Our Primary Care Network (PCN)

The new GP contract was published in early 2019 as part of the Long Term Plan. A key element of the new contract is the development of Primary Care Networks (PCNs) which will bring GP practices together with other local services – such as community, mental health, social care and the voluntary sector to look after local populations.  PCNs will help to join up services at a local level, focusing on the specific needs of these local populations, with patients still accessing routine GP appointments as they do now. 

What are PCNs?

PCNs build on current primary care services and enable greater provision of proactive, personalised, coordinated and more integrated health and social care. Clinicians describe this as a change from reactively providing appointments to proactively providing care for the people and communities they serve. PCNs are providing clear benefits for patients and clinicians. PCNs usually have a population of 50-55k patients and are geographically contiguous (next to or touching another).   You can read the NHS England PCN FAQs here and view the BMA PCN handbook (March 2019) here.  

What are we doing in the Eden Valley?

All ten practices in the Eden Valley have signed up to being a part of Eden PCN that covers the registered patient population of Eden. We have a Clinical Director and a management team supporting the development and implementation of the PCN, working closely with the ten member practices.  

In the first year the team began by supporting the delivery of a COVID response (Red-Hub) and then the Covid 19 vaccination programme.

We are currently employ the following new roles to work on behalf of the practices as a centralised team;

• First contact Physiotherapy
• Pharmacists
• Pharmacy Technicians
• Social Prescribers
• Care co-ordinators
• Mental Health Worker
• Trainee Nurse Associates – practice based
• Health Coaches

Our clinical director and management team

Our PCN is led by a PCN clinical director and three managers:

• Dr Helen Jervis  Clinical Director
• Anna M Sives    
• Paula Breen      
• Amanda Riley
  For further Information watch a short animation that explains the concept of primary care networks (PCNs) and how this new way of working enables health and other services to work together to provide better access for patients.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W19DtEsc8Ys