Oxford: NHS pressures eased by case meetings, GPs say

Dr Joe McManners said preventative medicine saved NHS resources

A GP practice said it had helped to ease NHS pressures by holding meetings to discuss vulnerable patients.

Manor Surgery in Oxford said the conferences, involving GPs, nurses and specialists, tried to anticipate needs.

It said demand for urgent care and multiple patient appointments had fallen as a result.

Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (BOB ICB) said it hoped to introduce similar principles across the area.

It said so-called Integrated Neighbourhood Teams were part of its draft strategy to transform primary care.

Manor Surgery partner Dr Joe McManners said the meetings showed that prevention was cheaper than cure.

He said: "If somebody is poorly at home, let's say an older person, who lives on their own with dementia, if they get ill and deteriorate and don't eat over a few weeks, they will have to go to hospital.

Sheila from Oxford (centre) said the constant contact with the GP surgery was a "lifeline"

"But if we can spot that early... we can actually prevent them from becoming really unwell, and that is what costs money and is bad for people.

"It will save lots of resource in the future and we've found we have done that."

The conferences, which have been running for more than two years, could reveal needs for palliative care, physiotherapy or social prescribing, Manor Surgery said.

Sheila, from Oxford, who cares for her husband Ernie at home, said her constant contact with the surgery was a "lifeline".

She said: "They're only a phone call away. I don't know what I'd do without them."

BOB ICB said other GP practices in its area had been working in similar ways and it wanted to support them.

It said its wide-ranging draft Primary Care Strategy sought to meet challenges including an ageing population, reduced access to services and staff shortages.

The board has invited public comments on the strategy by 29 February.

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