surgeries following the news that their owners are looking to sell nearly 60 of its NHS GP practices in the UK.

As previously reported, US medical insurance giant Centene is looking to sell NHS GP practices in the UK, including those in Basingstoke – Camrose, Gillies and Hackwood (CGH) Partnership and the Beggarwood Surgery, which are currently run by Operose.

As reported in the Financial Times, Centene has launched a sale process for its GP subsidiary Operose, which could sell for around £51.2m, according to sources close to the process.

READ MORE: Operose: Calls made for inquiry on sale GPs in Basingstoke

The company also announced that it has sold its network of 53 UK private hospitals run by Circle Health to PureHealth - a company in the Middle East - for £948m. This includes The Hampshire Clinic in Basingstoke.

Maria Miller, the MP for Basingstoke, held a community chat on behalf of the Camrose, Gillies, Hackwood, Beggarwood Patient Participation Group (PPG) following speculation over the future of this partnership.

At the meeting on Saturday, September 23, with members of the PPG, NHS Integrated Care Board, Operose Health and the Camrose Gillies Hackwood Beggarwood partnership, residents questioned a panel from the NHS and the GP Partnership to clarify the position following calls from the borough council for an inquiry into the possible sale of the medical practice buildings.

Dame Maria said: “It’s regrettable that patients have been worried over the past few days by speculation when it is already clear that the GP NHS contract at CGHB has always been with the GPs who run the practice not Operose, and that Operose doesn’t own the surgery buildings. I hope that this meeting has stopped any unnecessary speculation allowing the GPs who run the practice to focus on patients.”

SEE ALSO: Centene to sell GP subsidiary Operose following sale of Circle Health

The meeting enabled the NHS, the GPs who run the surgery and Operose to make clear to patients and residents that Operose neither own the GP surgeries nor holds the contract to supply GP services at the practices. 

The Patient Participation Group confirmed there is already a statement in its regular bulletin setting out that Operose do not own the practice buildings, nor does it hold the contract to provide NHS GP services therefore any sale of Operose by their parent company will not mean GP services or buildings will be sold. 

Operose Health, a UK-based company, currently owned by parent company Centene, confirmed that it does not have any confirmed buyer and it continues to provide corporate services to the CGHB local medical practice, providing IT systems and services, assistance with recruitment, and advice with NHS policy, which then allow the GP partners more time to run the practice and treat patients.

It also confirmed that the General Medical Service Contracts sit with the GP partners and cannot be transferred to another party or sold in the way recent speculation has implied and the practice buildings can’t be sold by Operose as it does not own them.