The NENC Primary Care Collaborative is a combined voice for dentistry, general practice, optometry, and pharmacy, working together to improve people’s health across the North East and North Cumbria. It acts together to solve problems, influence decisions, and share good ideas.
In the summer of 2023, a series of workshops were ran to test out the concept of a Collaborative organisation for primary care and define its purpose. Since then, the Primary Care Collaborative has been successful in securing investment funding from North of England Care System Support to set up the infrastructure.
A team from across general practice (PCN Clinical Directors, LMCs and Federations) along with Pharmacy, Optometry and Dentistry colleagues, have been meeting regularly to agree early priorities, including how they will operate as a Collaborative to improve health across the region.
Heading into 2024-25, the Primary Care Collaborative aims to embed some of its early initiatives, including supporting the roll-out of Pharmacy First and next steps for the Community of 1000 project.
As well as working on priorities from its membership, it has been asked and funded by the ICB to join or lead some primary care projects. Currently, the PCC is playing a role in designing the ICB’s digital strategy, working out what that looks like in practical terms, and how the whole of primary care can have its say and share its insight.
