How CCGs can develop networks, integrated care and at scale practices

General practice, and indeed primary healthcare is changing. Tell me something new I hear you say. People are living longer, often with long term conditions, which means a higher demand on local health services.

This means it’s essential that general practices work collaboratively with community, mental health, social care, pharmacy, hospital and voluntary services in their local areas. And GP practices working at scale plays a key part in doing this successfully.

Working at scale supports general practice to share resources, share skills and to build resilience and sustainability. In turn, this enables them to meet the increasing challenges and demands. Essentially it’s about practices working collaboratively to provide patient-focused care.

But how can CCGs support this and develop networks, integrated care and at scale practices?

All CCG’s recognise that many practices are talking about working together and discussing mergers. Some discussions are in early stages and some have been under discussion for some time. Some more successful than others. But in turn this has provided great examples and learning for those that follow. The challenge is for CCGs to support practices turn those discussions into tangible results and achieve the outcomes working at scale can deliver.

So how can CCGs support their GP practices to collaborate or merge voluntarily and support them when they do? Experience suggests many practices start from a blank page, developing an approach using traditional project consulting which is paper based and resource intensive. This can result in costs that preclude potential savings with attached fear factors. It doesn’t need to be this complex, time consuming or expensive.

I think CCGs face the following four main challenges:

1. Tracking the progress of their transformation programme, without having to micro-manage each at scale project
2. Adopting a common framework of actions that provide CCGs and practices with assurance that the process will achieve success and ensuring a common project management model and language across their programme
3. Addressing the challenges highlighted in the GP Forward View and demonstrating a measurable return on CCG Transformation funding
4. Ensuring health outcomes and service stability is maintained during the transition to the new entity

However, there is support available to CCGs and practices throughout this journey towards new ways of working at scale. The key is to ensure CCGs and their practices become at scale ready.

ATSCALE works in primary care, efficiency and cost savings to integrated health services and we develop and implement new models of care with general practice, GP federations and commissioners. Our services are focused on the ever changing national agenda to develop greater resilience, more integrated working and greater at scale working in primary care. We help our clients deliver this agenda and deliver at scale working.

Contact us for more information and to find out how we could support you. You can also download Developing networks, integrated care and at scale practices in your CCG.