General Practice services are a crucial part of the NHS and are facing significant pressures as patient demand continues to rise and capacity become stretched. Good patient communications are a key part of shaping demand; it can direct patients to use the most efficient access routes, encourage patients to get proactive care and advise patients to prepare in advanced of crucial times. Good patient communications provide dual benefit as it can reduce pressure on primary care and improve population health and individual experiences for patients using NHS services.

Many GP practices and Primary Care Networks operate with similar goals and similar operating models. Communications can therefore efficiently be created at a national and regional level to help save GP practices and Primary Care Networks much needed time and resource. The NHS South East region encourages Primary Care Networks and GP practices make best use of national communications toolkits.

In this section of the toolkit, you’ll find a range of national campaigns that can support you to deliver good patient communications across multiple channels. It includes topics such as:

• Help Us Help You
• NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service
• NHS staff respect
• Enhanced access
• NHS App
• GP online registration
• GP practice websites
• Winter wellness
• Pharmacy advice

How should you communicate with patients?

In general, it is best to communicate with patients in four ways across a range of platforms to obtain the widest patient reach.

 These channels are available to most GP practices or Primary Care Networks, and they are generally a cost-effective way to get communications out to large populations. Try discussing with your ICB or Federation about at scale creation of content, then share locally.

What’s available?

GP practice and Primary Care Networks have a wealth of campaign resources provided by national communications that they can use to promote messages concerning winter and access many of which do a very thorough job of communicating key topics.

Next page: General practice teams – Help Us Help You campaign