Do you want to find groups and support in the community that might help you improve your health and wellbeing? You can find lots of local support from charities to social groups in the Arc Bucks PCN Directory.
First developed within the NHS Five Year Forward View published in 2014, Primary Care Networks (PCNs) are part of a model of care in which commissioners and providers work together in different ways to achieve closer integration of services locally.
Many people are living with more long term conditions such as diabetes and/or asthma, or have a mental health issues that requires access to their local health service more often. PCNs were established through local GP practices agreeing to work together, along with other wider health and social organisations, including pharmacy, social care, mental health and voluntary groups across the community.
A PCN will typically cover between 30,000 and 50,000 patients.
Comprising a robust range of staff roles, a PCN would typically include GPs, practice nurses, paramedics, physical associates, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, social prescribing link workers, health and wellbeing coaches, physios and care coordinators. This team also works closely with district nurses, community geriatricians, dementia workers, physiotherapists and podiatrists/chiropodists in the community, joined by the social care and the voluntary sectors respectively.
Helpful Resources:
About Primary Care Networks – Video
Arc Bucks cover 6 GP practices across the Buckinghamshire region, with our patient list exceeding over 80,000. With this in mind, the ultimate goal is to help provide the personal care needed by our patients, services that are valued by the GP practices, reduce the amount of health care inequalities and and to have a greater impact on the health and wellbeing of the local community, health and social care systems.
We also are working collectively in a holistic approach to health care and wellbeing, attempting to anticipate a patient’s needs to avoid becoming unwell in the future, and provide a planned journey of long term support to keep people healthy and independent.
We are able to take advantage of additional and varied staff roles that are now available to support all of our patients. These additional roles help us to provide the right care at the right time, from the right professional.