A meeting of councillors, local activists, doctors and Newham Clinical Commissioning group to examine how ownership of some Newham GP practices was transferred to an American health corporation has been told that there were no legal grounds to block the sell-off.

East Ham MP Stephen Timms, who attended the meeting, said: ”The transaction itself doesn’t give rise to any cause for concerns, but there are questions in the long-term about where this is heading.”

As reported last month, 49 GP surgeries and over 370,000 patients in the Greater London area, including six GP practices in Stratford, Canning Town, Manor Park and North Woolwich have been transferred into the hands of Operose Health, a firm owned by US health insurance giant Centene.

The transfer was “nodded through” by Clinical Commissioning Groups responsible for management and oversight of GP practices with NHS contracts.

Campaigners say the transfer was agreed by 13 CCGs across London, including Newham, under the cover of the pandemic without proper scrutiny and no public meetings.

Also present at the meeting were the council’s cabinet lead on health, councillor Zulfiqar Ali and councillors Salim Patel and Susan Masters, as well as Newham Save Our NHS and doctors from the AT Medics group who previously owned the GPs network.

Timms said that AT Medics had “done a good job” helping to build a viable network of GP practices. The meeting was told high quality health care will be maintained. The arrangements will be reviewed when existing time-limited contracts with the NHS come up for renewal.

“Nevertheless, there is a question of why an American corporation with its own chequered reputation in the US would want to own East London GP practices,” said Timms. “It’s clear that another UK government with a different perspective will be the only way of protecting the future of the NHS.”

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