In response to GP shortages, new non-GP professionals are being introduced to general practices in England in larger numbers. NHS Salford Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)  implemented a number of these new health care roles in Primary Care, including Advanced Practitioners, Physician Associates, and Practice Pharmacists.

As part of our Organising Healthcare Programme, NIHR CLAHRC GM worked with Salford CCG to evaluate the process of implementing these roles. We conducted in-depth interviews and focus groups with a range of stakeholders to understand the challenges involved in embedding such roles into primary care. Our findings will inform future workforce development both within and beyond the NHS Salford CCG footprint.

In addition to our final report at you can also read our recently published paper which compares these three roles and highlights the learning for a range of stakeholders to maximise the potential of new roles in general practice. There is also a related blog by Dr Pauline Nelson, the lead researcher on this project.

Paulines blog can also be found on the @Policy Manchester website here along with her profile for the University of Manchester if you would like to know more about Pauline.

Date Published: 04/06/2019