Listen in, so what?

Why do we need to work on this?

• People find it hard to contact services – we hear frustration about having to phone at 8am, waiting in long phone queues, automated systems (press 1 for X etc) and online information being difficult to understand.
• People tell us they feel confused about why GP practices are working differently than they were before the pandemic.
• General practice now offers a wider range of services and employs a whole team of people in different roles – but people don’t understand this offer, and some people feel that unless they see a GP they are being ‘fobbed off’.
• People have an even harder time accessing GP services if they are unfamiliar with the NHS, speak English as a second language, or have disabilities.

What ideas did we come up with at our event?

• Improve universal online access - one system for all patients across Bradford District and Craven
• Developing wellbeing services as a physical, integral part of the GP surgery
• Call-back system for people phoning practices and more information on different ways to access
• Increase in awareness of different ways of accessing primary care / different offers within primary care – build on ‘It’s a GP Practice Thing’ campaign
• Questions or systems people can use to triage themselves
• Rebrand ‘GP Practice’ and change how we describe the workforce 

In the forum below, tell us...

What do you think of these ideas?  

What questions do you have?

What do you think would make the biggest difference?

Why do we need to work on this?

• A large number of people come to GP practices because they are struggling with issues that they need support with, but which aren’t best addressed by medical interventions – for example someone may have anxiety because they are struggling financially and isolated after a relationship breakdown, a GP can only prescribe medication or refer someone for CBT but a better outcome would be to address the underlying problem through a benefits check or debt advice and to help the individual develop a stronger social network.
• People are complicated and the current model of General Practice, e.g. short appointments, doesn’t make it easy to look at people holistically and identify the right help or treatment.

What ideas did we come up with at our event?

• Raise awareness of non-medical support, especially for the 10% of people who use most GP visits
• Community wellbeing team – community 111
• Bring primary care outreach into the community in a ‘One Stop Shop’ by building on our Wellbeing Network with more hubs across the district Bradford Wellbeing Network

In the forum below, tell us...

What do you think of these ideas?  

What questions do you have?
What do you think would make the biggest difference?

Why is this a problem?

• Each GP practice is an individual business, and their ways of working, IT and phone systems etc. 
• Primary Care networks are groups of practices working together to serve a local population.  Some PCNs are working well, others are still developing. When practices are so busy, it’s hard to spend time collaborating.
• In our Listen In programme we heard lots of variation in people’s experiences – with some people finding it much easier to access care than others.
• Variation in different PCNs risks deepening inequalities and making things better for some groups of our population while others are left behind.

What ideas did we come up with at our event? 

• PCN membership for patients and staff - training & induction for shared understanding
• Funded shared time for practices to work together to shape good practice & ensure consistency

In the forum below, tell us...

What do you think of these ideas?  

What questions do you have?

What do you think would make the biggest difference?

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