ICBs will test new ways of using ‘more flexible staffing models’, data and process automation within general practice in a pilot scheme that could change the way the profession works, NHS England has announced.
A letter sent to integrated care boards today stated that seven ICBs, led by Suffolk and North East Essex ICB, will formulate new ways of working within general practice.
This will ‘further deliver’ on 2022 report by GP and NHS national medical director for primary care Dr Claire Fuller.
The letter doesn’t go into detail about what the pilots will entail for GP practices, but does say ICBs should work with primary care networks.
Pulse has reported on ICBs putting forward plans to separate same-day access from general practice, leaving practices with responsibility for routine appointments only, which they have claimed is in line with the Fuller report.
These new pilots will shape how the Fuller report is implemented more widely, however.
The Fuller stocktake, a landmark review on integrating primary care with other NHS services, recommended that GP practices form ‘single urgent care teams’ across ‘neighbourhoods’ to improve patient access.
It also laid out plans to develop ‘innovative employment models such as joint appointments and rotational models’ to counter the GP workforce crisis.
The letter stated that the specific aims of the pilots would be to:
- Improve insight and data by ‘testing more flexible staffing models and ways of reducing administrative burdens’;
- Understand what is needed to ‘deliver the Fuller Stocktake vision consistently and sustainably’;
- Evaluate the use of ‘digital tools such as process automation and risk stratification’ to support GP teams
- Use ‘dedicated multi-disciplinary teams’ to support patients with more complex needs’
It added that these insights would be collected over a ‘two-year timeframe’.
Earlier this year, North West London ICB caused controversy with its plans to integrate a hub model, based out of PCNs or groups of PCNs, aimed to ‘deliver a single point of triage for same-day, low complexity’ demand for all 2.1 million residents within the integrated care system, leaving GP practices with only longer-term, ‘complex’ care.
The CEO of the ICB suggested that these plans were in line with the Fuller report, claiming that ‘some aspects’ were ‘determined nationally’.
NHS England distanced themselves from the plans, stating that it was up to the commissioners to implement the Fuller report based on local circumstances.
More to follow
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