Benefits

We will support general practice to:

• enable better use of GP practice appointments and resources and ensure patients can be seen by the right person, at the right time and in the right place
• improve sharing of responsibility within practice teams and the wider primary care system, and
• promote effective multidisciplinary working.

We will do this by:

Drawing on the extensive work and learning from the Practice Administrative Staff Collaborative, we are now launching the Care Navigation in General Practice: 10-Step Guide.

This resource forms one part of the Primary Care Communications Toolkit. This toolkit provides information and resources for NHS boards, HSCPS and professional bodies to support their communications about changes to Dental, GP Practice, Optometry and Community Pharmacy services in response to COVID-19.

The Care Navigation in General Practice: 10-Step Guide provides practical guidance on how to set up, or review, care navigation processes and pathways within general practice at pace and scale. It also contains links and references to related support materials developed by our national partners.

To support the implementation of this guide, we are offering an extensive package of practical support including:

• virtual 1-hour awareness sessions
• follow-on bespoke support delivered through group coaching workshops, and
• one-to-one support calls to practices on request.

How can you access resources and support?

All boards, HSCPs and professional bodies can access the Care Navigation in General Practice: 10-Step Guide and the Primary Care Communications Toolkit.

In December 2020, a series of 16 virtual workshops were provided to support practices implement safe and effective processes for Care Navigation.

You can access the slides and a 40 minutes recording of the "Implementing Care Navigation" workshop below.

Download the slides (PDF)

For more information or implementation support please contact us at his.pcpteam@nhs.scot 

Benefits

We will support general practice to:

• improve patient access to repeat and long-term prescriptions
• ensure medicines-related activity is dealt with by the right member of the pharmacy team at the right time, safely and efficiently, and
• reduce GP practice and pharmacy staff workload.

We will do this by:

Working with practice teams and pharmacy staff across a range of NHS boards and HSCPs, we will develop practical guidance and resources to support set-up and implementation of serial prescription services.

We are also re-launching the national Pharmacotherapy Level 1 Collaborative. From November 2020 to March 2021, we will work with collaborative teams from across a range of HSCPs to share the learning and tools developed.

To support implementation we will be providing practical and operational support including:

• QI expertise to support teams with rapid testing of new resources
• group support through virtual workshops, enabling networking opportunities
• sharing the learning through national webinars, and
• one-to-one support to practices on request.

How can you access resources and support?

Interested in helping to improve GP practice processes? Contact us to find out how to join the Pharmacotherapy Collaborative.

For more information or implementation support please contact us at his.pcpteam@nhs.scot.

Benefits

We will support health and care services to:

• support delivery of person-centred care for people across health and social care
• improve coordination of care across care settings both in and out of hours, and
• reduce inappropriate interventions, hospital admissions and repeated difficult conversations.

We will do this by:

Working with professionals from across health and social care, the third sector and people with lived experience, we will revise online resources, with signposting to relevant materials. We will also update and share resources such as: Essential Anticipatory Care Planning Guidance and Template.

To support improvements in practice, we will enable the sharing of learning via:

• webinars
• case studies from a range of sectors, and
• providing access to networking opportunities.

We will also work with our partners to develop longer term plans for ACP beyond April 2021.

How can you access resources and support?

Healthcare Improvement Scotland is currently working with the Scottish Government to develop COVID-19 specific ACP templates and guidance. Visit Anticipatory Care Planning for COVID-19 to find out more and access the newly developed resources.

You can access resources to support individuals and those providing care to have ACP conversations on our Anticipatory Care Planning Toolkit page.

Please note: the information on this page, and the other pages in this ACP toolkit, were created before the COVID-19 outbreak and relates to many different care circumstances.

For more information, please contact us at his.pcpteam@nhs.scot.

Benefits

We will support primary care services to learn together.

The Primary Care Learning System aims to accelerate the sharing of learning and improvement work across primary care services and underpins all our activities. Through collaborative working, sharing good practice and providing training this programme aims to encourage continuous learning at all levels, in every primary care setting.

We will do this through a range of engagement and learning opportunities:

• Primary Care Resilience Webinar series to connect, rebuild and move forward together
• Improving Together interactive (ITi) our one-stop-shop library of resources for primary care
• capturing and sharing insights, case studies and evidence
• producing guidance and implementation toolkits
• facilitation of Improvement Learning Networks, and
• practical QI and coaching support for GP Clusters from the Primary Care Quality Improvement Faculty (PCQIF).

How can you access resources and support?

Join us for our Primary Care Resilience Webinar series, where you will be able to connect with peers, take part in discussions on current topics and reflect on what this could mean for primary care and your practice. Topics for future webinars are based on your feedback.

Explore our Improving Together interactive to access improvement tools, materials and resources.

Access our case studies and find out how to share your project.

For more information, please contact us at his.pcpteam@nhs.scot.

We do this by:

• Providing responsive quality improvement and leadership support local areas.
• Enabling networking opportunities across primary care. We are currently developing a range networks to support local quality improvement.

If you're interested in finding out more email his.pcpteam@nhs.scot.

We use evidence and local knowledge to inform the development of new models of care. Find out more about our work in:

• Community Treatment and Care services - supporting health and social care partnerships (HSCPs) to plan, test and deliver community treatment and care services. 
• Practice Administrative Staff Collaborative - improving GP practices and upskilling staff.
• SPSP in Primary Care - reducing the number of events which could cause avoidable harm from care delivered in any primary care setting.
• SPSP Medicines -  improving the safety for prescribing, assessing and distributing medicines.

We host Improving Together interactive, which is a one-stop-shop library of resources for people working in primary care. There you can find case studies which capture the learning from improvement work happening in primary care.

Join us for our Primary Care Resilience National WebEx series, to connect, rebuild and move forward together.