Modern General Practice Access Support (PCARP)
This page has been developed to support GP practices with the National Access Recovery Programme to transition to the modern general practice model. For NCL, there are local change management offers available to assist practices with their transition to the Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care (PCARP).
The Modern General Practice Access Model has been created to address the needs of both patients and general practice staff. It aims to support:
Inclusive and Effective Access Routes: Improve patient experience by offering online, telephone, and walk-in options.
Workload Management and Understanding Demand: Help practices to understand their workload and management of patient care.
Enhancing Digital Channels: Improve access and streamline processes using digital tools. This also includes how we communicate clearly to patients through online platforms.
Streamlined Triage and Care Navigation: Ensure patients are directed to the right staff member or service for continuous and efficient care.
Modern general practice model (updated May 2024)
All GP practices in NCL are required to transition to the modern GP operating model by March 2025. Each practice will implement the model at their own pace and according to their specific needs. This page has been created to provide support to practices throughout this transition.
For NCL practices, there are four areas of support available:
Universal support for all NCL practices: This includes webinars and resources led by NCL Training Hub. You can access resources and training for this universal support offer on this webpage.
Hands-On Change Management Support: managed by Islington GP Federation. This support offers practical and customised assistance to selected NCL practices to implement a change management project focused on GP access. This support is offered in two formats:
Peer support sessions
One-on-one practice support
National GPIP Programme: managed by NHS England, this programme provides tailored support to practices aiming to make improvements in access and capacity. Please note that places in this national programme are limited.
Full details of the NCL 2024/2025 General Access Recovery Programme (PCARP) can be found on the General Practice Access Support pages of the NCL GP website.
To help you maximise the digital components of modern general practice access, the Digital First team at NCL has developed a comprehensive set of resources, best practice guidelines, and case studies.
The list below includes all the areas of digital tools and support available to practices :
These resources are also available via the GP website. You will need to create an account on the GP website to view some of these resources.
NHS England has published several guides to support general practice teams step-by-step with different components of modern general practice:
How to improve care navigation in general practice: this guide will help practices to create or improve a single care navigation model or process so patient requests can be directed to the right staff member. This guide will also help practices to integrate online consultation, messaging and booking tools to their practice workflow.
This guide is accompanied by a skills matrix template tool.
How to align capacity with demand in general practice: this guide will help practices measure and understand patterns of patient contact and type of need to determine how much and what resource is needed to support the management of workload.
This guide is accompanied by the following tools:
How to improve telephony journeys in general practice: this guide will show how practices can shorten call queues, use call backs, recorded messages, signpost, keypad and voice options.
Creating usable and accessible GP websites for patients: this guide will show what improvements practices can make to their GP websites and apps to make it easier for patients to find and request the help they need.
This guide is accompanied by the GP website benchmarking and improvement tool.
How to improve care-related processes in general practice: this guide will support practices manage common processes more efficiently, including new and repeat prescriptions, recall and patient registrations.
For questions about the resources and training available on this page, please reach out to the NCL Training Hub team via igpf.ncl-pcarp@nhs.net.
Additionally, we welcome practices interested in participating and sharing their experiences in transitioning to different aspects of the modern general practice operating model. Please email the team via igpf.ncl-pcarp@nhs.net.