NHS England are testing a number of new ways of working in different sites around the country, as they encourage groups of Practices and other Local Authority, Hospital Trust and Voluntary organisations to collaborate in the interests of patients. We believe that the best services for local patients in the future will have strong and resilient General Practices at their heart, and we want to focus our efforts on achieving this aim.
Here are a selection of our plans;
Developing the Team
Healthcare has been heavily reliant on GP’s for a number of years, but the Federation believes that other team members can be of great benefit to patients. We also know that a large proportion of our GP workforce are close to retirement, and as our population is living longer, often with complex health conditions, so our GP’s are coming under increasing pressure.
We have appointed a Nurse Lead to help us to create a strategy that makes the most of the nursing and healthcare assistant skills we already have in the area, and keeps up to date with the latest opportunities for the people in these vital roles to develop further.
We are currently working with our CCG to submit a bid to NHS England to fund Pharmacists to work with practices, giving expert advice to patients and freeing up GP time.
Our reception and administration teams are the first people that the 300,000 patients in Hartlepool and Stockton speak to when they have a health problem, and yet they can sometimes feel like a forgotten population. That’s why we are running training to support these key people. Similarly, nothing happens in surgeries without a great Practice Manager in the background – we hope to invest in the development of this vital role.
The Federation is in talks to host more students in our area, in traditional roles such as GP and Practice Nurse but also new roles such as Physician Associates. There are some pilots taking place in other regions to use Paramedics in practices, and we are very interested in exploring the support new roles in the team could provide.
We want to make Hartlepool and Stockton such a fantastic place to work that the healthcare professionals of the future – both clinical and non-clinical - are queueing up to work with us and our patients!
Ideas and Innovation
As a Federation we are always open to new ways of working, new ideas and new technologies – watch this space!
Developing the Team
Healthcare has been heavily reliant on GP’s for a number of years, but the Federation believes that other team members can be of great benefit to patients. We also know that a large proportion of our GP workforce are close to retirement, and as our population is living longer, often with complex health conditions, so our GP’s are coming under increasing pressure.
We have appointed a Nurse Lead to help us to create a strategy that makes the most of the nursing and healthcare assistant skills we already have in the area, and keeps up to date with the latest opportunities for the people in these vital roles to develop further.
We are currently working with our CCG to submit a bid to NHS England to fund Pharmacists to work with practices, giving expert advice to patients and freeing up GP time.
Our reception and administration teams are the first people that the 300,000 patients in Hartlepool and Stockton speak to when they have a health problem, and yet they can sometimes feel like a forgotten population. That’s why we are running training to support these key people. Similarly, nothing happens in surgeries without a great Practice Manager in the background – we hope to invest in the development of this vital role.
The Federation is in talks to host more students in our area, in traditional roles such as GP and Practice Nurse but also new roles such as Physician Associates. There are some pilots taking place in other regions to use Paramedics in practices, and we are very interested in exploring the support new roles in the team could provide.
We want to make Hartlepool and Stockton such a fantastic place to work that the healthcare professionals of the future – both clinical and non-clinical - are queueing up to work with us and our patients!
Ideas and Innovation
As a Federation we are always open to new ways of working, new ideas and new technologies – watch this space!