The Beacon Medical Group in Devon is no stranger to the General Practice Podcast. We’ve already featured its CEO and GP Partner Dr Jonathan Cope on a number of occasions – including in the very popular Episode 57 – A very modern practice. This week we talk to Claire Oatway who is the practice’s most senior management figure; Chief Operating Officer. In this podcast Claire explains how her role differs from that of the traditional practice manager and offers advice for others seeking to develop their role.

Mark Spencer is a GP from Fleetwood with what he describes as a portfolio career; as well as being a GP he is Medical Director of an urgent care provider, clinical lead for primary care transformation across his local STP and involved in NHS Collaborate – a primary care leaders network. In this episode Mark outlines his vision of a new model for general practice within a wider, collaborative primary care environment with the aim of empowering local communities. He also explains how NHS Collaborate can support primary care leaders who are engaged in making such change happen.

Anna Starling is a Policy Fellow at the Health Foundation (an independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK). The Foundation has recently published a report called Some Assembly Required; Implementing New Models of Care which looks at the lessons being learnt by the vanguard sites in the new care models programme. As the author of the report Anna tells Ben about four of the key lessons that are emerging; from focussing on a specific population to having a shared understanding of the problem.

This week Ben talks to Jenny Drury who is a paramedic who left the ambulance service following an injury and joined a GP practice as a care co-ordinator. In this podcast she explains to Ben how that non-clinical role led to her present role taking on home visits. Jenny describes the way the system works and the quantity and types of visits she undertakes as well as offering advice to practices and paramedics who might be contemplating the move.

Nick Hicks has been a GP and a Chief Executive and Director of Public Health for a PCT. He is now CEO of an independent consultancy called COBIC focussing on outcomes-based health and care. In this podcast Nick describes how the experience of working directly with communities to discuss their health outcomes led to the formation of COBIC. He describes a system of outcome-based contracting that creates the conditions for innovation and outlines for Ben the fundamentals of accountable care.

Jonathan Serjeant is a GP and Director of Here, a Brighton-based company that developed a system of workflow optimisation (regular listeners will remember Jonathan talking about this in the very popular Episode 46). Jonathan is also a founder member of NHS Collaborate, a leadership network for primary care leaders. In this episode Jonathan explains what NHS Collaborate is and the impact that membership has had on him and his thinking around the future of general practice.

In this audio-essay Ben looks at the likely future for GP federations. Driven by significant changes in general practice and the NHS, federations are taking on new roles and the once clear blue water separating federations from individual practices is beginning to muddy. Using soundbites from previous episodes of the podcast, Ben puts forward an argument that describes a positive future but, at the same time, questions the fundamental model of independent general practice.

Simon Cartwright is a GP in Faringdon, Oxfordshire. Simon’s practice is heavily involved in research and, in this podcast, he explains to Ben how the practice began that involvement and how it has developed. He talks about the value that being a researching practice can bring both in terms of additional income and improvements in the quality of care. He also looks to the future and a recently formed federation of researching practices who are, between them, recruiting a Trials Manager.

Nick Hughes is GP Director of Salus Medical Services. Salus is a GP federation formed by 23 practices in Farnham and North East Hampshire. The federation is a member of the “Happy, Healthy, at Home” vanguard, one of NHS England’s Primary and Acute Care Systems (PACS). The vision of the vanguard is “…that local people are supported to improve their own health and wellbeing and that when people are ill or need help, they receive the best possible joined up care.” Nick explains what it means to work in general practice as part of a PACS.

Mark Harmon is a medic and the Strategic Director of eConsult, “…the only online consultation tool created by GPs, for GPs” Mark explains how the system was developed, how it works in practice and the material benefits it is delivering for practices and patients. He talks costs & evaluation and describes a not-to-distant future where the whole urgent care system might be using this technology.

As well as being a GP in Devon, Phil Evans is Associate Professor of General Practice and Primary Care at the University of Exeter and the national specialty lead for primary care with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research network. He talks to Ben in this week’s episode about the changing role of research in general practice including the role at-scale general practice can play in research, about working with industry and what makes a research-ready practice.

This is the fourth podcast in our short series about GP premises. This week Ben talks to John Pilcher from GPI, a primary care premises developer. John talks to Ben about the capital available for primary care estate development including capital money made available by the NHS Estates Fund and that from third party developers. He explains the differences between third party investment and PFI and talks about actions being taken to shorten the length of leases.

In this special edition of the podcast, celebrating our Eightieth episode, Ben goes back through the archives and selects expert opinion from previous podcast interviewees to help him answer three questions which, he believes, will determine the future of general practice. The questions relate to GP independence, optimum scale and the role of federations. He uses clips from diverse speakers including Mark Newbold, Nav Chana, Tracey Vell, Jonathan Cope and others to suggest ways in which general practice might change over the next ten years.

Our Health Partnership (OHP) in Birmingham is one of the country’s largest super-practices. We’ve been following its progress since we began the podcast and this week we catch up again with Managing Director Mark Newbold. The organisation has grown again including a new locality in Shropshire. OHP is now recognised as a single entity for the purposes of CQC assessment and a single accounting system is in place with a single set of accounts. Mark explains how these milestones have been achieved and looks to the future and an integrated care system.

This week is the third in our short series about GP premises. Ben talks to Ian Crompton, the Head of Healthcare Banking at Lloyds Banking Group. Ian describes the relationship that the bank has developed with GP practices and a range of specific issues relating to premises including the concept of “last man standing”, the options for new partners and the difference between owner/occupied and investment properties. He gives his views on the formation of property companies and ways in which GPs can protect themselves and their investment.

We’re seventy-six episodes of the podcast in and adding together all the information we’ve gleaned from numerous case studies, a picture begins to emerge of what the future for general practice might look like. In this episode we look at some of the unique insights we’ve gained about what might make general practice stable and sustainable for the future. At the same time we launch our first ever conference. To be held next March, “The Future of General Practice” brings together a matchless array of previous podcast guests in a riveting programme of discussions, “live podcast” chats and presentations. Find out more here. A generous discount on the ticket price is available for subscribers to our weekly newsletter. If you don’t subscribe and you want to receive our podcast and blog every week then subscribe here.

Sheinaz Stansfield is Practice Manager at Oxford Terrace and Rawling Road in Gateshead, a practice that has implemented all ten high impact changes from the GP Forward View. What has this meant for GPs and patients? Sheinaz takes Ben through each of the ten changes and explains how they were implemented and the impact they have had.

For our special 75th episode of the General Practice Podcast we return to the subject of our very first episode; Stewart Smith from St Austell Healthcare. In Episode 1 Stewart described the evolution of St Austell Healthcare including the rescue of a failing practice by its neighbouring practices. Eighteen months on and Stewart reflects on progress including their multi-disciplinary team model and governance arrangements. He extols the benefits of the Primary Care Home and discusses the challenges and benefits of working at scale.

This week we talk to Exmouth GP Jim Forrer. As well as chairing a GP federation, Jim is part of the NHS Clinical Entrepreneurship programme and has a passion for new technologies. He talks to Ben about the fourteen technological projects currently taking place in his federation and, more generally, about the ways technology can support general practice and whether technology will ever replace GPs. And then he tells some cheese jokes…

Dr Nav Chana is a GP and Chair of the National Association of Primary Care and, in this episode, he describes the Primary Care Home initiative from its origins and the drivers for its development, through its rapid growth to the impact being made on patient care and team morale. Nav outlines the four essential characteristics of a Primary Care Home and summarises the lessons learned so far.

This week we have the second episode in our short season on GP premises. Ben is talking to Edwina Farrell, a partner at Weightmans legal firm where she is a specialist in GP property and partnership business matters. Our focus is on leases and landlords; why the current increase in lease disputes and how to go about resolving them without necessarily taking legal action.

This week we launch a short series for the summer on GP premises. In this first episode Ben is joined by surveyor Paul Conlan who has a wealth of experience in primary care and is Operations Director at GP Surveyors. Are GP premises still a good investment? What happens to the “last man standing”? What are leases? And should you challenge the District Valuer? These questions and more are answered by this illuminating discussion.

Two years ago we spoke to Chris Ash from Southern Health in Hampshire. Southern Health are a NHS Foundation Trust running community services and when we last spoke they were working with general practice in the county as a vanguard developing a Multi-Specialty Community Provider model. Two years on and nothing has quite proceeded as Chris predicted. In this fascinating episode Chris describes progress in the partnership - with all its highs and lows.

This week we return to Helen Parker and her fascinating insights into general practice half way round the world. Helen has, for the past four years, worked in New Zealand for the Pinnacle network of GP practices and this is the second part of an interview that we began in Episode 64. In this part Helen goes into more detail about the structured model of general practice they are introducing in New Zealand; how it is being implemented and what it means for patient and staff satisfaction.

Jon Griffiths is the GP Chair of Vale Royal CCG in Cheshire. In this podcast he outlines the work being undertaken to break down the barriers between GPs and hospital consultants and to re-establish the traditional relationships that appear to have been severed for a variety of reasons. Finding that the emerging relationships are building new levels of trust and understanding Jon looks forward to the potential development of an accountable care system.