This article has been written in collaboration with Health Integration Partners 
Recent discussions among healthcare leaders and experts have outlined a strategic vision for the evolution of Primary Care Networks, addressing the organisational and technological challenges that must be overcome to tackle the mounting pressures on the NHS.
Days into the new UK government in 2024, the new Secretary of State for Health committed to “fix the front door of the NHS”, signalling the potential for considerable change in primary care. Over the past few years financial pressures have mounted on primary care services, exacerbated by rising demand from an aging population and increasing health inequalities.
Primary Care Networks (PCNs), groups of practices working together, were designed to pool resources and facilitate collaboration with a crucial role to play in delivering preventative and coordinated care to improve community health. They are very well placed to use flexibility and resources to significantly impact practices and communities they serve.
Questions remain about their financial sustainability, however, due to competing local priorities and workforce challenges. The new focus on primary care is therefore an opportunity to consider how PCNs should evolve.
Solving the challenges of Primary Care Networks together
In 2023/2024, Health Integration Partners and BearingPoint hosted roundtables on "The Future of Primary Care Networks," involving experts from GP practices, PCNs and NHS England. These discussions produced a vision for PCNs, reflected on current challenges and identified key success factors for their development, notably:
- People and organisation: investing in leaders, teams and workforce models and the use of new roles (e.g. ARRS)
- Governance: exploring the pros and cons of organisational models and building broader partnerships to support outcomes and integration
- Performance management: building data capability, quality and tools, focussing on benefits and population health
- Services and processes: using data to design new services, leveraging economies of scale and supporting integration of services through partnerships (including Integrated Neighbourhood Teams (INT))
- IT and Digital: choosing tools based on need, implementing change management and encouraging collaborative and flexible procurement across ICB organisations
Download the report below which presents key priorities to guide Primary Care Networks towards an operating model which meets the needs of both the population and the workforce. Together we can solve the challenges faced by the NHS for a better future.
