Newcastle North East Commissioning Group

Welcome to the home page of the Newcastle North East Commissioning Group (NNECG), a consortium of GP Practices from the North and East Localities of Newcastle who have come together as part of Practice Based Commissioning (PBC). Our aims is to ensure that the patients served by the group have access to the highest quality healthcare.

Who are we?

The member practices of NNECG can be found by using the ’practices’ link on the left. Here you will find the addresses and a geographical representation of where the practices are as well as links to their individual webpages.

Please note that the NNECG website is not responsible for the content of any website external to this one.

What is Practice Based Commissioning?

Developed over 5 years ago, practice based commissioning (PBC) was envisaged as a way of providing a more locally based view on the way that patient services were decided on and where or how they were run (commissioned).

Most patients start their non-emergency health care through their local doctor’s surgery and the information that relates to the care of a patient always flows back there. This makes the surgery one of the best places to see where patients are going and what happens to them. It is also one of the best sources of patient feedback about their care.

PBC was created to harness this source of information and was designed to get family doctors involved at looking at services available to patients and to ask if they are fit for purpose, do they take place at sites convenient to the local population, is there any way of doing things differently.

By coming together as a group of practices, the NNECG PBC group covers a large population of patients and this provides greater detail that can then be used to promote change.

What do we do?

Referrals to hospital

NNECG has looked at the number of patients seen in specialist out-patient clinics and identified 5 health care areas which have the greatest number of patients. These cover areas such as: dermatology (skin conditions); ear, nose and throat clinics and orthopaedics (hip, knee and other joint conditions). By routinely mapping the number of patients being seen at these clinics, the reasons they were sent there and the results of them being seen, the group can build up a picture of these services as a whole.

Long term conditions

Patients who suffer from long term conditions such as diabetes or cancer are more likely to access health care services whether it be the GP surgery, community nurses, out-patient clinics or the local A+E department.

By looking closely at how and when patients access the different services available to them, it is possible to see if there are any gaps in the services or whether the signposting to alternative or more appropriate services needs to be improved. There is an emphasis on providing treatment at the place of patient choice with care treatment plans and end of life plans key discussions with patients.

Preventative medicine

Although many disease conditions can be prevented by good diet, increasing exercise levels and reducing smoking and alcohol levels, some conditions have a series of signs that if detected early can allow early treatment to prevent further symptoms or prevent the condition worsening.

Sometimes the screening for early disease onset is routine (think smear tests and prostate cancer PSA tests) whereas other times it is more ad-hoc (spirometry tests to detect COPD in patients over 35 who smoke and have repeated chest infections or breathlessness).

However, sometimes it can take a series of concerted searches of patient records to identify those potentially at risk.

NNECG has been screening women patients over the age of 50 who have had a fracture, to identify those women who are potentially at risk of developing osteoporosis. For those patients deemed to be at risk of developing the disease it is possible to offer a simple combination of Vitamin D and Calcium supplements to strengthen the bones. For more information on this project please follow the link on the left.

How can I help?

PBC always needs constructive patient feedback. Other groups have identified that simple changes based on patient feedback can have significant effects on the way a patient experiences a service.

Join your practice patient forum. It isn’t necessary to be ’ill’ or suffer from any long term condition for your views to be relevant. Those patients who only occasionally use a service may identify potential ideas just as easily as those that regularly use a service. You may be a carer or the relative of someone who accesses services and may have ideas on how to make their, and your, lives easier.

You may be asked to fill in a questionnaire if you take part in any of our new services. Please do send the questionnaire back as patient feedback is a vital tool in showing how well a service is performing and whether the changes we are making are working.

Email us with your ideas - ncs-pct.nnecg@nhs.net

Keep an eye out for newsletters in the surgery waiting room as we try to keep our patients updated as often as possible.

In addition we are looking for patients to take part in two focus groups, one on COPD and another on Osteoporosis. If you suffer from either of these conditions and would be willing to answer some questions then please either let your practice manager know or email with your name, address and the practice you are registered with. The email address is fully encrypted so your details will be safe.

All GP surgeries have a system for complaints, compliments and suggestions and all practice specific queries should be directed to your practice manager.

NNECG Members will need to log in

Practices who are members of NNECG can access the ’old’ site by clicking on the ’members’ button on the left and entering their username and password.

Any problems please let me know.

Philippa

philippa.dodds@nhs.net