A Chorley GP is disappointed that an NHS board will not reimburse the thousands of pounds she took from her personal savings to appeal against a private firm taking over the surgery.

Dr Ann Robinson, of Withnell Health Centre, used £35,000 of her own money to pay for legal fees in the battle against SSP Health, who was awarded the contract by the Lancs Integrated Care Board (ICB) after putting the practice out to tender.

After a three-month fight, the ICB board extended her contract. However, this legal challenge left a huge hole in Dr Robinson’s pocket.

An FOI reveals that £201,345.64 was spent on external legal services from July 2022 to December 2022 and £42,924.03 was spent in January 2023 alone.

Dr Robinson has been asking the ICB to reimburse her £35,000 and says she is “tremendously disappointed” by their decision.

She said: “It is a large amount of money that I had to pay out personally for legal fees and I understand there’s no legal requirement to pay but nevertheless, it is disappointing particularly given how underfunded general practitioners are at the moment.

“We’ve been given a two per cent up lift for this year, but we’re also expected to give staff a five per cent pay increase, which we have, but all of our costs are going up, it’s hard running a GP now.

“The government are expecting us to put in a new phone system to make it easier to speak to patients which is the right thing to do but they’ve not given us funding to enable us to do that.

“Overall, I am very disappointed. We’ll keep going and the community really value us and we are there to look after them so we’ll keep going.”

Responding to whether the ICB will consider their decision again and reimburse Dr Robinson's money, Kevin Lavery chief executive of Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) said: ”During the procurement process for Withnell Health Centre, we received a number of concerns from staff, patients and residents.

“Due to this, a full and robust review of the commissioning process took place and it was found that the patient engagement undertaken was not thorough enough so a decision was made to abandon the procurement process that was currently taking place. 

“We did not receive a legal challenge in relation to the procurement of Withnell Health Centre. NHS policy states any expense that occurs from a bidder opposing a decision is done at their own cost and risk.

“We have committed to undertake a new procurement process to award the long-term contract of Withnell Health Centre and the ICB is currently engaging with patients and the community of Withnell.

“We would like to reassure our local population that securing high-quality services remains a priority for the ICB.”

So far, more than £5,500 has been raised for Dr Robinson. You can donate here.