The Time for Care programme is at the heart of the General Practice Forward View’s support for practices to redesign their care and manage demand more sustainably.
Using a variety of means this initiative provided by the NHS England Sustainable Improvement team will give every practice in England the chance to learn about proven innovations that release time for care.
For more information download the Learning in action information sheet or visit the NHS England website at at https://www.england.nhs.uk/gp/gpfv/redesign/gpdp/releasing-time/.
Developing your local change programme
Following an initial showcase workshop, groups of practices (for example, across a federation, CCG or Local Medical Committee) will work with NHS England’s Sustainable Improvement team, to agree which of the High Impact Actions they wish to implement first. This change programme is designed with local leaders, with the support of an appointed development adviser, to ensure it meets local needs and aligns with other practice development plans locally.
The expert development adviser from the team’s national primary care improvement faculty will work with local leaders to plan an improvement programme using an action learning collaborative approach. Faculty members include jobbing general practice team members, ex-commissioners and improvement specialists holding improvement expertise and particular sector experience.
The core of your programme is a series of facilitated workshops. Workshops will be facilitated by members of the national primary care improvement faculty hosted by NHS England’s Sustainable Improvement team. They are highly interactive, incorporating opportunities to learn from other practices around the country, share ideas with local peers, develop new insights into successful approaches to leading change and create practical plans for the practice.
Early stages are focused on agreeing your priorities for action. We can connect you with others who have already implemented the High Impact Actions your practices are interested in, so you can more quickly make plans that will succeed. Once you have agreed the changes you wish to make, the next stage will be to design your new way of working, plan precisely how to implement it, and use the best of improvement science to get it into action quickly and in a measured way. National experts are on hand to help with this, and regular gatherings provide clinicians and managers with the opportunity to share progress, challenges and solutions.
Most practices send the practice manager and a senior clinician to the programme of workshops. Once the details of the local programme are agreed, practices are asked to commit to engage in mutual learning and practical change.
Sharing the learning
The Sustainable Improvement team will spread actionable learning about new ways of working that release staff time, particularly GPs. Wherever possible, the highlighted innovations will also add value for patients, for example through improving access or introducing an enhanced service.
The use of videos and personal testimonies is important alongside written case study materials, to convey the reality and experience of successful change. These will all be available online, with opportunities for practices to add their own examples and ask questions of others in discussion forums. The temporary store of case materials created for the first series of showcase events.
The team are also building a broad community of Time for Care Champions, including clinicians, managers, patients and others. If you are interested in becoming a Time for Care Champion, spreading awareness of the 10 High Impact Actions, email the england.gpdevelopment@nhs.net.
