88 practices have received compensation for errors at the national English primary care support services, it has been revealed.

Another 112 practices have been refused compensation despite the widespread problems attributed to the services following their takeover by contractors Capita.

The compensation payments were revealed in a letter to the House of Commons public accounts committee by Emily Lawson, from NHS England. The committee has previously condemned the contract as a “shambles.”

Capita was accused of failing to forward correspondence and of delaying payments to practices.

NHS England said the 88 payments were “goodwill” payments. It said it had identified one instance of potential patient harm because of the incorrect merging of records.

In total Capita had been responsible for delaying the sending of some 51,000 letters about cervical screening, Ms Lawson admitted. She said the risks posed by the delays were thought to be “low” and there was no evidence of harm from women having screening delayed.

A further investigation is under way into 122,000 differences between the two patient databases that underpin registration of patients in the NHS, the letter says.

Ms Lawson writes: “A serious incident has been declared and NHS Digital, Public Health England, Capita and NHS England are working to reconcile the differences and assess any impact on patients. There is currently no evidence of actual harm to patients arising as a result of these differences.”