Opportunities for nurses in primary care networks: time to take the reins

In primary care there is a flurry of activity and excitement, as well as some fear and trepidation, as the government moves forward with its policy to shift the emphasis of healthcare delivery from secondary to primary care. The Five Year Forward View (NHS England, 2014) set out the vision for greater collaboration between GPs and wider community health services, hospitals and social care. More recently, the NHS Long Term Plan (NHS England, 2019) focuses on building an NHS fit for the future by:

The plan aims to improve outcomes for major diseases, including respiratory disease, cancer, stroke, heart disease and dementia. Crucial to this are measures to:

The Long Term Plan (NHS England, 2019) introduced primary care networks (PCNs), which are seen as a vehicle to deliver the outcomes set out in the policy.

PCNs should ‘typically’ cover a population of between 30 000 and 50 000 people. PCNs are expected to be geographically contiguous and coterminous with local Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and Integrated Care Systems (ICS). The NHS long term plan envisages PCNs will be the vehicle for improvements in primary care and wider population health. All patients in England have been covered by a PCN since 1 July 2019.