Source · Select Committees · Health and Social Care Committee
Recommendation 25
25
Deferred
Paragraph: 93
National continuity of care measure required for all GP practices by 2024.
Conclusion
NHS England should introduce a national measure of continuity of care to be reported by all GP practices by 2024. The new measure should be based on existing models such as the Usual Provider Continuity Index and the St Leonard’s Index of Continuity of Care and in the short term should be based on measuring either continuity delivered by a named GP (in pooled list practices) or by a personal GP (in personal list practices). The measure should be reported quarterly at practice, Primary Care Network and Integrated Care System level as well as nationally.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government accepts the recommendation but discusses existing and upcoming organisational support initiatives for Primary Care Networks and practices, including digital tools, care navigation training, and the National General Practice Improvement Programme, rather than committing to a national measure of continuity of care by 2024.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
93
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
Partially accept. The Department partially accepts this recommendation. We agree that continuity of care is important in general practice, and we are introducing methods to further promote continuity of care in general practice to help ensure more patients can benefit from it when appropriate. We will consider how best to measure continuity of care, but we do not agree with the specific approach described. Firstly, continuity of care would need to be accurately defined for a national measure to be practicable. Alongside an individual GP or doctor, a multi- disciplinary team can provide continuity of care to a patient, leveraging their combined skills and offering continuity as a team, and we would want a measure to reflect this. The two measures proposed above do not do this. In addition, any national measure of continuity of care in general practice would need to be designed carefully to ensure that increased continuity of care is provided to those patients who most need it, while ensuring practices are not constrained from making best use of the skills and time of their general practitioners and multidisciplinary teams to meet their patients’ needs. While we will consider whether it is practicable to introduce a measure which achieves these aims, it would not therefore be appropriate to commit to introducing a measure by 2024.
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