The objective of this article is to explore the role of the ‘Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise’ (VCSE) sector in integrated care systems. In particular, the paper aims to examine recent experiences of the voluntary sector in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the lessons that can be learnt for integrated care provision. To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
In the United Kingdom (UK), link worker social prescribing has emerged as an option to improve long-term condition management and address primary care patients' non-medical needs by linking patients with community-based activities and support. This study aimed to identify and categorise the components of link worker social prescribing schemes in the United Kingdom. To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
[Report] To explore how local authorities make improvements and measure success, and what type of support they use to make improvements, we conducted 27 interviews with those involved in improving adult social care in local authorities. We explored the adult social care improvement ‘stories’ in five local authorities and compared what we heard with established approaches and principles of quality improvement used in many sectors.
The recent Fuller stocktake report offered a snapshot of the state of play in general practice, and set out some next steps that could be taken to better integrate the different strands within primary care – harnessing the opportunities developing integrated care systems (ICSs) might bring. The report was accompanied by a literature review (302.81 KB, pdf) by The King’s Fund that set out the evidence base for what actually works when it comes to driving change and improvement in the sector.
This rapid realist review aims to explain how and why person-centred care (PCC) in primary care works (or not) among others for people with low health literacy skills and for people with a diverse ethnic and socioeconomic background, and to construct a middle-range programme theory (PT). To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
Social prescribing (SP) has rapidly expanded over recent years. Previously a bottom-up, community-led phenomenon, SP is now a formal part of structured NHS policy and practice. This study was designed to ascertain how general practitioners and other primary healthcare professionals (HCPs) within one clinical commissioning group (CCG) perceive and engage with this new NHS model. To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
NHS England’s guidance is clear that clinical director roles in PCNs can be held be GPs, general practice nurses, clinical pharmacists or other clinical professionals working in general practice. So why might it be that primary care leaders aren’t more professionally diverse?
Social prescribing has been around for many years, and link worker roles were one of the first to be funded through the ARRS scheme. These link workers represent a real investment in non-clinical roles and the social model of health care, in general practice. They support patients who attend primary care with challenges such as access to healthy food, poor housing and financial issues, which have been strongly linked to poor health and avoidable deaths.
Voluntary and community sector organisations are increasing their role in supporting primary care services through ‘social prescribing’. Our findings, while focused on the parkrun practice initiative, are likely to have relevance to other collaborations between primary care and voluntary and community sector organisations. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
In this study, we consider the extent to which co-location is an enabler for service integration by examining multi-professional community care teams. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
In Ireland, the primary care mental health service has been recently enhanced through the employment of Assistant Psychologists (AP) in primary care psychology. This paper provides an early and brief evaluation of the impact of the AP-enhanced model through a tripartite approach to evaluation which utilises measures of throughput, output and stakeholder satisfaction. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
Today Minister for Equalities, Baroness Williams, congratulated Woolstone Medical Centre, based in Lewisham, for spearheading a new programme which trains GPs and staff in primary care organisations to fully support LGBT patients.
All prescriptions across England will be digitised to make staff and patients’ lives easier, Primary Care Minister Jo Churchill has announced today.
The electronic prescription service (EPS) will be rolled out nationally next month, following rigorous testing involving 60 GP practices and hundreds of pharmacies.
Almost 70% of all prescriptions are already being prescribed and dispensed through EPS and there has been positive feedback from GPs and pharmacies. Once the roll-out of the final stage is completed, nearly all prescriptions will be sent electronically.
Over time, we have become concerned that some providers of online primary care are configuring services in ways that take them out of scope of some or all UK regulators. This means they are not legally subject to the same inspections and safety checks
This guidance is for commissioners, public health directors and others involved in the local planning and provision of services and interventions that support people with cardiovascular disease (CVD) conditions.
Public Health England (PHE) collates and analyses available CVD data and produces intelligence resources to help with improving services and outcomes. This guidance supports health professionals with using these resources to make or influence decisions about local services.