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Health commissioners announce further plans to improve access to primary care

Further to the recent announcement of providing improved access to primary care services in the York area, NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is happy to announce another contract award which will provide extended access to primary care services to even more patients in the Vale of York.

In its second contract award announcement this month, the CCG has awarded NHS organisation Modality Partnership; which will be working in alliance with a group of practices in the north locality, a three year contract to deliver additional routine and pre-booked appointments with a range of clinicians, including doctors, nurses and other staff, seven days per week, from 1 October 2018.

On awarding the contract for extended primary care services in the north locality, Dr Kevin Smith, the CCG’s Executive Director of Primary Care and Population Health, said: “This contract award to Modality Partnership is another step towards a very exciting journey that is transforming the delivery of local healthcare.

“The CCG is delighted that its investment will give even more Vale of York patients access to primary care services in the evenings, at weekends and on bank holidays from early autumn 2018.”

The exciting new partnership between local doctors’ surgeries and Modality Partnership will open up opportunities for innovation and introduce new ways of providing healthcare services. The brand-new service aims to give patients more choice and flexibility in terms of appointment types, offering face to face consultations, telephone consultations, and also video consultations online to provide more convenient access to GP services.

Seven GP practices in the area will offer their patients access to extended opening hours:

The new appointments will be available to patients from all the above practices at Millfield Surgery in Easingwold and at Pickering Surgery for appointments between 6:30pm and 8pm on weekday evenings and 10am-12noon on weekends and bank holidays.

Dr Sarah Utting, a local GP from the north locality of the Vale of York, said: “We are excited to work in partnership with Modality Partnership, and our practices see this as a real opportunity to make a positive difference for our patients and their experiences.

“We are committed to enhancing our primary care services by offering more appointments for our patients, and providing excellent, high quality care.

“We recognise that many people would like the flexibility of being able to book additional appointments at times outside the traditional GP surgery hours of 8am - 6pm on weekdays. This new service will extend the provision of primary care in our area and we hope patients will find it valuable.”

Vincent Sai, Chief Executive Officer at Modality Partnership, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded the contract to provide extended hours services for patients in the northern locality of the Vale of York.

“We consider this chance to work in partnership with the local practices as a fantastic opportunity to provide improved access for patients.

“We also welcome the prospect of sharing our positive learning from our work elsewhere in the country. We plan to showcase a new model of care, which we know will be integral to achieving successful patient outcomes and supporting system-wide benefits.”

Further details of changes to opening hours and the new service will be available to local patients via their doctors’ surgery.

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