Primary Medical Care Commissioning Activity Report

Data Provision Notice to require the submission of data from all Integrated Care Boards in respect of the procurement of primary medical services and the service availability of general practices.

Overview

NHS Digital has been directed by NHS England to collect data relating to primary medical care commissioning.

The primary medical care commissioning activity report (PCAR) was introduced in 2016/17 to support greater assurance and oversight of NHS England’s primary medical care commissioning responsibilities. It replaced what had often been variable and ad hoc requests for information with a more systematic approach.

Data is collected for the following areas: managing contractual underperformance (number of contract reviews, contract breaches, terminations); procurement activity and expiry of contracts; availability of services (number of closed GP patient lists, GP practice closures).

Scope

This Notice is served on:

Integrated Care Boards

Legal basis

ARTICLE

The migration and continued operation of the Unify2 collections through Strategic Data Collections Service Direction 2017

A Direction given by the Secretary of State for Health requiring NHS Digital to establish the migration of the Unify2 collections listed in Annex A onto NHS Digital's Strategic Data Collections Service (SDCS) and continue the operation of these collections through this service.

Period

Data is collected annually. Information regarding the submission timetable and supporting documentation is published on our website.

Read the Data Provision Notice and supporting requirements specification

Data Provision Notice for Primary Medical Care Commissioning Activity Report (PCAR) V3.0

pdf 264 KB

Updates

May 2025 - The DPN was updated as part of a regular review schedule.

July 2024 – the collection was updated to include 2 additional questions to contractual notices, Removal of GP practice details for procurement failures and some wording changes to existing questions.

Last edited: 16 June 2025 10:59 am