A new partnership has been set up to help rebuild frontline services in north Cumbria.
The Primary Care Collaborative North Cumbria Limited has launched with 18 shareholder member GP practices and four practices in support, with a view to joining later.
Robert Westgate, clinical director, said: “Working at scale allows us to build resilience in primary care, working more easily with partner organisations; protecting general practice and patient care.
“Forming a federation of GP practices is the start of a process to help rebuild high quality person centred primary care for the people of north Cumbria.”
It follows an 18-month pilot project in north Cumbria, which brought together surgeries to share best practice and ensure funding opportunities were fully used and managed.
The partnership also hopes to work alongside organisations including primary care networks, North East & North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, voluntary, community and social enterprises, the local authority, the Local Medical Committee, NHS trusts and partners across the North East and north Cumbria.
Samantha Gargett, primary care services north Cumbria project manager and now operations director, said: “The pilot has really proved how much working together and having a unified voice for our patient population can enhance services and ensure we continually improve in the ever changing and challenging landscape of primary care, I look forward to being able to take some of the lessons learnt during the pilot into the new entity and seeing it grow.”
The Primary Care Collaborative North Cumbria board is currently made up of clinical directors, operations directors and a finance director.
Celia Heasman, GP Partner at Westcroft House surgery, Egremont and clinical director in the new collaborative said: “We hope to be a strong voice advocating for the needs and interests of Primary Care Providers and patients, it is crucial our voice is heard and working in a collaborative way will ensure this is the case.
“We are all part of the North East North Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS) which makes us one of the largest ICS’s in the country therefore having a voice for North Cumbria within the wider system is crucial.”
