The GP contract needs to provide a more ‘flexible approach’ to developing new models of care in order to help the formation of integrated neighbourhood teams (INTs), a report has said.
The report, by the National Association of Primary Care, said the contract needs to ‘address some of the serious issues’ in general practice and that ‘a one-size-fits all approach is not appropriate now, if it ever was’.
It also called on national bodies to review the approach to workforce development in the light of the ARRS scheme and ‘recent controversy’ over the role of PAs.
‘The development of the PCN contract has put a focus on roles but teams need a mix of skills and where possible more people with a wide range of generalist skills,’ it said.
‘Fragmenting care into lots of different tasks increases handovers and the risk of miscommunication and it also means an increased burden and cognitive load for whoever is supervising.
‘The holistic view of the patient may be lost or need to be rebuilt by creating care coordination roles, rather than this being a key part of everyone’s work. All this may also make for less rewarding work. INTs need a new approach.’
The report added that INTs need investment in training, organisational development and ‘space and time to grow’ and ‘protection from the management of policy priorities’.
‘They do not need templates, large amounts of upward reporting and many of the other aspects of programme management,’ it added.
Earlier this year, Pulse reported on NHS England’s new pilot scheme which will give a number PCNs a 10% funding uplift for more GP clinical staff to ‘accelerate’ delivery of the long-term workforce plan.
But the NAPC report suggested that there was a risk that pilots suggest others should ‘wait to see’ what happens. It warned that often these can be in areas that are already successful.
It said: ‘The risk with pilots, front-runners and other accelerated models is that they can suggest that people should wait to see what is going to happen. It is well understood that the rhetoric that people need to develop meaningful local solutions quickly transforms into instructions to pass a particular set of tests or adopt a nationally set approach.
‘These schemes also often pick areas that are already successful or fail to provide enough time for relationships to develop. They do not seem to be effective at spreading good practice as peer-to-peer learning is not generally done very well.’
It comes as health secretary Wes Streeting has said developing INTs should be ICBs’ top priority going forward. As part of the new priorities, he also pledged to ‘manage out’ underperforming leaders within the NHS, with a new ‘zero tolerance’ approach to failure.
A version of this article was first published by our sister title Healthcare Leader
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