Easy, low maintenance, patients are worth less than those who require more treatment. GPs are allocated a set amount of money from the NHS for each patient they register. The rapid rise of Babylon’s GP practice has also raised concerns about cherry-picking. It’s also become one of the largest in England, with government data showing that of the 7,000 registered GP practices there are only 23 bigger than Babylon’s. The influx of sign-ups means GP at Hand has ten times more patients registered than the practice it took over from. This means the GP service, which uses video-conferencing to connect patients to doctors, has been able to rapidly register thousands of people. To do this, Babylon has taken advantage of structural changes to the NHS that allows people to register at a doctor’s office outside the area where they live. Since its launch, GP at Hand has quickly become one of the England’s biggest GP practices. “Should the mitigation not materialise there will be a material worsening of the financial position of the CCG, potentially jeopardising other health and care services in Hammersmith & Fulham,” the body’s risk register reveals. Other documents from the CCG show that the healthcare it is able to provide could be at risk if the bailouts from elsewhere stop. Last month, Hammersmith & Fulham warned the cost of the practice would leave it £10 million out of pocket for the current year. Documents show the CCG has struggled to cope financially with the strain put on it by Babylon, with other CCGs and NHS England forced to bail it out. The sheer size of the GP at Hand clinic in Fulham means that the local NHS authority, the Hammersmith & Fulham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is having to pay for the care of scores of new patients, even though the majority of them are based in other parts of London. That struggle is hidden in a complex system of documents and procedures that detail the impact Babylon is already having.
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