This week it has been the turn of GPs to be at the receiving end of the government blame game... no doubt us patient leader types will be in line one day soon, so before my morale is flattened like May has flattened every other type of person within the NHS, allow me a few paragraphs of positivity and hope! I've been wondering for a while about the real potential within primary care for person-centred care and self-management support, and various conversations recently, not to mention tweets in response to May's comments, have finally made me finish off this blog and press publish...
One of the arguments I hear about federated GP surgeries is about the economies of scale. I get that in terms of procurements, and have heard many examples of the benefits of economies of scale meaning they can bring in specialists such as in house physio’s and diagnostic equipment etc. I also think economies of scale in primary care mean there are great opportunities for person-centred and community centred approaches in federated GP surgeries. Think what a large Trust can do - patient experience team, engagement teams, information teams, support workers.... If large services in NHS Trusts (community/pathway specific) can do it, a la David Gilburt model of patient director in Sussex, so can primary care in the federated models. Let me share my optimistic vision for person-centred federated GP practices, facilitated by a specific job role... I know no-one in primary care has any time for this 'nice to have' stuff, but it is important, so lets gets someone to really focus on it. I'm not asking GPs to do this - god knows they have enough to do already.