The national General Practice Improvement Programme (GPIP), was introduced as part of the Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care. The programme is providing tailored support to general practice to make changes and improvements. All places for direct support in 24/25 have been allocated but ‘how to guides’ on implementing change in general practice can be found on our resources page.
Why does general practice need support?
Demand and complexity in general practice are increasing, and practices are facing a widening gap between patient demand and the capacity available to meet that demand. All practices have pressures and workforce challenges, with these often felt most acutely in practices working in areas of high need and deprivation, and in rural areas.
The modern general practice model
A wide range of GP practices across England have innovated in response to these challenges and have created the different elements of a ‘modern general practice model’.
GPIP has helped practices implement this modern general practice approach and realise benefits quickly.
Here are some examples of how practices have made improvements and embedded modern general practice after receiving hands-on support from GPIP.
Gresleydale Healthcare Centre, in Swadlincote, Derbyshire, worked together with its Patient Participation Group to implement changes in telephone and website systems that would help to address the ‘8am rush’. In this short video, practice staff and patients explain the improvements that have been made to make booking appointments easier and the impact this has had on patient and staff satisfaction.
Abbey Medical Centre, in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, transformed the way patients accessed care by using its new digital telephony system to identify when telephone lines were busiest and ensure more reception staff were available at peak times. As a result, the number of abandoned calls at the practice fell. The practice also focused on improving access and care continuity. Ryan Smith, Non-Clinical Partner at the practice, said: “The General Practice Improvement Programme really helped us continue to improve our services so that more patients can get the care they need more easily. It’s particularly helped the patients who we previously saw most frequently, many as often as twice a week, by enabling us to focus on how we provide the best care for them, so they get the care they need with fewer appointments, which is better for them and means there are more appointments available for others who also need them.”
Hillside Practice is a semi-rural practice close to Saltburn-by-the-Sea in North Yorkshire. It transformed patient experience with marked improvements in website use, patient safety measures and care navigation. The practice measured patterns of patient contacts to match capacity to demand. This helped the practice make full use of its multi-disciplinary team, e.g. social prescribing link workers, to support with non-clinical problems. Patient safety processes also improved as the practice enhanced its patient re-call process.
Crabbs Cross Surgery, in Redditch, Worcestershire, made a range of improvements to improve patient access and experience. It invested in care navigation training for staff, put in place consistent processes to make use of the skills in its multi-disciplinary team and ensured that each patient saw the right professional at the right time. The practice improved its appointment allocations through more proactive care and tailored the length of appointments to ensure adequate time to respond to individual patients’ needs.
