Frequently asked questions

General Practice has historically fulfilled a unique role, with patients (and often several generations of their families) developing close, trusting relationships, solidified over many years. However, we are now contending with spiralling demand on all healthcare services and, regrettably, many GP practices often feel unable to provide the responsive, personalised care that has been valued so highly over several decades.

Ophthalmology services are accessible and work closely with GP and hospital services.

Community pharmacy is also a critical part of primary care – well known as a dispenser and retailer medicines the role of pharmacies is much broader with NHS and publicly funded services such as stop smoking services and Pharmacy First which include blood pressure and contraception services. 

Like other health services pharmacy is also challenged with workforce issues and we have seen many outlets closed over the past year.

A dentist has many responsibilities, and one of the most important is promoting good dental hygiene. This helps to prevent complications in your mouth or other parts of the body.

A dentist also diagnoses and treats problems of the gums, teeth, and mouth.

What we have heard so far

• Patient experience of access to general practice and dental services varies across BOB, particularly if the patient had a clinical need that could be treated and/or managed in primary care.   
• Patients that are unable to get a GP or dentist appointment will often resort to other services and can be ‘pinged’ between services.
• We know that there is good access to community pharmacy and optometry for minor conditions, but they are underutilised by the public. And some of our community pharmacies are closing 
• Social prescribing is seen as valuable by patients.
• Patient satisfaction of general practice across BOB varies from 44% to 94%, according to the national survey data.

We have already engaged with stakeholders across BOB to share the scope of work and gather feedback:

• Discussions with providers in General Practice, Pharmacy, Optometry and Dentistry services and focus groups.
• Working closely with our primary care networks across BOB
• Held one to one session with multiple system stakeholders including long term conditions, digital, estates, urgent and emergency care and workforce leads and practice managers
• Held a primary care workshop event with over 150 attendees including GPs, pharmacists, optometrists, dentists, Healthwatch representatives, Patient Participation Group (PPGs) representatives, Voluntary and Community sector representatives, ICB staff and NHS Trust provider representatives.

Moving forward, we want to hear from more people who use and experience our services, to help inform this work.