What do primary care networks do?

GP services are at the heart of the NHS and we have continued our work this year to build and sustain vibrant primary care services, which are in the hub of local communities.

• Watch this short film explaining primary care networks.

This year the NHS Long Term plan set out that GP practices should come together and work with their neighbouring practices to form primary care networks, often referred to as PCNs. 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, practices have begun working together and with community, mental health, social care, pharmacy, hospital and voluntary services in their local areas in primary care networks.

Primary care networks build on the core of 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 care for the people and communities they serve. Where emerging primary care networks are in place in parts of the country, there are clear benefits for patients and clinicians.

What is the primary care network in Barnsley?

In July 2019 Barnsley Healthcare Federation, the federation of GP practices across Barnsley, supported and enabled the development of six pre-existing neighbourhood teams into localities in a single primary care network. These teams, each of which has a clinical director, is small enough to provide the personal care valued by both patients and GPs. They can also come together and work as one primary care network which is large enough to have impact and economies of scale through better collaboration between practices and others in the local health and social care system.

Clinical pharmacists, employed by the CCG and working in GP practices, have continued to play a central role in the GP practice team. This year we have extended that programme to increase both the number of posts and the role they play in growing the local workforce. These roles were identified in the NHS Long Term Plan as key. Barnsley had already been a leader in this area and so this year, we have reviewed where additional clinical pharmacy roles can make the most difference across the team and borough.