Primary healthcare services in Swindon are set to significantly improve for more than 53,000 patients following the announcement of a new transformation project led by Integral Medical Holdings (IMH) Group.
Coming into effect from next month, the project will see the implementation of a new vision for healthcare delivery.
It aims to create a network of five practices that can work collectively and at scale to provide exceptional and sustainable care for patients across the town.
As part of the project, IMH Group will establish a central hub, housing call handling, clinical administration processes, and triage.
This will ensure easier access to appointments, the provision of new services – such as physiotherapy and pharmacy – and standardised and improved patient outcomes, as well as allowing a move to enhanced, pro-active and flexible care.
The move follows the General Practice Forward View, commissioned by NHS England, which advocates streamlining and improving administration services so that the healthcare system can work more efficiently as a whole.
We are confident that the new central hub will have important and tangible benefits for the local community; for example, standardised and improved patient outcomes and allowing more time to care for our patients
It will be implemented in partnership with Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group.
IMH Group has already been providing support to practices in Swindon for over a year and has made strides to significantly improve the provision of care at the five practices. This includes Abbey Meads Medical Practice and Eldene Surgery, which were inspected by the Care Quality Commission in 2018 and achieved considerably-better ratings.
The group’s national network has provided services to a wide range of GP practices, urgent care centres and walk-in centres for over four years.
Dr David Jones, chief medical officer at IMH Group, said: “In Swindon we have the opportunity to transform the way we deliver care to our patients by working together as a group of practices.
“We are confident that the new central hub will have important and tangible benefits for the local community; for example, standardised and improved patient outcomes and allowing more time to care for our patients.
“We are passionate about delivering safe, sustainable and effective primary care for the people of Swindon and look forward to implementing this exciting new project.”