Tag Archives: GPCB

GPCB supports PCNs’ successful bid for additional ARI hub funding

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Primary Care Networks (PCNs) in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire successfully set up acute respiratory infection (ARI) hubs in January, after GP Collaborative Board (GPCB) support enabled them to bid for national funding. 

It followed an NHS England invitation for funding bids to set up ARI hubs, to address extra demand over the winter from patients with respiratory infections, including invasive Group A Strep in children.  

The hub model was based on the Covid vaccination model of flexible care across PCNs, meaning patients are cared for in the community. This approach allowed additional appointments and clinical resources to be dedicated to patients’ respiratory illnesses, reducing the impact on core practice services over winter.  

The mobilisation of general practice at scale across BNSSG, led by the GPCB, meant that BNSSG practices secured the full funding allocation for the area and established the hubs in a very short timeframe. This enabled 17,000 additional appointments to be offered between January and March.  

Funding was distributed based on PCN size, meaning equitable distribution among all PCNs. In future bids, the GPCB will explore how funding can be used to support practices in areas of deprivation to reduce health inequalities across BNSSG. 

An additional project from the same fund was run by University Hospitals Bristol and Weston (UHBW) children’s emergency department. The GPCB worked collaboratively with UHBW to share best practice; understand differing models of care across primary and secondary care in detail; and coordinate the projects to provide optimal benefit to patients.  

 Jim Hodgson, GPCB programme manager for urgent care, said “With the support of the GPCB, we managed to bring in a significant amount of funding into BNSSG to support practices and patients during the winter months. We overcame the challenges of tight deadlines and difficulties in the model to support practices to provide great care for their patients. We look forward to building on the learning and value of this winter’s model, taking the learning and insights to develop an even more effective response next winter.” 

GPCB outpatients group seeks to improve primary and secondary interface

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The General Practice Collaborative Board (GPCB) was set up by all practices in BNSSG to represent the voice of general practice in system discussions and decision-making.

To ensure general practice is properly represented within Integrated Care System (ICS) programmes of work, the GPCB created its own infrastructure for general practice transformation programmes.

One of these programmes is outpatients. The GPCB set up a committee, bringing together GPs and practice managers from across BNSSG, to provide general practice input to the ICS outpatients programme. It is led by Dr Nicola McGuinness, clinical lead, and Ruth Hughes, programme manager, and works closely with the Avon LMC and the clinical lead for planned care at the Integrated Care Board.

The GPCB outpatients network is funded by the ICS, which allows general practice to be part of key discussions and decision-making in the same way as the acute trusts and Sirona. This is significant for general practice as it allows us both to influence the existing projects and raise our own at-scale issues at a system level to find solutions together.

This improves the relationships and interface between general practice and secondary care, which supports the new ways of working in an ICS: putting the patient in the centre and building support and services around them.

One of the successes of the group so far has been collecting feedback from staff in general practice about advice and guidance processes to bring into the system review of the service. This means the views of both primary and secondary care are brought into discussions about how to improve the service.

The network has also worked with the trusts and the Integrated Care Board to think about how data can be used to support understanding of waiting times for hospital appointments. Following these discussions, the trusts and the ICB are looking at how to ensure accurate, local data is available for clinicians referring into secondary care, and for patients who are waiting for their appointments. This is important to give patients a realistic expectation of wait times, and what they can do in the meantime to support their health.

Dr Nicola McGuinness, GP in North and West Bristol and clinical lead for this programme, said, “The GPCB outpatients network is key to ensuring general practice is represented in the wider ICS outpatients programme. Our successes so far show that involving general practice in system outpatients work ensures the patient experience at the community end of their care is represented.”

GPCB sets out principles for working in BNSSG healthcare system

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The General Practice Collaborative Board (GPCB) formed in 2020 to strengthen the voice of 24/7 general practice within Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucester (BNSSG).

The GPCB brings together all general practices within BNSSG, Avon Local Medical Committee and BrisDoc which provides the out-of-hours GP service. Hosted by One Care, the GP federation for BNSSG, the GPCB ensures the voice of general practice remains a ‘golden thread’ and is robustly represented within the new Integrated Care System (ICS).

The ICS was established on a statutory basis in July 2022, and brings together partners from health and social care, local authorities and the Integrated Care Board, which replaced the CCG in July 2022.

By bringing these partners together to work collaboratively, the ICS puts patients at the very heart of the system and builds services around their needs.

General practice is the bedrock for the health and care system, and deals with the majority of health interactions through multidisciplinary teams of GPs, nurse practitioners and other clinical and non-clinical staff members working within surgeries. GP surgeries care for patients from cradle to grave, and are uniquely placed to build trusting relationships with their patients.

General practice involvement is therefore essential to the success of an integrated care system. The GPCB has developed some key principles around how general practice works within the Integrated Care System in BNSSG. These will enable general practice to act as an equal partner in our system partnership, and will lead to proper general practice engagement in decision-making across healthcare in our area.

The principles the GPCB works to are:

  • The GPCB is the go-to place for the system to engage with general practice
  • General practice at-scale work should be funded by the system
  • General practice should be involved in all system programmes from the outset
  • Each programme requires programme management, as well as clinical and non-clinical input
  • General practice engagement in system work will be prioritised in line with GPCB priorities

By following these principles, we ensure the expertise and experience of general practice is involved in any design of pathways and services. The principles also ensure voices are heard from across all general practice, the right expertise is found, and any progress made is shared back across all 76 practices in the area. We are working closely with our ICS partners to embed these new ways of working across everything we do in our system.

Dr Katrina Boutin, GP in Inner City and East Bristol and the Vice-Chair of the GPCB, said “Agreeing the principles of general practice engagement with our partners is an important step in partnership working in the new Integrated Care System. This is so we can ensure all partners are working consistently and collaboratively together to support our local populations, improve services and reduce inequalities.

Currently the GPCB is working within the system on several programmes: digital strategy; mass vaccinations; outpatients and urgent care. These programmes are steered by committees comprising clinical and non-clinical general practice representatives with a specialist interest in that area, and led by a clinical lead and programme manager.

These programmes are supported by One Care business intelligence, communications and digital expertise to enable change management within practices.

Successes to date include: coordinating the successful general practice aspect of the Covid vaccination programme; working with secondary care on outpatients processes to support the patient journey; and developing an urgent care strategy that supports patients being seen in the right place at the right time.

 

Voice of general practice strengthened as BrisDoc joins the GPCB

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The General Practice Collaborative Board (GPCB) has welcomed BrisDoc as its newest voting member.

The GPCB is the established representative at-scale decision-making body for general practice in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG), and is formally recognised as the “go to” place for the system to work and engage with general practice at scale.

Following the annual review of the GPCB’s terms of reference, the Board looked at its membership and invited BrisDoc to join.

BrisDoc joins representatives from the Primary Care Networks, the six GP localities, Avon Local Medical Committee, and One Care (the GP Federation) as members of the GPCB.

BrisDoc is an employee-owned social enterprise, which has been delivering NHS primary care services for over 20 years, including the Integrated Urgent Care Service for BNSSG. It also provides a number of GP practices and Bristol’s Homeless Health Service.

Dr Jon Hayes, Chair of the GPCB, said: “We’re delighted to welcome BrisDoc to full voting membership of the GPCB. Having BrisDoc as a member strengthens our role, as it enables us to properly represent both in and out of hours general practice in our area. It enables us to work more cohesively across 24/7 general practice for the benefit of our patients. We hope joining the GPCB will also strengthen BrisDoc’s voice in the local healthcare system.”

Dr Kathy Ryan, BrisDoc’s Medical Director, said: “BrisDoc is delighted to become a full voting member of the GPCB. Uniting the voice of 24/7 general practice in BNSSG will provide a strong platform for consolidation, development and innovation in primary care in the new Integrated Care System.”

Medical Director for the GPCB announced

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We are pleased to announce that Dr Geeta Iyer will be taking up the role of Medical Director for the GP Collaborative Board (GPCB) from 1 April 2022.

Geeta has been working closely with the GP Collaborative Board since its inception in her role as Clinical Lead for Primary Care Development for Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) CCG and alongside her role as a GP at Gloucester Road Medical Centre. Geeta will continue in both these roles alongside her new GPCB position, which will mean she is uniquely placed to strengthen the GPCB’s working relationships with both the wider system and BNSSG practices.

Geeta will be working for the GPCB one day a week. Please join us in giving her a warm welcome to her new GP Collaborative Board role over the coming weeks and months.

Speaking about her appointment, Geeta said: “I’m really looking forward to working on behalf of the GP Collaborative Board to strengthen the relationships between general practice providers and our colleagues across the system. I’ll be working closely with the Chair, Vice-Chair and Board members to make sure the board truly understands and represents the views of our constituent practices. The GPCB has already established itself as the representative body for general practice in our developing Integrated Care System and we can build on this solid foundation over the coming years.”

Geeta’s initial priorities will be to coordinate general practice input to system planning for next year, offer clinical leadership for key areas of work in our ICB and support the role of the GP Collaborative Board in implementing the BNSSG Primary Care Strategy.