Managing primary care ‘same day’ demand: workforce opportunities
12 June 2023 12.30-1.30pm
Primary Care services are facing sustained and mounting challenges with meeting demand. With rising practice list sizes, static GP numbers and increased activity, fundamentally new models of working are necessary to continue to meet patient needs. These pressures are felt particularly acutely with respect to ‘same-day’ demand, with recent data showing that more than 2 in every 5 consultations take place on the day of request.
How can primary care continue to meet this growing demand? Increasingly, practices are turning to other health care professionals (HCPs) to support service delivery. Can other HCPs really help meet all of this demand, safely and cost-effectively? If so, what is needed of primary care to make it a success? How does this fit with the wider changes in Urgent and Emergency Care, and what are the implications for other parts of the system? What does this mean for the optimal organisation of GP services? What does this mean for the professional identify of GPs and these emerging workforce groups? Do patients really get what they want and need?
In this webinar, we will discuss some of the most contemporary research evidence exploring how these developments impact access to and delivery of primary care services. We will discuss the growing expertise and identity of the non-medical primary care workforce, and consider what this means for the multi-professional general practice team of the future. We will hear from colleagues in the REACH collaboration about recent research into paramedics, physiotherapists and Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) practitioners in GP services, and consider what the implications might be for meeting same-day demand.
About the contributors:
Dr Matthew Booker, Consultant Senior Lecturer in Primary Care, Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol (Chair);
Dr Helen Baxter, Research Fellow in Knowledge Mobilisation and Implementation, Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) West;
Professor Sarah Voss, Professor of Emergency Care, University of the West of England;
Professor Nicola Walsh, Professor of Knowledge Mobilisation and Musculoskeletal Health, University of the West of England & NHS BNSSG ICB Clinical Effectiveness and Research Team;
Dr Zoe Anchors, Research Fellow at the University of the West of England