Since the NHS was created in 1948, the population has grown and people are living longer. Many people are living with long term conditions such as diabetes and heart disease or suffer with mental health issues and may need to access their local health services more often.
To meet these needs, GP practices are working together with community, mental health, social care, pharmacy, hospital and voluntary services in their local areas in groups of practices known as primary care networks (PCNs).
NHS England » Primary care networks
Who we are
We are East Shore Practice, Lighthouse Group Practice and Unicity Medical Centre with a combined patient population of 46,392, who have joined together to create fully integrated, proactive, community-based health service to address chronic disease and illness management and prevention. We provide structured medication reviews, enhanced health in care homes, anticipatory care (with community services), personalised care, support for early cancer diagnosis and chronic or terminal illness, cardiovascular disease prevention and tackle neighbourhood inequalites. We comprise a range of staff such as GPs, pharmacists, district nurses, community geriatricians, dementia workers and allied health professionals such as physiotherapists, mental health practitioners and podiatrists/chiropodists, social care and the voluntary sector.
How we fit in with your doctor
PCNs are a core part of The NHS long term plan’s vision of achieving more proactive, coordinated care through greater collaboration between GPs and other services in the community. Drawing on the skills of a wider range of health professionals is a pragmatic response to rising demand and shortages in the GP workforce. PCNs have the potential to improve coordination of services for patients and to support GPs to deliver improved access and high-quality care.
What are the benefits of having a PCN?
The NHS long term plan is for all NHS organisations to have more of a proactive focus on improving ‘population health’, which includes action to find and offer services to people at risk of deteriorating ill-health, as well as prevention of illness. NHS England believes that the 30,000–50,000 population size of PCNs breaks population groups in to more manageable chunks for the delivery of interventions to improve population health (single practices being generally too small and CCGs too large). PCNs will be expected to play a role in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, tackling neighbourhood inequalities and the development of community-based services that enable reductions in hospital activity.