Primary care

General practice is at the heart of the care provided by the NHS and over a lifetime with 85% of our patient/doctor contacts will be in general practice – over 17,000 a day across mid and south Essex.  

What we want to achieve

Strengthening and transforming general practice is crucial if we are to continue to deliver high quality services and meet patient need. Our plans are aligned with the NHS Long Term Plan and will focus on workforce, workload, care redesign, infrastructure and variation.

Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System is committed to:

Improve access to general practice through extended hours working and increased use of technology including online services meaning you can see or contact a health professional at a time that suits you.
Reducing workforce gaps, improving the retention of our existing staff and extend the team with new professionals working in general practice. By increasing the range of healthcare professionals in general practice, we can better meet the needs of the population and ensure you’re seen by the right person in a timely manner.
Helping ensure local GPs have more time to focus on people with complex health needs. With our GP practices working collaboratively, delivering more proactive care to those at risk of ill health as part of an integrated community team to help residents access the right care in the right place.
Improve the overall efficiency of general practice so that better use is made of the money already available.
Share learning across surgeries to optimise the care provided and reduce variation and inequalities.

Where we are now

Great progress has been made, with new healthcare professionals recruited across GP practices to support local people. Over 300 additional professionals from physiotherapists to mental health practitioners and social prescribers have been recruited across mid and south Essex over the past three years. There are plans to recruit another 200 this year and more again in future years.

You can read more about our plans in our primary care strategy refresh document.

Primary care strategy

The aim of the strategy is to improve outcomes for residents by aligning purpose and incentives amongst stakeholders at primary care network level, working to address local needs and inequalities whilst contributing to agreed system priorities. We want to build on the benefits we are already seeing from better collaboration.

The publication of a refreshed strategy followed a period of extensive engagement with both clinical and system partners including Healthwatch, GPs, Local Authorities and local hospitals making recommendations on key areas of focus based on robust data analysis.

To support delivery of the strategy, four system-wide strategic priority areas have been identified to support delivery alongside local ‘Place’ plans. These are: