£2 million investment in GP practices across Eastern Cheshire

Hawker Jerry

The body that buys and plans much of Eastern Cheshire's health care is to invest £2 million of extra money into improving the range of services offered by general practice.

The funding from NHS Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is on top of the £2.6 million which it already invests in general practice services across the area's 22 GP surgeries.

The funding will enable practices to provide a range of new services and facilities including obesity management clinics, advice and support to stop people developing diabetes, services for people with long-term conditions, including serious breathing problems
and prostate cancer diagnosis.

CCG chief officer Jerry Hawker said: "This major new investment into services provided by GP practices will help achieve the ambitions of our Caring Together transformation programme.

"These new services will help stop people falling ill and will support people with long-term conditions to live healthy, independent lives.

"The investment recognises that the GP surgery is the first point of contact with the NHS for most people and that it represents a golden opportunity to relieve pressure on urgent and emergency care by helping people to better manage their health in the community.

"It's our conviction that prevention is better than cure for the people we serve and for our hard-pressed healthcare system."

The investment was approved by the CCG's Governing Body and Primary Care Committee last week.

The CCG is now working with its practices to finalise the list of value-added services to be provided as part of the new GP contract – which is due to go live from December 2015.

Jerry Hawker added: "This landmark investment by the CCG anticipates the lead role we'll be taking in commissioning general practice services from next April, following the devolution of delegated powers from NHS England.

"I believe this is extremely positive news for the people of Eastern Cheshire, as we are a community-focused, member organisation which is uniquely well placed to understand the needs of the 204,000 people we serve."

In addition, NHS England, which currently commissions most services provided by general practices, will transfer £1.1m (previously invested in 12 of the 22 general practices in Eastern Cheshire) to the CCG for reinvestment in general practice locally. This follows NHS England's national review of its Personal Medical Services (PMS) contracts with GP practices.

Jerry Hawker explained: "NHS England's PMS review and our Caring Together work to agree value-added services allowed us to take a strategic and coordinated view of the community's health needs and to ensure that funding was used in the most appropriate and fair way possible to meet those needs."

Photo: Jerry Hawker.

Tags:
NHS Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Mabel Taylor
Thursday 5th November 2015 at 4:06 pm
Excellent news about additional services and cash for G.P. surgeries, however will this mean shorter waiting times to see a G.P ?
I ask as to-day when I visited my surgery in Knutsford the information board indicated a two week wait to see a named doctor and as older patients have already been allocated a `named doctor` a two week wait to see a G.P. seems rather too long.
DELETED ACCOUNT
Friday 6th November 2015 at 9:42 am
So this article is all about reassuring us that services will be better and more extensive at local GP surgeries. Meanwhile a small surgery at Disley has warned patients that it might be closed because it simply does not fit the model of these large complexes.Presumably residents of Disley will have to travel by car to High Lane. One size never fits all!