Decision details

The Board noted and welcomed a report and presentation from the Director of Public Health on the development of the Primary Care Networks (PCN’s) in Barking and Dagenham, a key building block of the NHS Long-Term Plan which aims to bring GP’s together to work to scale covering populations of between 30 and 50,000 each, focussing on service delivery, rather than on the planning and funding of services which will remain with commissioners. The PCN’s are expected to be the building blocks around which integrated care systems will be built and represented the most significant contractual change since the NHS was created.

The presentation included details of how the PCN’s will work in a collaborative fashion and the difference they will make for patients, the proposed locality structure, the model of care, issues of accountability as well as the priorities for 2019/20 and 2020/21.

The Deputy Chair welcomed the changes which he felt would help reduce the wide variations in GP services, driving up the quality of care & allowing patients through economies of scale to benefit from a wider range of services that were currently available. The anticipated improvements will be developed using various data sets, and for the first time GP’s will be expected through the PCN’s to have an active dialogue with the voluntary sector.

The Board recognized the significance of these changes and scale of the challenges and risks they will bring, not least what it will mean for the relationship between the HWBB and proposed localities which will match the existing borough structures. It will mean a completely new role for the Board which will necessitate a detailed review by officers of the existing governance arrangements which will drive the structure forward.

Further reports will come forward to the Board in due course on the above as well as about chairing, co-ordination, leadership and the level of resources required to drive the new structures forward. Other key issues that will need addressing included managing participation effectively and raising awareness through a comprehensive comms strategy.