Primary care
General practice is at the heart of the NHS. It is still the first port of call for the vast majority of Londoners, providing accessible, whole-person care to the local community. This means that GPs intimately know their patients’ needs and circumstances. It helps prevent disease and empowers patients to look after their own health. Patients have a continuous, trusting relationship with their GP that is proven, time and again, to be strongly associated with high-quality care and patient satisfaction.
The Primary Care Programme has been established to transform London’s experience of primary care. It is centred on delivering a new offer for patients and is working with local areas to realise the vision laid out in the Strategic Commissioning Framework.
In 2015, the ‘Transforming Primary Care in London: A Strategic Commissioning Framework’ set out a bold new vision for primary care in the capital. Much work has been done and great successes have been achieved; we now have more GPs in training, a broader skill mix in our primary care workforce, greater use of digital technology such as GP online services and extended access for patients.
Next Steps
Our ‘Next Steps to the Strategic Commissioning Framework’ is our vision for strengthening general practice collaboration across London. This has been developed in partnership with London CCGs, the Londonwide LMCs and overseen by the Primary Care Clinical Cabinet.
Through engagement and supporting evidence, we believe that collaboration is key to achieving a world class primary care. By working together at greater scale, general practice can be both small and big; it can keep providing patients with personalised, whole-person care while also providing strategic support, leadership and a strong voice within larger-scale general practice organisations.
‘Next Steps’ recognises that practices across London are at different stages of collaboration. The guidance includes a matrix of how to start, build upon or enhance collaboration locally. Providers and commissioners can identify where their practice is on the collaboration journey using the ‘Next Steps’ guidance and tools.
The ‘Next Steps to the Strategic Commissioning Framework’ outlines two main types of collaborative arrangements between practices. These are:
- Larger scale general practice models (LGPOs) where multiple practices work via formal collaborative arrangements enabling them to develop and train a broad workforce, create shared operational systems and quality improvement approaches.
- Primary Care Networks (PCNs) where practices come together with community providers and the voluntary sector to serve smaller populations. The vision is for the creation of multi-disciplinary, team based care for those with enduring, complex health and care needs.
On our website you will find all the tools you require to help you on your journey to better understand not only where to start but what level of maturity you are at. Read the ‘Next Steps’ guidance and explore our resources, matrix and online tools. Let us support your collaboration journey.
Explore
Next Steps to the Strategic Commissioning Framework
The Primary Care Programme focuses on helping London area STPs with the delivery of the next steps on the Five Year Forward View. Setting out a detailed, costed package of investment and reform for primary care now through to 2020. It will mean more convenient access to care, a stronger focus on population health and prevention, more GPs and a wider range of practice staff, operating in more modern buildings, and better integrated with community and preventive services, hospital specialists and mental health care. In doing so we are working with the Royal College of GPs, the General Practitioners Committee, the National Association of Primary Care, and others.
The programme will also continue to support providers to build sustainable organisations and facilitates sharing of best practice and innovations.
Contact the team to find out more about what we are doing: england.londonprimarycaretransformation@nhs.net
Further reading
Better Health for London report
Download the NHS Five Year Forward View and the Next Steps NHS Five Year Forward View from NHS England’s website.
