The innovations challenge to Primary Care

Dr Robert Varnum,  Head of General Practice Development at NHS England, has written an article titled ‘The innovations challenge to Primary Care‘.

In the article Dr Varnam relates the content of the Five Year Forward View to the role of the Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund in bringing about improvement and innovation.

He reflects upon the successes so far of the first cohort of PMCF pilot sites and how the learning from the 20 Wave One programmes will teach valuable lessons to those who are successful in their bids for Wave Two.

“Primary care has demonstrated that it is ready to step up to the plate if given the headroom to innovate.”

Read the full article.

The future for urgent care in a 24/7 NHS

This report, by the Urgent Care Commission and supported by Care UK makes eight recommendations to improve standards and ensure the most efficient use of resources.

According to the report,  “the value of out of hours care as a sector must have a stronger position through a more tailored and informed approach to workforce development, communications, commissioning and delivery.”

The report responds in part to the NHS Five Year Forward View. It stresses the importance of system-wide quality standards for GP Out of Hours and strong relationships between commissioners and providers. Better integration between hospitals and Out of Hours services is key and “data sharing requires a national solution”.

Read the full report here.

One Care are recruiting!

One Care Consortium are recruiting for a number of support roles within our Programme Team.

Are you the person we are looking for? Are you up for working differently? Improving the efficiency of the NHS? Does the prospect of joining an innovative and ground breaking team interest you? If so, consider becoming part of the One Care team.

All roles within One Care require people with a diverse range of skills and abilities. We need people who are effective at:

• working as part of a team
• using initiative and determination
• planning and organising their work
• communicating with others
• anticipating and solving problems
• embracing change
• learning new skills and acquiring knowledge
• customer relations

Find out more in our work for us section.

The NHS Five Year Forward View

On October 23 2014, the NHS Five Year Forward View was published. The report describes why change is needed in the NHS, what the future could look like and how we might get there.

What does this mean for primary care?

According to the report, “the foundation of the NHS will remain list-based primary care” but significant changes may impact the way services are provided. The Five Year Forward View describes a number of new care models, including the ‘Multispeciality Community Provider’ (MCP) and ‘Primary and Acute Care Systems’ (PACS).

The Forward View indicates that decisive steps will be taken to break down barriers for better integrated care, including for urgent care. It is promising to “invest more in primary care”, including by providing funding through schemes such as our own Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund.

The report also mentions the important role than online resources and pharmacies can play in the future of primary care.

Read more about the NHS Five Year Forward View and download the report here.