In October, as we prepared for our two recent engagement events, we shared a survey seeking your responses to three important questions. We asked what you would like to speak to the (then) brand new Health Secretary. We also wondered about your expectations of what the PCC might be able to do on your behalf,…
Newcastle GP Service’s lead nurse and head of workforce, Joanna Vintis, will be awarded the title ‘Queen’s Nurse’ this week for her years of work supporting the next generation of nurses in primary care. The title of Queen’s Nurse was awarded to just 587 nurses across the UK in 2024 and is only granted following…
Scoping work for a Summary Care Record (SCR) access expansion pilot has begun. The work is led by NECS on behalf of the PCC and NENC ICB. It is looking at the potential benefits and barriers to pharmacy (where some SCR access is already allowed), optometry, and dentistry, (known collectively as POD) gaining view only…
Join this year’s NHS Carol Service being held on Tuesday 17 December at Durham Cathedral, doors open at 6.45pm for the service at 7.30pm. Everyone is welcome to come along so please put the date in your diary. The service provides an opportunity each year for colleagues, past and present, of all faiths and backgrounds,…
Ten years ago, in a Gosforth café, the first seeds for what would become Newcastle GP Services (NGPS) were planted. Since then, the GP Federation has provided a range of services for the people of Newcastle, working with a lot of fantastic organisations. Services include an asylum seeker health provision, cervical screening, community health services…
An ambitious GP retention scheme developed by primary care Clinical Leads working in Tees Valley has just recruited its second cohort of GPs. RISE, which originally launched in June 2023, stands for Retain, Innovate, Support, Educate. Some 15 GPs joined RISE last year, and this year’s cohort is 12. The fully ICB-funded scheme has been…
We at the PCC were really interested in the recent publication of Lord Darzi’s IndependentInvestigation of the NHS in England , and what its content might signify for the future of theNHS, and therefore for our primary care teams. This ‘diagnostic’ review feels refreshing in that it doesn’t avoid calling out difficult issues,warts and all….
Matt Brown has been Managing Director of the North East and North Cumbria Provider Collaborative since early 2022. He kindly agreed to share his unique insight as a leader as we proceed through the first year of our Primary Care Collaborative journey. Representing a total of 11 NHS Foundation Trusts, with 80,000 staff serving 3.2…
Optometry has historically operated in silo, but the PCC is determined to change this, putting the service at the centre of primary care conversations. There’s an over-riding mood for change across the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System right now, creating exciting opportunities for improvement to the eye care pathway. Meanwhile, Optometry’s involvement…
One of the early priorities identified by the PCC working group was to help local teams use the data available to them to understand particular issues in their communities. We believe this will give our Primary Care Networks a really good basis for integrated ways of working, and in time bring colleagues looking after people…