Important Information – SARUM West Locality – Putting Patients First

Introducing the Primary Care Network

Dear Patient,

The NHS is 70 years old. The UK population has grown dramatically since it was formed and we must also change so we to continue to deliver effective health care.

What’s changing?

From 1 July this surgery will become part of the Sarum West Primary Care Network (PCN). PCNs are being introduced to provide better integrated care to patients across the country.

This means GP surgeries will share our expertise and resources over a wider geographical area. We will work with other surgeries, social services, pharmacists, physiotherapists, hospitals, mental health professionals and voluntary organisations to deliver an even better joined-up service to patients.

We will be sharing and learning from best practice and the support of a wider network of professionals will help secure the future of our surgery.

What are we doing now?

This practice is currently part of Sarum West locality, which involves us working together with our 10 fellow GP surgeries. Our key focus has always been Putting Patients First, and we already have a project underway which is helping to prepare us for the change ahead. This is what we are doing:

  • Arranging Mental Health training for surgery staff so we can provide better support to patients with mental health issues across the locality.
  • Introducing the AGE UK Living Well programme, where we have two AGE UK workers joining the locality to help us improve the wellbeing of older patients, providing non-medical support to those who need it.
  • Seeking to Build links with Social Services to improve team working so we can deliver more effective care to vulnerable children and adults.
  • Building better links and sharing good practice to provide good Carer Support to the many unpaid carers in the locality.
  • Reviewing our Workforce Resilience, to consider how we can maximise the use of our resources – both people and funding.
  • Spreading good practice on Quality and Safety and making sure all standards are consistently met, particularly in the delivery of End of Life Care.

As you can see, introduction of the Primary Care Network will simply reflect how we have been working for some time in Sarum West. The full list of surgeries in our locality, which will form the PCN, is:

  • Courtyard, West Lavington
  • Shrewton, Wilton, Codford and Fovant (The Orchard Partnership)
  • Tisbury
  • Hindon
  • Mere
  • Silton
  • Sixpenny Handley and Broad Chalke (The Sixpenny Handley and Chalke Valley Practice).

If you have any questions about theses changes, please speak to your GP.