In order to do this, there is an urgent need to invest in modern purpose-built primary care premises. The buildings need to deliver integrated primary care services to patients in an increasingly diverse manner beyond the traditional face to face consultation.
This need is compounded by the continued drive towards collaborative working within general practice where traditional providers (ie, GPs) are amalgamating through formal mergers, the emergence and development of Primary Care Networks or other joint working arrangements.
The intention is to bring together existing services, such as family doctors, district nurses, care workers, physiotherapists, palliative care, and mental health specialists under one roof. This means it’s now more important than ever that the primary care estate is formed of modern, accessible buildings that are flexible and able to house other services, whether directly health linked (such as a pharmacy or dentist) or closely aligned with physical or mental health benefits (like a library or gym).
These trends are leading to the rationalisation of the current NHS primary care estate, which delivers new premises with the capacity and capability to meet the growing demands of patients.