GPs in England say that they cannot compete with private companies in bidding to take over the running of general practices that come up for tender. It was announced last week that a London primary care trust had awarded to a US private healthcare company a contract to run three practices.

The US company won the contract despite competition from a consortium of local GPs who had previously been managing one of the practices successfully.

Camden Primary Care Trust awarded the tender to UnitedHealth Primary Care. The company will start running three general practices at King’s Cross Road Practice, Camden Road Practice, and Brunswick Medical Centre over the next few months.

Four local GPs who bid for Brunswick Medical Centre, which they had been managing successfully for the previous six months, allege that the primary care trust had “not provided …