GP leaders are seeking legal redress after NHS officials blocked efforts to find out the scale of the problems in practice support services.

The British Medical Association said has now reported NHS England to the Information Commissioner’s Office for its “frankly unacceptable” wait for a response to a freedom of information (FOI) request.

The support services, currently run by Capita, have been accused of failures in managing patient records, GP pensions and management of GP trainees.

The commissioner has legal powers to enforce compliance with Freedom of Information laws.

Dr Krishna Kasaraneni, BMA GP committee executive committee member, said it was forced to act over the lack of response to its questions regarding primary care support England services, which are commissioned out to Capita.

The original FOI request was sent on 2 March 2018 and under the FOI Act, organisations must respond to requests within 20 working days.

Dr Kasaraneni said: “Ever since Capita took responsibility for primary care support services in England in 2015, the system has been wrought with problems, whether that was with GP pension payments or patient records.

“We submitted our original request to NHS England to provide details on the scale of the service’s failings at the beginning of March and yet after repeated attempts to get answers they are yet to properly respond.

“Organisations are obliged to provide answers within 20 working days, and after a frankly unacceptable wait of almost two months, we are left with no choice but to escalate this matter with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

“We are committed to providing GPs and practices with full details about the depth of the issues impacting general practice as a direct result of this woefully-run service and will continue to put pressure on NHS England to provide a solution.”