NHSE pushes deadlines for PCN service specs by up to 12 months

NHS England has deferred its implementation deadlines for both the personalised and anticipatory care services, marking the third postponement since their introduction.

Under changes outlined in a letter sent to practices, PCNs will now be expected to deliver digitised care and support planning for care home residents by 31 March 2024, granting an additional 12 months for preparation.

NHSE similarly extended the period that PCNs have to develop their anticipatory care plans by three months, from September 2022 to December.

It also confirmed that the service itself, which will be ICS led, will start in 2023/24, rather than by October 2022 as was previously planned.

The original PCN contract had required GPs to deliver five of the seven PCN service specifications in 2020/21, with NHSE taking a phased approach to ‘ensure that they are deliverable as PCN workforce capacity grows, and as the wider system infrastructure develops to support them’.

However, the personalised and anticipatory care services were delayed until 2021/22 in February 2020.

In August 2021 NHSE further deferred the introduction of the services, pushing that date to 2023/24 in light of ‘the immediate pressures on general practice’.

The confirmation came as part of a series of controversial updates to the GP contract, including the plan to ensure practices in England’s PCNs open from 9am to 5pm on Saturdays from October.

Meanwhile, new BMA guidance on ‘safe working’ has encouraged practices to ‘consider’ opting out of the PCN DES, flagging whether the DES ‘enables them to offer safe and effective patient care’.