DUDLEY North MP Ian Austin has raised concerns about a new £5.5 billion contract to provide Dudley's health services for the next 15 years.

The contract for the Multi-specialty Community Provider (MCP), seeks qualified providers interested in running the new organisation, which would deliver all non-acute healthcare in the borough.

The services provided by the MCP would include community based physical health services for adults and children, some outpatient services, all mental health and learning disability services, sexual health and substance misuse services, the Urgent Care Centre and GP services, including GP out-of-hours care.

However Mr Austin is concerned as a contract of this size and length has "never been tried anywhere else in Britain".

He has tabled 60 Parliamentary questions on the new proposal and has called for a meeting with the Secretary of State for Health.

The MP is also planning to send a survey to Dudley residents to find out their views.

Mr Austin said: "I definitely want to see an NHS which is focused on the patient and which is simple for patients and their families to find their way around. I think the NHS is too fragmented and confusing for patients and their families or carers. Far too often you are told to speak to someone else or to another department or organisation, particularly when it comes to areas like adult social care and the NHS, when patients can't be released from hospital because social care is not available for them.

“But I am concerned that a proposal like this has not been tried anywhere else in Britain and I don’t see why another expensive reorganisation and a 15 year contract are needed to achieve that."

He continued: “I'd like to know more about the risks associated with this approach. For example, no other NHS organisation has entered into a 15 year contract when it is impossible to predict what will happen on all sorts of issues such as the impact of new healthcare technologies, new drugs, workforce needs or changes or public spending.

“I also want to know how local people will be involved in the new organisation and what sort of say they will have over healthcare in Dudley over the next 15 years."

A spokesman for Dudley CCG said: "We face three problems in Dudley - a growing frail elderly population, a population with more complex health needs and a primary care (GP) system attempting to deal with these demands with a diminishing workforce.

"We need to bring services together in a more integrated and coordinated way to deal with this complexity and provide a more sustainable GP system.

"If we do not do this there is a risk that patients will present in A&E, creating further strain on the local hospital.

"A 15 year contract is designed to create a longer term partnership between the parties and the space to invest in the right kind of preventative measures to deal with growing demand.

"Giving this degree of longevity reduces risk and facilitates long term planning. The CCG will work with the MCP to model anticipated changes in demand, technology and the financial environment in order to create the ability for the MCP to manage within its budget - a matter of mutual interest to both parties."