What is this all about?
Why change?
NHS services continue to be under pressure. General practice is not immune to these pressures. We need to tackle these challenges to meet patient access needs, and address issues in resourcing such as staff shortages.
We have chosen to work with Modality Partnership as they share our same ethos and vision for the future of patient care and GP led services.
They are a GP led organisation, originally founded in Birmingham. They now operate nationally, with GP practices in the North, South and Midlands regions – Airedale Wharfdale and Craven, St, Helens, Hull, Walsall, East Surrey, Mid Sussex, Lewisham and Wokingham; providing care to over 450,000 patients across England.
Being part of a larger super-partnership makes your practice more stable and resilient, and for our staff there will be more long-term job security. There will also be more career and development opportunities with potential new roles being developed.
We can only begin to make these changes by working as a larger group of practices. It will be difficult to do this alone and we believe that working together we can harness the power of our talented teams to make healthcare across Birmingham excellent.
When is this happening?
Your practice will officially join Modality Partnership on 1 April 2023.
What are the immediate changes?
You probably won’t notice a great deal of change on or immediately after 1 April 2023. There will be new signs outside the practice buildings and staff will be wearing new badges and lanyards.
For the most part, your experience of your surgery will stay the same. Over time a review of the way each practice works will happen and by doing this we will be able to understand what needs improvement and identify ways that we can do things better. This may be improving access to appointments or ways of working.
Will I still be able to see the same doctors, nurses and staff?
Yes, you will still be able to see the same people. There will be no immediate changes to the team of staff who look after you at your practice.
What does this actually mean for me, as a patient? Will you be changing practice opening hours?
Practice opening hours will remain the same, and our commitment to high quality care and service remains unchanged.
It will take time but we have plans to organise how we work, this will free up administrative burden on our doctors, so they have more time to see patients and this will in turn improve access to appointments.
These changes are only made possible because we are working together at scale as a larger group of GPs. We will not make any change without thinking it through carefully and also involving you.
We are very excited about the future and the different possibilities to improve our service for all.
How soon will changes happen? Next few months? Next year?
We want to develop an integrated service and improved model of care for all of our patients.
First, we must understand our current service provision so we can identify opportunities to do this and also to recognise things that we already do well and share that across the group of practices.
Will I be able to go to any Modality practices?
Over time this may be possible, but right now it is not a high priority.
To date; Modality Partnership has found that even when the option is available many patients prefer going to their registered practice.
Will I have to go to different practices for my care and treatment?
No, as it stands we will be retaining all systems and processes as they are.
Changes to our services can only be made once we have fully and reviewed them as a whole.
In the future, there may be more services that you would expect to see on offer in hospital available at one of our practices.
What does the CCG think about this?
Primary care working at scale is in line with national policy and direction and will support our CCG’s direction of travel in terms of primary care development. Initial discussions with our CCG have been well received.
How will patient confidentiality for staff be maintained when the practices merge?
There are protocols that are enabled within practice systems to provide assurance on patient confidentiality.
Are any new services likely to be launched here?
It is too early to be able to say exactly what our new services will look like, and where exactly they will be based.
Any decisions taken regarding this will be based on a needs and evidence based approach and we will involve both staff and patients in the shaping and development of new services so they are truly fit for purpose and made to last.