The Primary Care Home model (PCH) has been launched today by The National Association of Primary Care (NAPC) in order to create multi-disciplinary teams in general practice, and further integrate primary and community care.
The model could be used for practices with a registered patient list of between 25,000 and 50,000. The NAPC believes that using model for larger practices would lose the desired personalisation and continuity of the service, and damage the communication within the primary care team
The PCH model aims to update the workplace by creating multi-disciplinary teams in one place, rather than what NAPC president Dr James Kingsland dubbed a “brokery service”, speaking at the Commissioning Show in June.
He said: “It sometimes seems that we have become a brokery service from the patient’s first point of contact in general practice to then seeing the physiotherapist or the district nurse or the third sector.
“I think most general practices recognise that a GP, practice nurse, and an administrative team might have been fit for the 20th century but may not be the vehicle for 21st century care,” he said.
In response to the launch today, Rob Webster, chief executive of NHS Confederation, said: “Primary Care Home launched today builds on the best attributes of both primary and community services to improve care for patients in their communities.
“Members right across the country are developing new care models locally which break down the traditional boundaries between acute services, primary care, community health services, social care and the voluntary sector to better meet people’s needs.”
After the PCH model has been trialled, the information from it will be shared, with the aim of rolling it out if it’s successful.
