Local MP and MS welcome Auditor General report into awarding of eHarley Street Partnership Contracts
Nick Thomas-Symonds MP and Lynne Neagle MS have welcomed the findings and recommendations of the Auditor General’s report into the Health Board’s awarding of contracts to eHarley Street Partnership for the management of GP practices across South Wales including Pontypool Medical Centre and Blaenavon Medical Practice.
The Torfaen MP and MS met with the Health Board on a regular basis for over a year to raise serious concerns on behalf of constituents over the level of service for patients at Pontypool Medical Centre and Blaenavon Medical Practice.
In July 2025, they called for the Auditor General to investigate the Health Board’s engagement of eHarley Street and the subsequent management of the contracts.
The Auditor General found that the Health Board should have had a greater appreciation of the risk associated with a single Partnership taking on so many practices over a short period of time.
The report also concluded that there should have been greater due diligence checks on the eHarley Street Partnership’s business model and applied greater scrutiny to its business cases and financial plans.
The Auditor General made four recommendations to the Health Board; strengthening business case requirements to ensure sufficient detail to inform decision making; strengthening the risk assessment on proposed financial plans, operating model, workforce plans and clinical governance; further strengthening its new due diligence process; and agreeing clear but proportionate GMS practice performance and operational metrics aligned to Health Board monitoring processes.
Nick Thomas-Symonds MP and Lynne Neagle MS said:
Thank you to the Adrian Crompton, Auditor General for Wales, for his comprehensive report into Aneurin Bevan University Health Board’s approach to the letting of multiple General Medical Services contracts to a single GP partnership which impacted Pontypool Medical Centre and Blaenavon Medical Practice.
It is deeply concerning that the Auditor General found that the Health Board should have carried out greater due diligence checks on the eHarley Partnership’s business model before the awarding of the contracts. This echoes the concerns we have been raising with the Health Board since they agreed the contracts. The Auditor General has also stated there is still a need to further strengthen contract letting processes to minimise the risk of similar events occurring in the future. We believe this needs to be done urgently.
We recognise that these findings will also be of great concern to our constituents, many of whom have contacted us over the past 18 months regarding their experience of service at Blaenavon Medical Practive and Pontypool Medical Centre.
We welcome the Auditor General’s recommendations, and we will be seeking an urgent meeting with the Chief Executive of the Health Board to discuss what actions will be taken to ensure this does not happen again.
We also note that the Auditor General will be discussing with the Welsh Government the requirement to bring guidance for Health Boards on awarding GP surgery contracts up to date. We will be raising this with the Government as your elected representatives.
We want to thank the staff at both Blaenavon Medical Practice and Pontypool Medical Centre who have worked tirelessly in difficult circumstances.”