The health reforms, tougher challenges facing social care and efficiency savings have pushed visions for integrated services to the forefront of the NHS. By 2020 will general practices across the county see minor surgery units, more diagnostics, extended opening hours and a range of rehabilitation services all on one site and helping to bring more care into the community?
Dr James Kingsland, senior partner at St Hilary Group Practice, which offers all of those services, thinks so. When the practice in Wallasey, Merseyside, reopens this month he sees it pioneering the future of healthcare in the NHS. The new development comprises a 1,050 sq m two-storey primary care centre which also includes space for Age UK, Citizens Advice, and counselling and physiotherapy services. It is “a version of what general practice should look like in ten years time”, he says.
Areas to think about:
- How do you think GP services will evolve in the future?
- What should the function of a GP practice be?
- Why is the Health & Social Care Act relevant to this discussion?
Discussion
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