Doctors

Medical practitioners require specialist advice in connection with their partnerships and practice arrangements as these are governed by the NHS regulatory and general medical framework, in addition to general partnership and property law. Some of Birkett Long’s lawyers have developed expertise in this specialist area enabling them to offer a full range of services, tailored to GPs, at cost effective rates compared to the larger city based law firms.

Main Services

Partnerships

• Partnership Agreements
  • GMS and PMS partnership agreements
  • Supplemental agreements for incoming partners
  • Retirement agreements for outgoing partners
  • Dissolution/Settlement agreements
  • Deeds of variation
  • Salaried partnership agreements 
• Advice on liability between partners
• Buying and selling private practices
• Practice mergers
• Contractual advice – GMS and PMS contract advice
• Regulatory advice
• Negotiating settlements in partnership disputes and dissolution

Property

• Surgery premises 
  • Acquisition of freehold and leasehold premises
  • Leases by property owning doctors to their practices
  • Sales and leasebacks
  • Changes of property owning partners
  • New surgery developments
• Property Partnership Agreements - dealing with surgery premises ownership between the property owning partners

Consortiums and PFI

• Advice to groups of general practitioners or medical practices on the appropriate business vehicle to bid for local primary care trust (“PCT”) contracts and assistance in setting up such vehicles, i.e. limited companies or LLPs
• Co-operation agreements between practices for the delivery of PMS contracts
• Private Finance Initiatives and Public Private Partnerships

Expertise

We act for GP practices throughout North London, Essex, Suffolk and beyond, assisting with partnership agreements, partnership changes, disputes and contractual advice. On the property side we assist practices in relation to the acquisition of premises, changes in ownership in connection with incoming and outgoing partners and sales and leasebacks.

With the changing nature of medical partnerships we have developed a separate property partnership agreement to govern the arrangements between the partners who own the surgery premises, as it has long been the case that incoming partners to the medical partnership do not wish to buy in to the surgery premises, effectively creating 2 distinct partnerships in this respect.

Our specialists

Tracey Dickens
Tracey heads Birkett Long’s Commercial and Corporate Finance Team, and has specialised in advising partnerships throughout her time with the Firm, bringing with her, her expertise from her previous firm. Tracey has extensive experience in dealing with medical professionals partnership matters.

Latest news

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  Abolition of GP practice boundaries
  Andy Burnham, the Health Secretary, has announced that within the nex...