Primary care leaders call for greater freedom

GPs, pharmacists and nurses who are responsible for leading networks of general practices in England want greater flexibility and autonomy to work in a way that is more responsive to their local populations.

A year on from their formation, primary care networks have said that delivering a broader range of services, which are more joined up, closer to people’s homes and tailored to local communities depends on them having greater control over the services they deliver and the roles they can employ.

PCNs are seen as a core building block of the future of health and the NHS, and they are intended to allow a much wider range of services to be delivered outside of hospitals, as well as support care to be more joined up. Currently, there are around 1,250 primary care networks in England, with 98 per cent of general practices part of one.

To mark the first year of operations, NHS Confederation’s PCN Network has carried out a review and looked at what lies ahead for the next twelve months, based on the views of its members across the country. NHS Confederation highlights that PCNs have delivered benefits for the health of their local populations in their first year, but that there needs to be a better balance between fulfilling contractual requirements and doing what is best for their patients, as well as more time to develop local relationships.

Therefore, the network is calling for increased flexibility in how PCNs operate, greater support for clinical directors and involvement with system-level work to manage the health of the local population.

Ruth Rankine, Director of the PCN Network, which is part of the NHS Confederation, said: “The last 12 months have presented a real mix of opportunities and challenges for PCNs. The extent to which they have progressed has been contingent on good leadership capability, a history of strong local relationships and a clear vision of what they want to achieve. There have no doubt been obstacles, the greatest one being coronavirus, but in spite of and in some cases, because of these challenges, many have been able to make significant progress. In particular, many PCNs have expanded their use of technology, allowing more patients to be seen remotely during the first phase of the pandemic, and to build strong new relationships with other partners across primary care and the wider system.
 
“Looking forward, there will be new challenges for PCNs, but the pandemic has shown the value of collaboration and integration across health and care and so, there has never been a more important time for PCNs to be part of that transformation. To do this effectively, clinical directors and their managers need more time to engage in strategic decision-making, as well as greater freedom and autonomy to respond to the specific needs of their communities. Only then will we retain strong leaders in clinical director roles and get the innovation in primary care that is at the heart of the NHS Long Term Plan and that we have seen a glimpse of in the response to Covid-19.”