Access to primary care
Primary care includes general practice, community pharmacy, dental and optometry (eye health) services. Primary care services provide the first point of contact to the healthcare system – acting as the ‘front door’ of the NHS – and are fundamental to people’s experiences of health and care.
The ways in which people access primary care and the availability of services has evolved significantly over recent years, and Surrey residents have consistently shared the impact this has had on them.
Our primary care priority
The focus of our primary care priority is to challenge the inequity of access which people tell us exists. We do this by seeking to understand the needs of our population and by providing information and advice accordingly. Alongside this we challenge and influence the healthcare system via our seats on a number of local boards and committees. Ultimately, we work to ensure that the population of Surrey know how and when to access primary care services and that services work better together to meet the needs of their local populations.
Recent work under this priority
Our recent work under this priority has included;
- Making general practice understandable for everyone – we coproduced a leaflet with our volunteers entitled ‘What do I need to know about GP practices?’ to try to address some of this confusion people shared with us around GP practices. As part of the development process we also liaised closely with our system partners to ensure the content is consistent with other information sources. In addition to the main leaflet we have recently worked with Include (a Surrey based provider of speech and language therapy based community activities and training) to produce an Easy Read version.
- Working with individual GP practices to improve the experience for patients – following feedback from patients we have been working two GP practices, making recommendations for how one practice could work more effectively with patients, families and carers and engaging with local residents to provide information and signposting around practice changes at another. Please read more in our Impact Report.
- Improving access to general practice for those experiencing domestic abuse – we have undertaken research to better understand access to and experience of GP practices for people who have experienced or are experiencing domestic abuse. We will be reporting on this research over the coming months; please keep an eye on our website.
Further information
Reports and bulletins relating to this priority can be found under the Access to primary care category of our reports section on our website.
You can find out more about how primary care fits within the wider healthcare system on our Understanding Healthcare page.