B&NES’ results in the GP Patient Survey for the past three years show that patients in Bath and North East Somerset have overwhelmingly good experiences when they go to see their GP. In fact, B&NES GPs consistently score among the top five CCG areas in the country for overall patient experience.
However, the demands on GPs are increasing, recruiting new GPs is becoming a challenge and the way primary care is delivered in B&NES is becoming difficult to maintain.
In September 2018 we published our Primary Care Strategy, which encourages our 24 practices to work more closely together to provide a wider range of services to our local communities, seven days a week. The strategy includes plans for new models of care, support for the workforce, workload, improvements to infrastructure and improving access to GP services – including introducing evening and weekend appointments across the area. This is all in line with planning guidance set by NHS England that requires the CCG to provide assurances over our plans for the sustainability of general practice.
In July 2019, Primary Care Networks started working across B&NES to address the challenges faced by general practice and to ensure more proactive, personalised and coordinated care for the local communities they serve. Find out more about Primary Care Networks here.
You can read more about the NHS England General Practice Forward View here. All the work and planning done by the CCG for primary care is in collaboration with the local NHS England General Practice Forward View Transformation Team, our GP practices and is overseen by our Primary Care Commissioning Committee.