A while back the editor of this august magazine and myself were rounded on by the hierarchy of this profession because we highlighted the debacle that had been unfolding for months surrounding GOS payments and Capita. Since then I am pleased to see that those that were so indignant at the time appear to have become far more active and have sought to keep us all much better informed as to what is happening. So have things got better amid the many briefings and indeed promises of improvement from NHS England and Capita? I don’t think so. Moneo has now himself been brought into the new payments system as of last month. I would like to take the opportunity of recalling the experience of my first month’s claim.
At the end of September I received a letter from NHS England telling me that I should now send all my GOS forms to Darlington for payment. This letter was accompanied by the new claim forms and sets of labels. My staff duly bundled up our GOS1’s and 3’s and sent them by recorded delivery to the said address. On the 4th October we received another letter from NHS England with a new set of claim forms, the same as the originals but with ‘Welwyn’ added to them. This letter said all forms should be sent to Darlington but those who used the Welwyn office should continue to do so until 20th October! Imagine our annoyance because we had already sent our forms to Darlington as instructed! I duly phoned the 0333 enquiry line number and was told everything was fine and that I would be paid on time. I was also told it was pointless sending by recorded delivery as I was sending to a PO Box and there was no one there to sign for my package.
Fast forward to the end of the month. Surprise, no payment forthcoming. Once again I phoned the 0333 number and asked why I had not been paid. I was told they could not answer this as the place I had phoned was actually a call centre in Leeds which handled all calls for Darlington. I was also told that they could not speak to Darlington and they had no direct line of communication. I then learned that my forms that I had sent to Darlington would have been collected and processed and then sent to my local area office in Clacton for checking and payment and that I should phone them to find why I had not been paid. I duly phoned Clacton who told me they had only taken over responsibility for the Welwyn office on the 22nd of October and therefore did not have my forms and it was Darlington’s responsibility. I then re rang the 0333 number and was told it was not Darlington’s responsibility now as Clacton had taken over Welwyn. I was now left with both offices denying responsibility for my claim and both offices saying they had not received my forms and had no idea where they were. I was very close to losing my temper when one member of staff helpfully commented “I shouldn’t worry there are loads of your colleagues in the same boat as you.” Then I lost my temper.
Thankfully the act of totally losing my temper meant I was passed to a senior person who, arranged through unofficial channels to get me a payment within 24 hours.
Yesterday I received a call from a person in the Clacton office who had been given my case number. He was at a loss to understand what was going on as he had not got any claims from me, had none of my forms and couldn’t work out whether I was due money or not. Simply he had no idea whatsoever what was going on at all. To be fair he turned out to be an excellent person who was genuinely anxious to make sure the Clacton service ran properly. He was horrified to hear what had happened with me.
The upshot of all of this is that I am no more sure I will get paid for October’s work. What I have learned from month one is firstly to keep scanned copies of every GOS 1,3, and 4. Keep copies of every claim form you send. Try and find local phone number for your payment office. If possible courier your claims to the courier address so you have them signed for as they may well not get signed for at the PO Box address. Remember that the helpline number is only connecting you to a call centre in Leeds and they have no contact with the Darlington office so do not expect much help there.
Finally bear in mind any company that can devise a system where my forms go from central England to a PO Box in Darlington and then to a sorting centre in Darlington and then to Clacton rather than to just one office is hardly going to come out top in the business organisation stakes.
Good luck!