£3.3 million boost for town's health care

GPs in Warrington have been given £3,291,157 to improve access to care for 209,000 patients in their area as part of the £50m Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund.
A total of 29 practices will be part of Primary Care Home Warrington which will see the creation of eight new virtual “Primary Care Homes”, each covering three to six surgeries in the area.
Each home will provide an integrated service hub that includes primary health, community services, social care and psychological therapies.
The innovative approach will provide more integrated out of hospital and health and social care services, closer to patients’ homes.
“Homes” will take advantage of shared services across practices including heart monitoring and blood testing, and have dedicated care co-ordinators for patients with complex needs. They will also offer patients extended access from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week.
More than seven million patients across the country will benefit after 20 GP collaborations were successful in bids to the fund and were awarded investment to run pilots for a year.
The Challenge Fund created great interest among practices in adopting new ways of working, attracting more than 250 expressions of interest.
Successful schemes have been awarded sums from £400,000 to £5m. Seven pilot schemes have been approved across the North of England and have been given over £12m to transform access to GP services and improve the patient experience.
A wide variety of ideas are to be trialled including 8am-8pm working, better use of telecare and health apps, access to appointments through e-mail and Skype and greater flexibility with face-to-face access.
Alison Tonge, commissioning director for NHS England Cheshire, Warrington and Wirral, said: “We would like to congratulate GPs in Warrington for an innovative scheme that will make such a difference to the lives of the patients they serve.
“Improving access to GPs is imperative to prevent health problems storing up and to avoid pressure on our hospitals.
“I look forward to seeing the results of this exciting scheme and how it transforms healthcare in Warrington.”
Bid leader, Dr Andrew Davies, from Greenbank Surgery, Warrington, said: “It’s a really exciting opportunity for us to change how primary care is delivered for the benefit of our patients.
“We have got a dwindling workforce with more work to do. We need to change and the Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund enables us to do that to create a more sustainable model that is more about proactively managing health than reacting to sickness.”