Securing the future of general practice: new models of primary care

This report examines the new GP organisations forming to allow care provision at greater scale.

In this audio slideshow, Holly Holder, Nuffield Trust, describes the main challenges facing UK general practice.

General practice in England is under significant strain, with many GPs caught on a treadmill of trying to meet current demand, while lacking time to reflect on how to provide and organise care for the future.

To inform the challenges facing primary care, the former Midlands and East Strategic Health Authority – now NHS England (Midlands and East) – commissioned the Nuffield Trust and The King's Fund to undertake a review of UK and international models of primary care, focusing on those that could increase capacity and help primary care meet the pressures it faces.

The report was authored by Judith Smith, Holly Holder, Nigel Edwards, Jo Maybin, Helen Parker, Rebecca Rosen and Nicola Walsh.

We propose a set of design principles to be used when determining primary care provision that address the pressures facing GPs

The resulting report proposes a set of design principles to be used when determining primary care provision that can: address the pressures facing GPs; ensure the needs and priorities of patients and the public are met; and that will enable general practice to be fit for the future.

Additionally, the report makes the case that if policy makers and commissioners want to develop the scope and scale of primary care services they will need to put in place imaginative measures that make the most of the strong history of independence and innovation within general practice.

This would include support and incentives, as well as permission for GPs and other primary care practitioners to test out new approaches to the delivery and organisation of care. A number of policy measures are recommended to help make this a reality.

The report is the latest in a series of projects (run independently of each other) by the Nuffield Trust and The King’s Fund, into the quality and future of primary care and general practice.

This project was commissioned by Dr Penny Newman and Jill Matthews at NHS Midlands and East Strategic Health Authority, as part of a suite of work they were conducting into the pressures facing primary care. We would like to thank them for their invaluable insights, support and advice throughout the project.

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Suggested citation

Smith J, Holder H, Edwards N, Maybin J, Parker H, Rosen R and Walsh N (2013) Securing the future of general practice: new models of primary care. Research report. Nuffield Trust and King's Fund.