According to The King’s Fund, “Integrated care systems (ICSs) are partnerships that bring together providers and commissioners of NHS services across a geographical area with local authorities and other local partners to collectively plan health and care services to meet the needs of their population. The central aim of ICSs is to integrate care across different organisations and settings, joining up hospital and community-based services, physical and mental health, and health and social care. All parts of England are now covered by one of 42 ICSs.”

The government’s recently published White Paper takes this ambition even further. Increasingly, boundaries need to be broken down between organisations in the healthcare system and new ways of working developed as providers come together to create more efficient and patient orientated pathways. General practice being able to come together as one body to participate in peer-to-peer conversations with other large-scale providers is a key enabler of this.

We are pleased to announce that in response to this need, general practice across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire has come together to form the GP Collaborative Board (GPCB).  The GPCB brings together all practices, Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and localities in BNSSG, supported by One Care and Avon LMC.

In 2020, practices asked One Care and Avon LMC to work with them to develop and implement an ethical decision-making process and good governance framework for general practice. In September 2020, we took the decision to stand up a Shadow GP Collaborative Board to shape this framework and make decisions about what the GPCB should look like. In April 2021, the GPCB moved out of shadow form and the members came together as a substantive Board for the first time.

The GPCB has four main functions:

• Coordinating representation of general practice within system governance structures.
• Ratification of new pathways and strategy.
• Informing to ensure accurate, relevant and timely information flows to, from and throughout general practice.
• Enabling general practice to come together at scale, giving a vehicle for provider-to-provider conversations.

The GPCB has already begun to establish itself as an important partner within the BNSSG Integrated Care System.  Find out more about the GP Collaborative Board.

If you want to know more about the GP Collaborative Board, get in touch with us – GPCollaborativeBoard@onecare.org.uk.