General Practice Forward View & Sustainability and Transformation Plans
General Practice Forward View (April 2016)
GPs and practice teams provide vital services for patients. They are at the heart of our communities, the foundation of the NHS and internationally renowned. But services are now under unprecedented pressure and, as set out in the NHS Five Year Forward View, it has become clear that action is needed so we have a responsive NHS, fit for the future.
The General Practice Forward View, published in April 2016, sets out a plan, backed by a multi-billion pound investment, to stabilise and transform general practice.
It has been developed with Health Education England and in discussion with the Royal College of GPs and other GP representatives.
It commits to an extra £2.4 billion a year to support general practice services by 2020/21. This means spending will rise from £9.6 billion in 2015/16 to over £12 billion by 2021 – a 14 percent real terms increase.
This investment will be supplemented by a one off five-year £500 million national sustainability and transformation package to support GP practices, and includes additional funds from local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).
The plan also contains specific, practical and funded steps to grow and develop workforce, drive efficiencies in workload and relieve demand, modernise infrastructure and technology, and support local practices to redesign the way modern primary care is offered to patients.
Click here to read further: https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/gpfv/
Focus on Funding & Support for General Practice
Sustainability and Transformation Plans
In December 2015, the NHS shared planning guidance 16/17 – 20/21 outlined a new approach to help ensure that health and care services are built around the needs of local populations. To do this, every health and care system in England will produce a multi-year Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), showing how local services will evolve and become sustainable over the next five years – ultimately delivering the Five Year Forward View vision of better health, better patient care and improved NHS efficiency.
To deliver plans that are based on the needs of local populations, local health and care systems came together in January 2016 to form 44 STP ‘footprints’. The health and care organisations within these geographic footprints are working together to develop STPs which will help drive genuine and sustainable transformation in patient experience and health outcomes of the longer-term.
The footprints should be locally defined, based on natural communities, existing working relationships, patient flows and take account of the scale needed to deliver the services, transformation and public health programmes required, along with how they best fit with other footprints. Download the map of STP footprints in England.
Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) leaders have now been agreed in the majority of areas. These senior figures have agreed to convene the STP process and to oversee the development of local plans. They have been selected following local discussions about who is best placed to play this role, together with discussions with national bodies.
STPs footprints are not statutory bodies, but collective discussion forums which aim to bring together health and care leaders to support the delivery of improved health and care based on the needs of local populations. They do not replace existing local bodies, or change local accountabilities.
STPs will be submitted in June, with a view to implementation starting in Autumn 2016.
Click here to read further: https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/futurenhs/deliver-forward-view/stp/
Useful Links and Publications
NHS England - Building Capability for improvement
NHS England - General Practice Forward View
NHS England - Integrated Care
NHS England - Delivering the Forward View: NHS planning guidance
NHS England - The General Practice Nursing Workforce Development Plan. This plan covers four main areas. 1. Entry into general practice nursing (preregistration). 2. Establishing the role of the general practice nurse - the early years (post-registration). 3. Enhancing the GPN role. 4. Expanding the healthcare support workforce.
HEE (2015) District Nursing and General Practice Nursing Educational and Career Framework
NHSE (2017) Leading Change, Adding Value: A framework for nursing, midwifery and care staff
