Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what statutory duty there is on individual general practitioners to provide notice of closure of a GP practice to NHS England or clinical commissioning group.

GP Contract regulations require a practice to give NHS England written notice of their intention to terminate their contract. Where the contract is with a partnership, the contract terminates six months from the date of the notice. In the case of a single handed practice, the contract terminates three months from the date of the notice.

There is no specific statutory duty on NHS England to notify patients of the closure of a practice however the National Health Service Act 2006 requires NHS England to ensure the provision of primary medical services throughout England.

However, NHS England take the closure of a practice very seriously and will look to engage with patients at the earliest opportunity.