Specialists in Primary Care

Welcome to the Specialists in Primary Care Network Page

You can contact Minoo Irani, Specialist Network Lead via the national office at office@nhsalliance.org

It will be all about local relationships

Dear Network member

Once we cut through the media headline messages of the Government White Paper, we can appreciate the importance of collaborative and integrated working across primary- community-specialist care and also across health and social care.

Although GP Consortia are proposed to have the responsibility and accountability for local commissioning, in practise, commissioning will require input from a wide range of clinicians (especially specialists). More importantly, commissioning discussions across traditional professional boundaries will, almost certainly, lead to better understanding of organising pathways of care and networks of professionals across primary and secondary care to deliver integrated care for patients. High quality provision will be what that matters eventually, when all the headlines and debates about GP commissioning have been laid to rest.

It is not uncommon for colleagues to have observed that a possible unintended consequence of the last set of NHS Reforms was an increased professional divide between primary and secondary care. The recent reforms, if poorly implemented, risk further propagation of this divide and fragmentation of patient care. It is only the profession and its various membership organisations that can ensure that the relationship between GPs and Consultants remains one of mutual respect and recognition of the important role each plays in the patient journey in the NHS.

The 13^th Annual Conference of the NHS Alliance is in Bournemouth on 18 and 19 November. You will find the programme at www.nhsalliance2010.org.uk . Do try to attend if you wish to know more about GP Commissioning and the brave new world of Primary Care.

You may be aware that NHS Alliance has been identified as one of the 3 national organisations to assist in further planning and implementation of the proposed new NHS reforms (http://www.nhshistory.com/transitionletter.pdf ).

NHS Alliance intends to respond to the public consultation contained in the supporting papers accompanying the White Paper. It would be immensely useful to have some responses from Specialists, and these could be collated with responses from the various other networks in NHS Alliance before submission. Please send responses to office@nhsalliance.org by the end of September. If you have any other comments or queries about the White Paper you would like to pass by me, please do get in touch (minoo.irani@nhs.net ). If you do not wish to receive further communication from the network, please let the office know by return email.

Best wishes

Minoo Irani

Specialists’ Network Lead