Private screening: GPs shouldn’t have to deal with results, says RCGP

Private health screening companies should be held accountable for the follow-up care of the patients they see and not expect the NHS to pick up the bill, the Royal College for General Practitioners has said.

In official guidance approved by the college’s council on 20 September, it said that GPs should not have to deal with the results of screening services that have not been authorised by the UK National Screening Committee, which advises ministers on screening after reviewing the evidence.

The RCGP has called on the Department of Health and Social Care for England to ensure that NHS providers are not “under any obligation to follow up the results” of screening that would not have been performed on the NHS.

The position paper, which was generated by council member and former BMJ columnist Margaret McCartney, was passed by the …