Taking stock: delivering care home primary care

Abstract

NHS England-led changes to the way we deliver primary care to our care home residents were due to start in October 2020; however, because of the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic, these changes were accelerated.1 Changes involved not only structural changes by allocating care homes to particular Primary Care Networks but also an emphasis on virtual home rounds with the use of information technology (IT) and a focus on personalised care.2 Haxby Group in York provides primary care to residents in nine care homes. The primary care and care home staff have worked tirelessly to bring the changes, as stipulated in the service specification, to fruition.3 As more than a year has now passed since the inception of these changes, and as we begin to emerge from the pandemic, we wished to reflect on these changes and draw upon these reflections to inform future care planning. To capture these reflections, we conducted two anonymous questionnaires. The first was sent to care home managers in our network. We asked them not only to provide reflections …

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