Primary Care and PCN support

We support individual GP Practices to meet national requirements, find solutions to their individual challenges and deliver against their business objectives. Our support includes:

• A review of IT systems (incl. telephony) and their use, potential and fitness for purpose in the light of current national requirements, generating insights for improvements – including the use of digital technologies and the automation of processes to ease staffing pressures. This can extend to a review as to what data can be generated and how it can be used to best effect.
• A review of workforce deployment, identifying opportunities for greater efficiency / productivity.
• Facilitated support to practice self-assessment under the national General Practice Improvement Programme (GPIP).
• Practice-specific team development, providing an external expert assessment of team dynamics and opportunities for change.
• Joint application of Arden & GEM’s leading-edge analytics programme, ATHENA, enabling review of the practice’s impact on population health, providing insights to inform practice activities and focus. Find out more here.
• An assessment of current website use and value, integral to a review of means of enhancing patient engagement and assessing patient satisfaction.
• The review and enhancement of links between local general practices and Community Pharmacy Clinical Services (CPCS), reflecting our experience of effective arrangements.
• Provision of wellbeing advice and support to practice staff.

Our services can support the effective delivery of primary care across multiple organisations within a Primary Care Network or GP Federation. Our support includes:

• A review of IT (incl. telephony) systems across the PCN(s), their use and fitness for purpose in the light of national requirements, generating insights for improvement. These can include means of enhancing staff and patient satisfaction and the efficiency of General Practice through digital applications incl. process automation.
• An assessment as to how data generated can inform prioritisation and population health management.
• Information Governance and Data Protection services (including outsourced DPO).
• A review of workforce deployment, identifying opportunities for greater efficiency/productivity.
• Support with the implementation and measurement of capacity and demand plans and an assessment of current compliance against trajectories.
• PCN Team Development
• Joint application of Arden & GEM’s leading-edge analytics programme, ATHENA, enabling review of the PCN’s impact on population health. Find out more here. 
• Enablement of discussion with GP Federations and/or between PCNs to support networking and development, identifying efficiency opportunities, enable joint delivery and shape the local Place-based agenda.
• A review of the effectiveness and efficiency of insourced and outsourced functions (e.g., Physiotherapy, Contract Management, Medicines Management support).
• An audit of current enhanced services delivery, with recommendations.
• A review of website functionality and effectiveness, incl. patient engagement and access to records.
• With direct access to primary care data sets, we can work with you to identify means and priorities for reducing health inequalities.

We also supply primary care support at a macro level for both ICSs and ICPs. Our support can help you to deliver your objectives and vision for best in class, sustainable primary care services. Services include:

• Support to ICB Primary Care Team capacity, whether through temporary skilled staffing or analytical insight using Athena. Find out more here. 
• Support to the design and development of Place and Neighbourhood-based service integration.
• Identification of scope and priorities for reducing health inequalities through General Practice/Place-based actions.
• Specialist Information Governance and Data Protection Services (inc. nominated Data Protection Officer) for Integrated Care Boards, General Practice and Primary Care Networks. Keeping you safe, compliant and enabling the effective use of data in delivering improvements to patient care.

We also offer specialist capabilities and capacity specially designed to support Dentistry, Optometry and Pharmacy.

• We can extend all of our services and approaches in support of providers and/or commissioners of NHS Dentistry, Optometry and Pharmacy.
• This may take the form of a broader Place or Neighbourhood-wide assessment of Primary Care capacity and demand or specific support to one of the professions or providers. We are aware of the particular current focus on enhancing access to (and the scope of) Community Pharmacy, whilst the public concerns over access to NHS Dentistry are well understood. A national Dental Recovery Plan is forthcoming, which is likely to focus on capacity and demand across systems, and we are well placed to support responses to such.
• Joint application of Arden & GEM’s leading-edge analytics programme, Athena, enabling review of service impact on population health as well as providing insights to inform activities and focus. Find out more here.