Publications

The Covid-19 pandemic prompted rapid uptake of existing digital technologies to deliver patient care differently in general practice. This report looks at how services changed and the digital tools and services that were used to facilitate that change

This paper, commissioned by UCB, investigates how five leading specialist hospital services in the UK are innovating in care for people with severe psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), axial spondyloarthritis, osteoporosis and combinations of inflammatory conditions.

Community pharmacy is a critical part of primary care in England, but its role and relationship to the wider NHS is often poorly understood. This explainer looks at the community pharmacy sector in England, explaining how pharmacies are contracted and funded, the types of services they provide and future trends in the sector.

A key part of the NHS long-term plan, primary care networks (PCNs) will bring general practices together to work at scale. But what are they? How are they funded and held accountable? And what difference will they make? Beccy Baird explains the latest form of GP collaboration.

Social prescribing enables GPs, nurses and other primary care professionals to refer people to a range of local, non-clinical services to support their health and wellbeing. But does it work? And how does it fit in with wider health and care policy?

It has become received wisdom that the NHS struggles to adopt digital innovation, but during the Covid-19 pandemic, many NHS providers have moved services online at astonishing pace. Ben Collins looks at four digital innovations in health services from the UK and the Nordic countries.

This article was first published on the BMJ website. General practices have been working together in primary care networks (PCNs) for more than a year, but now growing numbers of GPs are threatening to pull out of PCNs and the associated contract. Richard Murray explains how this situation has unfolded and suggests some potential solutions.

The urgent action needed to stabilise general practice, by addressing workload and workforce issues, raises important questions around the timing, implementation and pace of these new service specifications even though the overall direction they set out is the right one.