Making it easier to get an appointment to see a health professional in your community is the target of future changes proposed by NHS Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

The organisation has been working with GPs from across the city, and other city health professionals and organisations, on a proposed new Primary Care Strategy. The Strategy will be unveiled in May at the CCG’s Governing Body meeting, however a presentation to the Council’s Healthier Communities and Adult Social Care Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee on 23^rd March previewed some of the ideas that are being proposed for the Strategy.

Dr Tim Moorhead, GP and Chair at NHS Sheffield Clinical Commissioning Group said, “GP practices are vital in improving the health and wellbeing of their communities which is why we have worked very closely with our practices to come up with the proposals that will be in the Primary Care Strategy, and to make sure they meet the needs of the people living in those communities.

“Even though the number of GP appointments have actually increased over the past 10 years, perception is that it’s harder than ever to get an appointment, that’s because across the country GP practices have seen an increase in workload due to people living longer, and more people living with complex illnesses and long-term conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease.

“There are also significant workforce issues with fewer GPs entering the profession and more leaving it early. Add to that the fact that the healthcare expectations of the population are changing in line with greater consumer choice, 24/7 access, fast response times and better informed consumers, and you have a clear case for change.

“We know from talking to the public and patients in Sheffield that they want to be able to see health professionals when they need, in their local community. The Primary Care Strategy aims to enable this with a system that puts the patient at the heart – giving them access to the right health professional for their need. Practices will have a more diverse team seeing patients on the front-line including pharmacists, physician associates, nurse practitioners, practice nurses and healthcare assistants, with GPs using their skills and experience to treat patients with the highest need.

“The plan is also for a community-based approach with better links with social care, voluntary sector services, and district nurses. We want to have really good networks in the communities so that if a vulnerable person comes to see a GP about something that’s more of a social issue, we are able to put them in touch with the right person.

“This strategy is really needed to support people in the city to get access to great health care when they need it, and to support my GP colleagues to be able to deliver that. I’m pleased that it’s been well supported by health and social care professionals and I hope that the public will also see it for the positive opportunity it presents to play a part in creating a modern NHS better equipped to deal with the demands of today’s population.

“The proposed changes would be implemented using a phased approach. We will be undertaking additional public and patient engagement in the summer in the communities who will be impacted by the first phase roll out. We would very much encourage people to keep an eye out and come along and have their say.”

The proposals outlined in the presentation to the Health Committee included three themes for what the CCG hopes Primary Care will deliver in the next 5-10 years:

• Provide safe, high quality 1st point of contact services
• Maintain people with complex needs in a community setting
• Provide an increasing range of more specialist services in the community, rather than people having to go to hospital

It identifies that to enable this to happen there is a need to: free GP time up from less complex work so they can concentrate on managing more complex patients; develop a workforce that can manage the less complex work – nurses, pharmacists, physician’s associates, HCAs; educate people to use resources differently and with a greater emphasis on self-care; and make better use of the health, social care and voluntary services already there, amongst other more wide-ranging changes.

The presentation is available here: http://sheffielddemocracy.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s21845/primary%20care%20strategy%20presentation%20to%20adult%20scrutiny.pdf

 

The full CCG Primary Care Strategy will be discussed in public at the Governing Body meeting on 5^th May 2016, 2pm, 722 Prince of Wales Rd, Darnall, Sheffield, S9 4EU.