The role of a Primary Care Network Manager during COVID-19

25/06/2020

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In this blog, GP Federation Network Manager, Vicky Westwood, reflects on her first couple of months of supporting Primary Care Networks and how she’s been supporting Bolton people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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I became one of the GP Federation’s newest members of the team as a Primary Care Network Manager in March, after working the last 10 years in primary care, mostly as a Practice Manager in Bolton.

The role of a Primary Care Network (PCN) is very new and still, I feel, evolving. One of my main responsibilities is the delivery of the PCN Directed Enhanced Services (the DES is a contract designed to support practices to develop and implement their PCNs). Working closely with Clinical Directors, I monitor the projects and services that the PCNs have commissioned or are committed to. My experience as a Practice Manager has given me such good insight in delivering this new role and hopefully towards supporting the practices and workforce within my networks.

The GP Federation supports six of Bolton’s nine PCNs and I currently provide management support to two of these – Chorley Roads and Kearsley and Farnworth. During the first few months of the PCNs forming, we have successfully recruited a team of Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians to support the networks, and in the next 12 months will see the workforce expand further with more MSK Practitioners (first contact physiotherapists), Paramedics and Physician Associates.

Since starting my role two months ago I have been kept extremely busy! I joined the GP Federation right at the height of the Covid19 pandemic, and in my first week, to support this, I immediately lead on a new project to manage Discharge to Assess (D2A) beds to two care homes – Shannon Court and Farnworth Care Home. D2A is where care and support are provided to patients who are well enough to leave hospital, but are not well enough to go straight home. Luckily for me there was lots of support at hand and guidance from the Federation as they already successfully manage a similar set-up at Wilfred Geere Care Home.

Dr Laura Barnfield (the GP Federation’s lead for care homes) has been at hand with her invaluable support and an offer of her written guide to facilitating Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) meetings. This good practice guide has been shared with the community teams here in Bolton.

At the start of the D2A project I contacted each home to explain the offer of our support and to ensure we were delivering a model of support that was easily accessible to both the care home and the federation, with the patients’ best interests at heart. Weekly MDT meetings were then held between clinicians from the Federation, the community team and the care home.

Now we are coming to the end of the D2A project, I feel we have made a difference to the patients admitted to the homes and have helped staff feel supported during these unprecedented times. The learning I got from this experience is invaluable as I am now supporting another two care homes until October.

My role, I feel, is currently very different to how it will look post COVID. We are currently facilitating meetings via MS Teams, which is a very new way of working for all of us, and not having the chance to go into practices/care homes is proving difficult for my itchy feet! I work alongside an amazing team who have showed me the ropes and opened my eyes to the strategic management of the federation.

I have worked with the federation previously when the organisation was established in 2016. It totally felt like the right move for me now in my career to re-join and help focus on the moto we try to instil – ‘Stronger through working together’.
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