Primary Care Law

Porter Dodson’s specialist Primary Care Team provides a comprehensive range of legal services for GPs, practice managers and healthcare practices. For twenty years, we have been a trusted partner to GP Practices, offering pragmatic and commercially focused solutions, that help practices navigate the complexities of modern healthcare.

As an expert provider of legal services to primary care providers, we understand the challenges you face – whether you’re managing a partnership dispute, restructuring your practice, or ensuring compliance with NHS regulations. Our team is here to provide clear, practical advice that supports your objectives and protects your practice. 

How we can help

 We offer cost-effective, specialist legal advice across a wide range of areas, including:

Partnership Agreements & Business Formation

• Drafting Plain English Partnership Agreements that are practical and easy to understand.
• Advising on practice mergers, acquisitions and incorporations 
• Supporting integration with hospital trusts and other healthcare providers
  

Dispute Resolution  & Mediation 

• Expert guidance on GP partnership disputes and mediation to resolve conflicts efficiently
• Employment mediation and facilitation for staff disagreements.
  

Employment & HR Support  

• Advising on contracts, policies, and employment disputes
• Support with complex grievances and employee complaints, including whistleblowing and GDPR issues
• Support with restructuring, redundancies, and disciplinary matters
• Mediation services to resolve workplace issues and maintain team cohesion
  

Primary Care Network (PCN) Support

• Advising on PCN structuring, including the formation of PCN companies, governance and collaboration agreements
• Drafting and updating Network Agreement Schedules
  

Regulatory & Contractual Compliance

• Specialist advice on NHS contracts, including GMS, PMS, and APMS agreements
• Support with Performers List applications and disputes
• Guidance on safeguarding responsibilities and compliance
  

CQC Registration & Compliance

• Assistance with CQC registration, compliance, and inspections
• Challenging enforcement actions and managing regulatory risks
• Supporting registration changes following partnerships or incorporations
  

Data Protection & GDPR Compliance

We can advise on all matters relating to data protection and GDPR compliance including:

• Reviewing and updating privacy policies
• Guidance on patient data protection and record-keeping requirements
• Advising on Data Subject Access Requests (SARs) and breach responses

Property  & Finance for GP Practices 

• Lease and lease renewal negotiation, working with either landlord or tenant to agree appropriate terms including obtaining District Valuer approval
• Seeking licence to assign leases and negotiating licences to assign leasehold premises
• Drafting and negotiating licences to occupy the surgery premises making the most of shared occupation and protecting the practice’s interests
• Property refinancing to accommodate incoming / outgoing partners
• Sale and leaseback arrangements with healthcare investors
• Securing bank funding for practice expansions
  

Training & Development

• Practical training on employment law, partnership structures, and regulatory compliance. Have a gap in your knowledge? We can help.
• Bespoke workshops tailored to the needs of your practice and managers. 

Our Experience

• Advising a GP Partner in respect of the proposed use of compulsory retirement (“Green Socks”) clause against them.
• Advising a five-practice “super partnership” in respect of a potential demerger of both the practices and the PCN.
• Advising a GP practice about a commercial contract they have with a school for one of their partners to act as a medical officer and the potential liability of the practice in relation to a whistleblowing claim.
• Advising a GP practice in relation to a dispute with an exiting partner in relation to the valuation of the surgery premises.
• Providing modern plain English Partnership Agreements to GP practices including the transfer of the partnership premises to the new current partners.
• Representing a GP Partnership as landlord to an on-site pharmacy in relation to the assignment of the pharmacy lease.
• Advising a GP Partnership in relation to a dispute, whereby an exiting partner was claiming that their proposed compulsory retirement notice had been issued in “bad faith” by the continuing partners.
• Advising a GP practice in relation to the grant of a Licence to Occupy to a third-party practitioner who would occupy the premises out of hours.
• Acting on behalf of a GP partnership and Lloyds Bank Plc in respect of a commercial refinance of their freehold practice premises by was of a first legal charge.
• Advising a PCN in relation to the incorporation of their primary care network.