Primary Care is changing: there are some things you may need to know 

News - 30 October 2024

Significant changes are underway in how patients access Primary Care.  Primary Care services provide the first planned point of contact in the healthcare system, acting as the ‘front door’ of the NHS. Primary care includes your GP Practice, community pharmacies, dental, and optometry (eye health) services. Changes, as part of the Primary Care Access Recovery Plan (PCARP), are being rolled out.  

Healthwatch Wirral have put together a short explainer to help you understand the changes that are taking place and how they are being evaluated.  

What is the Primary Care Access Recovery Plan (PCARP), what work is being carried out and what will it mean for patients in Wirral?

PCARP sets out a series of actions GP Practices should put in place aimed at improving access for patients.  

Requirements include a range of measures, some of which may already be in place, including making patient records available through the NHS App, where people can also book appointments and order repeat prescriptions, and launching Pharmacy First – where community pharmacists can prescribe medication for some common conditions as well as expanding services to include blood pressure checks and supply oral contraception.  

Other requirements include making it easier for patients to self-refer for services, supporting practices to move to digital telephone systems with call back options and extra training for clinicians and support staff.   

More information on the full list of requirements is available here. 

The work of the Primary Care Recovery Plan builds on other changes that have been put in place at general practices, in particular Enhanced Access to GP services.  

What is Enhanced Access?  

Enhanced Access means that patients may be offered an appointment not just with a GP.  People may be offered an appointment with another health professional at their Practice, such as a nurse or paramedic. Patients could also be offered an evening or Saturday appointment, or an appointment at another Practice.

Enhanced Access provision is coordinated by local Primary Care Networks.  These are groups of local general practices working together to deliver integrated healthcare services.  Primary Care Networks organise their services around patient populations of between 30- 50,000 people.   

Primary Care Networks share funding for some specific staff roles such as clinical pharmacists, social prescribers, physiotherapists, physician associates and paramedics.  

How is it working locally?  

Healthwatch Wirral have recently published the results of a year-long study into the planning for enhanced access and how this is being rolled out in practice.  

Our report highlights key findings and trends that have emerged from our engagement with healthcare professionals, front-line staff and the community.  

You can view Healthwatch Wirral’s Evaluation of GP Enhanced Access here.

The work continues…  

Healthwatch Wirral are continuing to evaluate enhanced access services and the wider Primary Care Access Recovery Plans in an ongoing piece of work that will continue through to 2025.  

As part of this we are carrying out surveys with patients and practice staff to better understand the rollout of PCARP and Enhanced Access.  

Let us know how your GP Practice is doing by clicking on our survey link here.