Primary Care teams in Erewash welcome Dr Kathy McLean, ICB Chair, for visit

GPs, receptionists, social prescribers and care navigators were just some of the staff from primary care in Erewash who welcomed ICB Chair Dr Kathy McLean for a visit.

Teams from across practices talked Dr McLean, Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board Chair, through the local model and ways of working to help inform commissioning decision-making.

The visit, to Park View Medical Centre, in Long Eaton, was organised by the GP Provider Board which represents general practice across Derby and Derbyshire. It explored a raft of initiatives being used in general practice to increase access and quality of care for patients and make the most of resources.

 

Discussions included:

  • the successful digital triage system helping patients access the right practitioner at the right time
  • the ways of working between primary and secondary care
  • levers which can help promote a more preventative model
  • funding opportunities and barriers
  • the use of data and the move towards addressing population health in local communities
  • creating connections  
  • and developing integrated neighbourhood teams.

Dr McLean said: “It’s clear that primary care is the cornerstone of our health and care system. It’s often the first place people turn to when they have a problem. But the NHS is under significant pressure, and this has increased for primary care, particularly in the last few years.

“I’m always struck by the wide variety of skills available in primary care teams and the visit brought home the wide variety of challenges and opportunities for teams. They are working to both increase access for routine and urgent appointments but also extending their services into communities to understand and address population health through for example workplace health checks.

“Setting up and helping Integrated Neighbourhood Teams to flourish is the Government’s plan and models like Erewash are already dipping their toe into the water with prevention. The key will be for us as commissioners to help support practices to do what they need to do for their own local populations.

“It will be exciting to see how we collectively take this forward.”

Dr Duncan Gooch, Clinical Director at Erewash Primary Care Network and a partner at the practice, said: “It was really helpful to sit and talk with Kathy and explore some of the topics which are important to us as a PCN but also to primary care more broadly across Derbyshire.

“Our aim is to provide the best service for our patients and to do that we have to balance what we can offer with the resources available.

“But we’re constantly evolving and innovating and are ready for the challenge so it was great to describe to Kathy some of the work we’re doing connecting with people and communities, understanding and addressing their needs and supporting people to improve their health through proactive models.”

Derby & Derbyshire ICB is currently exploring a new primary care model.