As part of the GP Access Fund programme, One Care had the opportunity to test a number of innovations that were said to improve access to appointments while reducing the demand on general practice. There was keen interest in using online consultation software across the primary care sector, so we worked directly with practices to identify their priorities around this. This led to a pilot involving 36 practices across BNSSG. The aim was to assess the impact, effectiveness, acceptability and costs of web-based access to primary care. The product chosen was called eConsult (previously, webGP).

Given the significance of technological innovation, and the fact some evidence suggests that non-traditional modes of contact have yet to offer significant benefit, One Care asked external researchers to evaluate the pilot. The evaluation analysed data from nearly 36,000 eConsultations, patient feedback, and undertook in-depth interviews with 23 practice staff involved in the pilot.

The study has been published by the Society for Academic Primary Care (SAPC) and was presented to the SAPC annual scientific meeting in Warwick this month. It was funded by One Care Consortium and the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care West (NIHR CLAHRC West) at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. Pulse have also published an article about the research.

It was found that use of eConsult was low and the system was mostly used during traditional surgery opening hours. The most common reason for an e-consultation was for administrative reasons (e.g. requesting fit notes, repeat prescriptions). 38% of e-consultations resulted in a face-to-face consultation, and a further 32% were telephoned by a clinician, suggesting that the impact on reducing demand was limited during the pilot perido. Better marketing of the system may help, but practices were understandably wary of promoting a system to their patients when the impact and its continued availability was uncertain.

Patients gave feedback that they valued the system. Clinicians said eConsult works best for simple, routine enquiries. When complex or new symptoms were presented, clinicians wanted to see the patient. The lack of integration of the platform with existing systems also created complications in work flow within practices.

Therefore, while the results indicated that there is an appetite to engage with digital communication, the study did highlight difficulties. The challenge for the future is to test the system once technical developments are available.

With thanks to the One Care project team, researchers from the local Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research & Care, funded by NIHR. https://clahrc-west.nihr.ac.uk/, and especially to the patients and practices who generously took part in this study.

We’re delighted that another forty GP surgeries across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire are going to benefit from clinical pharmacists who will be able to provide expert advice to over 400,000 patients. One Care led a bid on behalf of these practices earlier this year.

The scheme, jointly funded by NHS England and GP Practices, follows a successful pilot in 2015 and aims to free up GP time and allow them to see patients with more complex conditions.  The clinical pharmacists will offer expert advice on medicine issues, those taking multiple medications and will work alongside GPs and nurses to help manage patient’s long-term conditions.

Rebecca Hennessy, GP at Northville Family Practice, said:  “The new positions will provide additional resource to practices across the region. The service will benefit both patients, who will be able to be seen more quickly, and GPs who will be able to see those who need more complex advice and treatment.”

The funding comes from NHS England’s General Practice Forward View which has pledged over £100m to deliver an extra 1,500 pharmacists in general practice by 2020/21. Read more about the scheme.

Ruth Taylor, our chief executive, said: “It is fantastic news for the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire area and will have a positive impact on general practice. Everyone is aware of the pressure GPs are currently under, and the arrival of clinical pharmacists across 40 practices will have a noticeable benefit for patients across the area. The success of the bid has been made possible by collaboration between all of the practices and the use of digital innovation.”

We’ve been working hard to put together a short and easy-to-understand video presentation that explains our digital projects. At One Care (BNSSG) Ltd, our digital strategy underpins everything that we do. We want to build on our reputation for providing high-quality digital support to our member practices, working effectively with other healthcare partners and with technical experts and suppliers. We continue to deliver user-friendly products and training that help practice staff to improve their skills, manage their workload more efficiently and to share best practice effectively.

Find out more by watching the presentation below, which will tell you a bit more about the digital work we do at One Care and the reasons why we do it.

If you would like to find out more or provide feedback on any part of the of the presentation please email us.

Our website for the new organisation has officially launched today: onecare.org.uk. You will notice some new features, including the interactive map on the home page.

Photos of the members of our nominated and elected Board of Directors can be found here, and you can find out more about where we’ve come from in the ‘our story’ section.

We’ll be developing the site further over the next couple of weeks, so come back again soon to see what it looks like.

We have put together this video to share with our practice shareholders six months on from 21 June 2016; the day that we asked the practices in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, to vote on whether or not you wanted One Care to become your GP organisation.

The video contains an update on a number of areas including: recent confirmation of new funding streams, general practice involvement with the Sustainability and Transformation Plan, the launch of the new company and plans for 2017.

We hope you find it informative and that it demonstrates the progress the organisation has made over the last six months.

Please contact us if you have any questions, feedback or would like to discuss anything further.

Practices across BNSSG will come together for an extraordinary meeting of One Care on 21^st June. We hope to receive a mandate for One Care to become the voice of GP practices across the region.

To ensure that all practices have all the information they need to be able to vote with confidence , please find below various helpful documents and information:

• Click here to download our draft business plan, which outlines the future role of One Care Consortium as the voice of GP providers in BNSSG – together with a one page summary of the offer
• Click here to download the options paper which sets out why One Care Consortium has chosen this route
• Click here to download the agenda and voting process for 21^st June (including how to submit a postal vote)
• Click here to download our frequently asked questions document
• Click here to download a letter of endorsement from the current One Care Executive Committee

If you have questions or comments ahead of 21st June, we have set up a Survey Monkey. Alternatively, please ring us at the One Care programme office on 0117 941 0900.

If you haven’t yet done so, please register to attend on 21st June, or submit your postal vote. Please remember, you can only submit one vote per practice.