The troubled primary care support services contract was let with inadequate staffing numbers, it has been alleged.

Auditors have accused Capita of underestimating the number of staff it needed to run the service, which has caused problems for practices since it was introduced two years ago.

Now it has been revealed that at least one other bidder in 2015 proposed deploying twice as many staff as Capita.

The Health Service Journal reports that Equiniti would have run the service with 650 staff.

Capita bid to run the service with just 314 staff and won the contract from NHS England. It has since increased staff numbers to 739.

Equiniti has set out details of its bid in evidence submitted to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee.

British Medical Association GP committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey told the journal that NHS England had “completely underestimated the complexity and importance of providing good back office staff.

“I think the fact that they have had to increase staff shows they did get it wrong. Whilst NHS England might have saved £60m it is GP practices that have paid the price.”