Primary care is the first point of contact for most people accessing health and care and has been the centre of our communities. More than one million people benefit from the advice and support of primary care professions everyday, which include health visitors, community and district nurses, GPs, dentists, pharmacists, opticians, social care workers and many more.
Primary care has been under precedented demand, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic. There is growing discontent with the service it provides from both those who use it and the professionals who work in it. Patient satisfaction is at an all-time low despite record numbers of appointments and inadequate access to urgent care is having a direct impact on GPs ability to deliver continuity of care.
Dr Claire Fuller, an Integrated Care System (ICS) CEO designate was tasked with a stocktake of the current challenges facing primary care and a vision on integrating primary care. With only weeks away from the new ICSs, it is a timely opportunity to overhaul the way health and social care services are designed and delivered.
Partnership, collaboration and new ways of working is at the heart of making ICSs a success. By drawing on insights, resourcefulness and innovation of patients and their carers, local communities, local government, other care providers and wider system partners as well as primary care leaders, a thriving integrated primary care system can be developed.
The Fuller Stocktake was published yesterday and we developed a snapshot to summarise it in a helpful one-pager as well as supporting The King’s Fund in their latest animated guide on ICSs.
Click here for the full report
Click here to view The King’s Fund animation
Click here to read more about unlocking the potential of integrated care systems
Click here to read about collaborative opportunities for life sciences
