Digital PCN Hub Innovation

Digital PCN Hub: Enhancing Collaboration and Care

Overview

Collaboration among healthcare practices is essential for delivering effective, large-scale services to patient populations. By fostering stronger partnerships, general practices can maintain their personalised, patient-centred approach while also benefiting from the efficiencies of working at scale. Primary Care Network (PCN) hubs play a pivotal role in supporting practices, offering strategic leadership and enabling better, population-focused care. This approach aligns with the Integrated Neighbourhood Model, which emphasises holistic, community-based healthcare.

While collaboration is not a new concept in general practice, significant strides have been made in strengthening relationships between practices, PCNs, and other care providers. However, challenges such as increasing demand for GP services, an ageing population with complex needs, workforce shortages, and low morale require innovative solutions. PCN hubs, operating at scale, provide a framework to address these issues by fostering cross-organisational collaboration and redesigning care delivery.

The Role of PCN Hubs

PCN hubs enable practices to work together more effectively, combining resources and expertise to improve patient outcomes. By focusing on proactive, community-based care, they help reduce hospital admissions and manage population health more efficiently. This collaborative approach allows healthcare providers to share responsibility for health outcomes, financial performance, and operational success.

Using abilities like EMIS Web Clinical Services, PCN hubs empower staff to deliver patient-centred care with features such as:

• A streamlined single sign-on process, reducing the need for multiple accounts.
• Cross-organisational tasking and shared access to centralised appointment books.
• Improved referral pathways and better caseload management.
• Data strategies to monitor service utilisation, meet reporting requirements, and support population health management.

Benefits for Practices

PCN hubs offer numerous advantages to practices, including:

• Simplified workflows through single sign-on and unified clinical systems.
• Enhanced collaboration via shared appointment books and tasking capabilities.
• More efficient referral processes and caseload management.
• Data-driven insights to optimise service delivery and meet contractual obligations.
• A stronger voice in the healthcare provider landscape.
• Increased resilience and capacity to adapt to challenges.
• Opportunities for workforce development and economies of scale.
• Continuous quality improvement and innovative care models.

Benefits for Patients

Patients also experience significant improvements in care, such as:

• Consistent, accessible services delivered by multidisciplinary teams tailored to their needs.
• Personalised care provided by the right clinician through convenient access methods.
• Faster access to urgent medical advice.
• Support from motivated, effective healthcare professionals focused on care delivery rather than administrative tasks.
• Comprehensive, sustainable care from integrated local networks with strong community ties.

By embracing the PCN hub model, practices can deliver high-quality, patient-centred care while addressing the challenges of modern healthcare. This approach ensures better outcomes for both patients and providers, creating a more resilient and effective healthcare system.