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Your Chance to Help Shape Modern Primary Care

‘Help shape modern primary care,’ says NHS England

GPs, patients and healthcare professionals are being given the chance to have their say on plans by the NHS which will help shape the future of modern general practices.

As it celebrates its 70th birthday, the NHS is looking at ways to reform the GP contract to provide a stronger and more sustainable general practice for patients as part of the new NHS Long Term Plan.

The changes to the current GP Contract, which was agreed nearly 15 years ago, are being looked at to meet the changing needs of a growing and ageing population and increased use of digital services locally.

Today NHS England is inviting views from GPs, patients and healthcare professionals. 

In the case of the Quality and Outcomes Framework, reforms are proposed that ‘recognise and support the professional values of GPs and their teams in the delivery of first contact, comprehensive, coordinated, person-centred care.’

In the case of digital-first primary care,  proposals seek to ensure that  how we commission, contract and pay for care ‘keeps up with the opportunities digital innovation offers – ensuring that new technology is safely integrated into health and care pathways, whilst not unfairly destabilising existing services.’

Feedback can be given using the links below and is requested by August 31:

 The outcomes of a Review of the Quality and Outcomes Framework

 Proposals for potential payment reform to reflect emerging digital models of primary care

Primary care, by the way, is one of the four national improvement priority areas identified in Next Steps on the Five Year Forward View.

For more information you can visit: https://www.engage.england.nhs.uk/survey/digital-first-primary-care/

Bob Jope   Healthwatch Torbay

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(Author)

Apart from five years studying in Oxford I’ve lived most of my life in London where for many years I was Head of English in a prestigious girls’ school, but since taking early retirement and heading West to be nearer to my two daughters - settling in Torbay with my wife, Anna, in 2011 - I’ve worked in the voluntary sector. I took on the role of Service Provider, for example, promoting the Red Cross Torbay Navigators Project, while now I’m a Trustee and part of the Media Team for our local Healthwatch. I’m a governor at Torquay Academy, too, giving me the chance to stay up to date with what’s happening in the world of education. Other interests, aside from friends and family, include art and art history, reading - from contemporary fiction and poetry to Elizabethan/Jacobean literature - history, politics, cooking, walking, and music, in particular Bob Dylan, the blues, and early Elvis. I love writing, too, with one novel published so far – Elvis in Wonderland – and another, Who’s There?, that still needs plenty of work!