At the meeting of 30th January the national AQP (any qualified provider) programme was discussed. Each commissioning trust had been obliged to choose three areas to open up to multiple suppliers. In Berkshire the areas are Adult Hearing (tests and provision of hearing aids with follow up), Non-Obstetric Ultrasound (scanning but not of the unborn child) and Podiatry (Foot care). Where there are multiple suppliers the patient chooses with the help and advice of their GP. who provides the referral. For Adult Hearing the five suppliers are: Berkshire Healthcare NHS FT, Royal Berkshire NHS FT, Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS FT, Specsavers Hearing Group Ltd. and Sussex Healthcare Audiology Ltd whose services are operational; for Non-Obstetric Ultrasound the five suppliers are: Care UK Specialist Medical Imaging Ltd., Diagnostic Health Systems Ltd., Global Diagnostics Ltd., Physiological Measurements Ltd., Royal Berkshire NHS FT where so far contracts have been signed; for Podiatry there is one supplier, Berkshire Healthcare NHS FT whose contract has been signed.
Concerns were expressed about the fragmentation of services, about the increased complexity of the GP's task, about the possibility that the 20% or so patients with more complex needs might not be referred to the Royal Berkshire NHS FT, about the sustainability of the full range of audiology services at the Royal Berkshire NHS FT. Additionally one of the audiology suppliers was thought to operate a franchising structure.
The group passed a resolution that " Patient Voice was not given enough information to give considered and constructive comment on the choice of services suitable for Any Qualified Provider and had there been sufficient information it would not have recommended audiology".