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. 

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. This year we are particularly interested in the shift from analogue to digital within primary care settings, and the impact this might have on those who prefer or need non-digital options.

Recent work under this priority

Our recent work under this priority has included:

  • Our Sight on Equity report explores the barriers people from black and Asian minoritised groups experience to attend sight tests. This work was produced in partnership with the Surrey Local Optical Committee (LOC), Sensory Services for Surrey, In Health Specialist Diabetic Screening Service, Surrey Minorities Ethnic Forum (SMEF) and Surrey Heartlands ICB​. The report calls for the  provision of accessible information and advice on what is involved in having a sight test, why it is important, why general health care is important for eye health and where to find financial support.
  • Since the new year we have been speaking to people about the support available to help them manage their weight. We have met with a residents from Surrey Downs, Surrey Heath and North West Surrey and also ran a Surrey wide survey open to anyone over the age of 18. Our report will be available on our website soon.
  • Last summer we spoke to people across Surrey about the increasing move to online channels to access GP services, as well as the use of new technologies such as AI within GP practice. Our report - The digital divide - summarises our findings on their views and concerns and has been shared with our primary care colleagues. We are now repeating our research in light of the new requirement for GP practices to provide online access to appointments throughout core practice hours. We will be speaking to people at face to face events in West Surrey, supported by a survey. 

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.