South Rural Primary Care Network (PCN) was formed in June 2019 and is made up of five individual, well-established practices:
- Bildeston Health Centre
- Constable Medical Practice,
- Hadleigh Boxford Group
- Holbrook & Shotley
- Needham Market Country Practice
Between us we look after around 55,000 patients and that number continues to grow.
The PCN is lead by two enthusiastic Clinical Directors who are Dr Chris Lewis (Needham Market) and Dr Sarah Casden (Hadleigh). Our PCN Manager is Amy Vivian who works alongside the clinical directors on PCN projects.
By working together our vision is to provide a joined up service for local communities. By diversifying our workforce and benefitting from a greater skill mix we can in turn create and develop a better care package for our patients.
Currently as a PCN:
- We offer extended hours appointments to our patients
- We provide an enhanced health in care homes service to the 16 care homes across our area
- We employee additional health care professionals to support our practices. The roles we currently have in place are:
- Clinical Pharmacists
- Pharmacy Technicians
- Trainee Nurse Associates
- Care Coordinators
- Health and Wellbeing Coaches
- First Point of Contact Physiotherapists
- Paramedic/Emergency Care Practitioners
- Mental Health Practitioners
Visit the NHS Suffolk and North East Essex website to learn more about the different health care professionals working in GP surgeries: suffolkandnortheastessex.icb.nhs.uk/gp-roles
- We provide peer support to each other sharing best practice and learning outcomes
- We are working to improve early cancer diagnosis rates through increasing national screening uptake
- We are using population health management tools to understand our patient population and tailor services to improve outcomes for our patients
Over the next two years, we hope to be able to bring more new roles and services into our practices. We will keep you updated as the South Rural Primary Care Network develops.