The new GP contract was published in early 2019 as part of the NHS Long Term Plan. A key element of the new contract is the development of Primary Care Networks (PCNs) which bring GP practices together with other local services – such as community, mental health, social care and the voluntary sector – to look after local populations. PCNs help to join up services at a local level, focusing on the specific needs of these local populations, with patients still accessing routine GP appointments as they do now.
10 of the GP practices within our area have joined together to form the North Southall PCN. They are:
- Chepstow Gardens Medical Practice
- Dormers Wells Medical Centre
- KS Medical Centre
- Lady Margaret Road Medical Centre
- Somerset Family Health Partnership
- St. George’s Medical Centre
- The MWH Practice
- The Saluja Clinic
- The Town Surgery
- Woodbridge Medical Centre
Our surgery teams are working closely with each other, enjoying the ability to share expertise and resources, to develop new services. Our vision is to continue to improve the quality of care that we provide in alignment with the needs of our patient population. Because we are part of a PCN we are able to take advantage of additional staff roles that are now available to support all of our patients. These additional roles help us to provide the right care at the right time, from the right professional. The following video produced by NHS East of England helps to explain these additional roles:
You can also find further details in our services page and in our Health TV section.
WHAT ARE PRIMARY CARE NETWORKS?
PCNs build on current primary care services and enable greater provision of proactive, personalised, coordinated and more integrated health and social care. Clinicians describe this as a change from reactively providing appointments to proactively providing care for the people and communities they serve. PCNs usually have a 30-50k population and are geographically contiguous (next to or touching another). You can read the NHS England PCN FAQs here.