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Primary care networks (PCNs). Bring groups of general practices together to work in collaboration for the better health of people in their communities, providing community and practice-based services and enabling people to stay out of hospital by caring for them in their own homes
Enabling Practices to work in groups as part of a Primary Care Network increases their ability to recruit and retain staff; to manage financial and estates pressures; to provide a wider range of services to patients and to more easily integrate with the wider health and care system.
While GP practices have been finding different ways of working together over many years – for example in super-partnerships, federations, clusters and networks – the NHS long-term plan and the five-year GP contract, published in January 2019, put a more formal structure around this way of working, but without creating new statutory bodies, by creating Primary Care Networks.
All except a handful of GP practices in England have come together in around 1,250 geographical networks covering populations of approximately 30–50,000 patients.
It is not compulsory for practices to join a network, but they risk losing out on significant extra funding if they do not, and their neighbouring networks will be funded to provide services to those patients whose practice is not covered by a network.
Serving a population of circa 79,000 people.
Across the PCN network
Primary Care Networks are a key vehicle for delivering many of the commitments in the long-term health of the nation plan and providing a wider range of services to patients. They are providing services such as structured medication reviews, enhanced health care in care homes, supporting early cancer diagnosis and understanding local health needs in order to tackle local inequalities.
They work with their partners to provide a wider range of primary care services to patients, involving a wider set of staff roles than might be feasible in individual practices, for example, first contact physiotherapy, extended access and social prescribing.
Networks are also the footprint for deciding which integrated community-based teams will develop, and community and mental health services will be expected to configure their services around PCN boundaries. These teams will provide services to people with more complex needs, providing proactive and anticipatory care.
In East Kent we have 16 PCNs.
An executive member from each of the practices is also included on our board.
Our service area is divided into two areas – West (Covering Folkestone), and East (Covering Dover and Surrounding).
Guildhall St Surgery
Manor Clinic
Sandgate Road Surgery
The New Surgery
Lydden Surgery
Whitecliffs Medical Centre
Pencester Surgery
Aylesham Medical Practice
“The PCNs support Primary Care through leadership and collaboration inspiring innovation.
Our mission is to promote high quality, safe care through clinical excellence for the benefit of our population.”
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| Clinical Director | 2 |
| Clinical Pharmacist | 7 |
| Social Prescriber | 6 |
| First Contact Physio | 7 |
| Care Coordinator for Care Homes | 5 |
| INT- Care Coordinator | 2 |
| Digital & Transformation Lead | 2 |
| Cancer Care Coordinators | 2 |
| Podiatrist | 2 |
| Mental Health Worker | 2 |
| Dietician (1 childrens, 1 adult) | 2 |
| Enhanced Nurse Care Homes | 2 |
| Pharmacy Technician | 2 |
| GP Lead Care Homes | 1 |
| Strategic GP Lead Care Homes | 1 |
| Strategy and Planning Officer | 1 |
| Patient and Public Engagement Manager | 1 |
| Personal and Corportate Administrator | 1 |
Dr Tuan Nguyen is a GP partner and educational supervisor at Sandgate Road Surgery in Folkestone. He developed the Pro-Active Care programme to help manage patients with multiple long-term conditions which was rolled out in both Liverpool and Folkestone, which was recognised by both the European Union and World Health Organisation as a good example of integrated care for patients with multimorbidity.
With the support of local GP practices, Tuan helped to create Channel Health Alliance Ltd (a GP federation company) which holds NHS contracts to provide clinical services for a population of 200,000 plus residents and became the chairman in 2017. With the development of Primary Care Networks to support the NHS’ long-term plan in 2019, Tuan was elected as Clinical Director for a grouping of 8 practices covering nearly 80,000 patients. Through collaboration, Tuan led on the local COVID-19 vaccination programme providing over 180,000 vaccinations.
Tuan continues to demonstrate his commitment to primary care by representing his area on the East Kent Health and Care Partnership board as well as developing local services to enhance capacity in already stretched GP practices such as centralised workflow optimisation and call handling. At the core of Tuan’s ethos is to provide good quality equitable and safe care to all residents.
In his spare time Tuan enjoys travelling, cooking and photography. Tuan has won awards for his photography and became an international brand ambassador for a prestigious photographic accessory manufacturer.
Sue has a nursing background and a long career in health service operations, commissioning and governance, being committed to high quality, safe health care delivery.
With a proven track record of innovative service design, redesign and delivery. Commercial awareness, developing processes and systems to deliver efficiency without affecting quality and safety.
Experience of leading and delivering organisational clinical governance and safeguarding, in relation to practice standards, education and workforce developments. Developing and implementing corporate governance and compliance assuring organisational quality and safety. Seven years of NHS Board level experience. Possessing a style of inclusivity to engender and manage change through clinical engagement achieving credibility.
