Making IT work

"The goal of digitisation of health systems is to promote what has become widely known as healthcare’s Triple Aim: better health, better healthcare, and lower cost. These aims are consistent with those of the NHS’s 2014 Five Year Forward View, which called for improvements in quality and service, as well as £22 billion in efficiencies. The Advisory Group believes that trying to achieve the aims of the Five Year Forward View without giving highest priority to digitisation would be a costly and painful mistake."

Making IT work: Harnessing the power of health information technology to improve care in England
R Wachter
Department of Health
September 2016

Read more here.

Multidisciplinary team-led community case management programme

"This study has identified that a programme of MDT-led case management was generally very well received by patients and their families."

Patients’ experiences of a multidisciplinary team-led community case management programme: a qualitative study
A Gowing, C Dickinson, T Gorman, L Robinson, R Duncan
BMJ Open, 2016, 6:e012019

Read more here.

Is bigger better? Lessons for large-scale general practice

"Traditional general practice is changing. Three-quarters of practices are now working collaboratively in larger-scale organisations – albeit with varying degrees of ambition. Policy-makers and practitioners have high hopes for these organisations and their potential to transform services both within primary care and beyond. But can we be confident that they can live up to these expectations? This research summary presents the key findings from a 15-month study of large-scale general practice organisations in England. It was informed by an extensive literature review, and combined national surveys with in-depth case studies of contrasting, largescale general practice organisations and analysis of 15 quality indicators."

Is bigger better? Lessons for large-scale general practice
R Rosen, S Kumpunen, N Curry, A Davies, L Pettigrew, L Kossarova
Nuffield Trust
July 2016

Read more here.

Digital requirements for new primary care models

"This briefing sets out some emerging trends in primary care and describes how technology can be employed to support them."

Digital requirements for new primary care models: A briefing for clinicians and managers
S Castle-Clarke, S Kumpunen, S Machaqueiro, N Curry, C Imison
Nuffield Trust
April 2016

Read more here.

Prescribing safety in UK general practice

"A cross-sectional study of patients from more than 500 UK general practices found high variation in potentially high-risk prescribing and provision of monitoring tests."

Prescribing safety in UK general practice
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
April 2016

Read more here.

Patient care: A unified approach: A case study report

"This report highlights case studies that exemplify how integration between GPs and physicians can be achieved. The case studies span a wide range of services in England and Wales, and cover a variety of learning points involving different specialties, different population groups and different ways of addressing complex issues. This report has been compiled to share learning from successful examples of integration, and to encourage GPs and physicians to reflect on their own practice."

Patient care: A unified approach: A case study report
Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of General Practitioners
March 2016

Read more here.

Collaboration in general practice: surveys of GPs and CCGs

"GPs and CCGs report that the growth in collaborative working is driven primarily by CCG encouragement alongside financial pressures faced within general practice and a desire to expand the range of services offered in primary care."

Collaboration in general practice: surveys of GPs and CCGs
S Kumpunen, N Curry, N Edwards, M Holmes, H Price, T Ballard
Royal College of General Practitioners, Nuffield Trust
December 2015

Read more here.

General practice commissioning: in whose interests?

"An investigation into England’s clinical commissioning groups shows that many are commissioning from organisations in which board members are involved."

General practice commissioning: in whose interests?
G Iacobucci
British Medical Journal, 2015, 351:h6000

Read more here.

Exploring the GP ‘added value’ in commissioning

"In our observation of various meetings, we found a degree of complexity associated with CCG structures and governance arrangements. Unlike PCTs (their immediate predecessor organisations), CCGs are often quite different from one another, with different structures and distribution of responsibilities between the various committees, sub-committees etc. We were often unable to clearly define which body was responsible for which type of decisions and who was a member of a particular body."

Exploring the GP ‘added value’ in commissioning: What works, in what circumstances, and how? Final Report
I McDermott, A Coleman, N Perkins, D Osipovic, C Petsoulas, K Checkland
PRUComm
October 2015

Read more here.

Indicators of quality of care in general practices in England

"The review makes a series of recommendations to government, including:

• developing a small set of indicators that show information about what matters most to the public, health care professionals and those accountable for the quality of general practice
• consolidating the multiple existing websites currently sharing information about general practice quality, with information selected and presented to meet the differing needs of health care professionals and the public
• developing a national strategy for improving the quality of general practice and primary care that guides indicator development, with progress assessed through the Secretary of State’s annual report
• providing support to those working in general practice about how to understand and use information to improve patient care."

Indicators of quality of care in general practices in England: An independent review for the Secretary of State for Health
J Dixon, E Spencelayh, A Howells, A Mandel, F Gille
The Health Foundation
October 2015

Read more here.

Making time in general practice

"This report was commissioned by NHS England as part of this wider work to deliver the NEW Deal, strengthening primary care and releasing capacity to introduce new care models."

Making time in general practice
H Clay, R Stern
NHS Alliance
October 2015

Read more here.

Integration and continuity of primary care: polyclinics and alternatives

"In recent years the NHS has introduced new organisations and ways of working in order to improve the care of people with complex health needs. These approaches include general practitioner-led health centres, ‘case management’ (where a community matron or similar co-ordinates patients’ care) and (especially in London) ‘polyclinics’. We wanted to find out how these approaches compare in terms of improving the co-ordination of patient care across the range of services."

Integration and continuity of primary care: polyclinics and alternatives – a patient-centred analysis of how organisation constrains care co-ordination
R Sheaff, J Halliday, J Ovretveit, R Byng, M Exworthy, S Peckham, S Asthana
Health Services and Delivery Research, 2015, 3(35)

Read more here.

Towards a new future for general practice

"This report will not only examine the current problems in general practice, but also look at the future of primary care within a rapidly changing system. We will set out our principles and vision and – by examining what patients want and how practices and practitioners should be configured and assisted to respond – put forward the key actions that will be required to enable us to realise that future vision."

Responsive, safe and sustainable: Towards a new future for general practice
British Medical Association
2015

Read more here.

Managing conflicts of interest in NHS clinical commissioning groups

"The new arrangements from April 2015 for co-commissioning primary care services from GPs increase the risk of significant conflicts of interest in CCGs."

Managing conflicts of interest in NHS clinical commissioning groups
National Audit Office
September 2015

Read more here.

The future of primary care: Creating teams for tomorrow

"Building new models of care needs to be done equitably. Some of the most deprived areas of the country have the greatest recruitment problems, the biggest resource challenges and the greatest health need. First-class primary healthcare must be available in all parts of the NHS."

The future of primary care: Creating teams for tomorrow
Primary Care Workforce Commission
July 2015

Read more here.

Patient safety implications of general practice workload

"The paper intends to act as a catalyst for the development of new solutions to both fatigue and workload in general practice. RCGP is asking GPs, patients, other healthcare professionals and policy makers for their views on this paper, and suggestions – at a practice, system, and national level – for how GP workload can be alleviated, therefore reducing the risk of fatigue and burnout."

Patient safety implications of general practice workload
Royal College of General Practitioners
July 2015

Read more here.

Patients's expectations about primary care physicians' practices

"Patients are generally highly satisfied with their PCP. They have a wide range of expectations which should be taken into account when considering potential improvements."

What are patients' expectations about the organization of their primary care physicians' practices?
P Sebo, FR Herrman, P Bovier, DM Haller
BMC Health Services Research, 2015, 15:328

Read more here.

New organisational models of primary care to meet the future needs of the NHS

"We identified three overlapping categories of models: models that introduce new, or change existing, roles in general practice; models of collaboration among professionals and among sectors (primary care, secondary care and social care); and new organisational forms for general practice."

New organisational models of primary care to meet the future needs of the NHS: a brief overview of recent reports
T Bienkowska-Gibbs, S King, C Saunders, M-L Henham
RAND Europe
June 2015

Read more here.

Transforming general practice: What are the levers for change?

"This report sets out the thinking and conclusions of a workshop held by the Nuffield Trust to consider how general practice might change as part of a wider transformation of the NHS."

Transforming general practice: What are the levers for change?
R Rosen
The Nuffield Trust
June 2015

Read more here.

Do higher primary care practice performance scores predict lower rates of emergency admissions?

"Good-quality primary care management of patients with a SMI should reduce complications of a serious mental illness and comorbidities and should, therefore, be associated with lower unplanned admission rates."

Do higher primary care practice performance scores predict lower rates of emergency admissions for persons with serious mental illness? An analysis of secondary panel data
R Jacobs, et al.
Health Services and Delivery Research, 2015, 3(16)

Read more here.