Free support to help practices make the changes set out in the primary care recovery plan is to end with GP surgeries being told they have ‘one final opportunity’ to sign up for help this September.
The latest primary care bulletin from NHS England said any practices wanting to access the free support from specialists should contact their ICB ‘as soon as possible’.
The General Practice Improvement Programme (GPIP) was launched last July after being promised in the Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care.
Its purpose is to help practices tackle access challenges, improve care navigation processes and match capacity to demand.
The aim is to give practices more control over their workload, maximise the use of all staff roles and local services and meet the needs of patients.
The primary care bulletin said that ‘hundreds of practices are already benefitting from the highly-rated General Practice Improvement Programme’.
However, at the start of this year, nearly half of ICBs reported low uptake of GPIP, with at least 17 saying there were issues with participation. Barriers cited included high workload, practices lacking capacity and being unable to commit to training.
In May, it was announced that the RCGP would support delivery of GPIP after NHS England awarded it a one-year contract.
GPIP is flexible and provides practical support that focuses on practices’ specific challenges. It can include on-site visits and group learning sessions.
The programme focuses on five priority areas:
- understanding and managing demand and capacity
- enhancing care navigation and triage processes
- improving patients’ experience of telephoning their practice
- improving the online experience for patients, such as practice websites, online consultation tools, messaging systems and appointment booking tools
- management of non-patient-facing practice workload.
GPIP provides three levels of support. There is a universal offer available to every practice in England comprising webinars and online resources, an intermediate tier for practices that require more help, and an intensive offer providing targeted support for those working in the most challenging circumstances.
Practices interested in receiving support should contact their ICB as soon as possible, as sign-up closes in September.
