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Objective Little is known about how to achieve scale and spread beyond the early local adoption of an innovative health care programme. We use the New Care Model – or ‘Vanguard’ – programme in the English National Health Service to illuminate the process, assessing why only one of five Vanguard programmes was successfully scaled up. Methods We interviewed a wide range of stakeholders involved in the Vanguard programme, including programme leads, provider organisations, and policymakers. We also consulted relevant documentation. Results A lack of direction near the end of the Vanguard programme, a lack of ongoing resources, and limited success in providing real-time monitoring and evaluation may all have contributed to the failure to scale and spread most of the Vanguard models. Conclusions This programme is an example of the ‘scale and spread paradox’, in which localism was a key factor influencing the successful implementation of the Vanguards but ultimately limited their scale and spread.

PurposeThe article aims to argue that the concept of “distributed leadership” lacks the specificity required to allow a full understanding of how change happens. The authors therefore utilise the “Strategic Action Field Framework” (SAF) (Moulton and Sandfort, 2017) as a more sensitive framework for understanding leadership in complex systems. The authors use the New Care Models (Vanguard) Programme as an exemplar.Design/methodology/approachUsing the SAF framework, the authors explored factors affecting whether and how local Vanguard initiatives were implemented in response to national policy, using a qualitative case study approach. The authors apply this to data from the focus groups and interviews with a variety of respondents in six case study sites, covering different Vanguard types between October 2018 and July 2019.FindingsWhile literature already acknowledges that leadership is not simply about individual leaders, but about leading together, this paper emphasises that a further interdependence exists between leaders and their organisational/system context. This requires actors to use their skills and knowledge within the fixed and changing attributes of their local context, to perform the roles (boundary spanning, interpretation and mobilisation) necessary to allow the practical implementation of complex change across a healthcare setting.Originality/valueThe SAF framework was a useful framework within which to interrogate the data, but the authors found that the category of “social skills” required further elucidation. By recognising the importance of an intersection between position, personal characteristics/behaviours, fixed personal attributes and local context, the work is novel.

Background General practices have had difficulty recruiting and retaining enough general practitioners to keep up with increasing demand for primary health care in recent years. Proposals to increase workforce capacity include a policy-driven strategy to employ additional numbers and a wider range of health professionals. Objectives Our objective was to conduct a comprehensive study of the scale, scope and impact of changing patterns of practitioner employment in general practice in England. This included an analysis of employment trends, motivations behind employment decisions, staff and patient experiences, and how skill mix changes are associated with outcome measures and costs. Design NHS Digital workforce data (2015–19) were used to analyse employment changes and to look at their association with outcomes data, such as the General Practitioner Patient Survey, General Practitioner Worklife Survey, prescribing data, Hospital Episode Statistics, Quality and Outcomes Framework and NHS payments to practices. A practice manager survey (August–December 2019) explored factors motivating general practices’ employment decisions. An in-depth case study of five general practices in England (August–December 2019) examined how a broader range of practitioners is experienced by practice staff and patients. Results We found a 2.84% increase in reported full-time equivalent per 1000 patients across all practitioners during the study period. The full-time equivalent of general practitioner partners decreased, while the full-time equivalent of salaried general practitioners, advanced nurse practitioners, clinical pharmacists, physiotherapists, physician associates and paramedics increased. General practitioners and practice managers reported different motivating factors regarding skill mix employment. General practitioners saw skill mix employment as a strategy to cope with a general practitioner shortage, whereas managers prioritised potential cost-efficiencies. Case studies demonstrated the importance of matching patients’ problems with practitioners’ competencies and ensuring flexibility for practitioners to obtain advice when perfect matching was not achieved. Senior clinicians provided additional support and had supervisory and other responsibilities, and analysis of the General Practitioner Worklife Survey data suggested that general practitioners’ job satisfaction may not increase with skill mix changes. Patients lacked information about newer practitioners, but felt reassured by the accessibility of expert advice. However, General Practitioner Patient Survey data indicated that higher patient satisfaction was associated with a higher general practitioner full-time equivalent. Quality and Outcomes Framework achievement was higher when more practitioners were employed (i.e. full-time equivalent per 1000 patients). Higher clinical pharmacist full-time equivalents per 1000 patients were associated with higher quality and lower cost prescribing. Associations between skill mix and hospital activity were mixed. Our analysis of payments to practices and prescribing costs suggested that NHS expenditure may not decrease with increasing skill mix employment. Limitations These findings may reflect turbulence during a period of rapid skill mix change in general practice. The current policy of employing staff through primary care networks is likely to accelerate workforce change and generate additional challenges. Conclusions Skill mix implementation is challenging because of the inherent complexity of general practice caseloads; it is associated with a mix of positive and negative outcome measures. Future work Findings from this study will inform future funding applications for projects that seek to examine the nature and impact of evolving multiprofessional teams in primary care. Funding This project was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health and Social Care Delivery Research programme and will be published in full in Health and Social Care Delivery Research; Vol. 10, No. 9. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

BackgroundIn recent years, UK health policy makers have responded to a GP shortage by introducing measures to support increased healthcare delivery by practitioners from a wider range of backgrounds.AimTo ascertain the composition of the primary care workforce in England at a time when policy changes affecting deployment of different practitioner types are being introduced.Design and settingThis study was a comparative analysis of workforce data reported to NHS Digital by GP practices in England.MethodStatistics are reported using practice-level data from the NHS Digital June 2019 data extract. Because of the role played by Health Education England (HEE) in training and increasing the skills of a healthcare workforce that meets the needs of each region, the analysis compares average workforce composition across the 13 HEE regions in EnglandResultsThe workforce participation in terms of full-time equivalent of each staff group across HEE regions demonstrates regional variation. Differences persist when expressed as mean full-time equivalent per thousand patients. Despite policy changes, most workers are employed in long-established primary care roles, with only a small proportion of newer types of practitioner, such as pharmacists, paramedics, physiotherapists, and physician associates.ConclusionThis study provides analysis of a more detailed and complete primary care workforce dataset than has previously been available in England. In describing the workforce composition at this time, the study provides a foundation for future comparative analyses of changing practitioner deployment before the introduction of primary care networks, and for evaluating outcomes and costs that may be associated with these changes.

Introduction: For more than a decade the English NHS has pursued integrated care through three national pilot programmes. The independent evaluators of these programmes here identify several common themes that inform the development of integrated care. Description: The three pilot programmes shared the aim of better coordination between hospital and community-based health services and between health and social care. Each programme recruited local pilot sites that designed specific interventions to support inter-professional and inter-organisational collaboration. The pilots were highly heterogenous and results varied both within and between the three programmes. While staff were generally positive about their achievements, pilots had mixed success especially in reducing unplanned hospital admissions. Common facilitators to achieving pilots’ objectives included effective senior leadership and shared values, simple interventions and additional funding. Barriers included short timescales, poor professional engagement, information and data sharing problems, and conflicts with changing national policy. Discussion: There was little stable or shared understanding of what ‘integrated care’ meant resulting in different practices and priorities. An increasing focus on reducing unplanned hospital use among national sponsors created a mismatch in expectations between local and national actors. Conclusion: Pilots in all three national programmes made some headway against their objectives but were limited in their impact on unplanned hospital admissions.

ObjectiveTo quantify general practitioners’ (GPs’) turnover in England between 2007 and 2019, describe trends over time, regional differences and associations with social deprivation or other practice characteristics.DesignA retrospective study of annual cross-sectional data.SettingAll general practices in England (8085 in 2007, 6598 in 2019).MethodsWe calculated turnover rates, defined as the proportion of GPs leaving a practice. Rates and their median, 25th and 75th percentiles were calculated by year and region. The proportion of practices with persistent high turnover (>10%) over consecutive years were also calculated. A negative binomial regression model assessed the association between turnover and social deprivation or other practice characteristics.ResultsTurnover rates increased over time. The 75th percentile in 2009 was 11%, but increased to 14% in 2019. The highest turnover rate was observed in 2013–2014, corresponding to the 75th percentile of 18.2%. Over time, regions experienced increases in turnover rates, although it varied across English regions. The proportion of practices with high (10% to 40%) turnover within a year almost doubled from 14% in 2009 to 27% in 2019. A rise in the number of practices with persistent high turnover (>10%) for at least three consecutive years was also observed, from 2.7% (2.3%–3.1%) in 2007 to 6.3% (5.7%–6.9%) in 2017. The statistical analyses revealed that practice-area deprivation was moderately associated with turnover rate, with practices in the most deprived area having higher turnover rates compared with practices in the least deprived areas (incidence rate ratios 1.09; 95% CI 1.06 to 1.13).ConclusionsGP turnover has increased in the last decade nationally, with regional variability. Greater attention to GP turnover is needed, in the most deprived areas in particular, where GPs often need to deal with more complex health needs. There is a large cost associated with GP turnover and practices with very high persistent turnover need to be further researched, and the causes behind this identified, to allow support strategies and policies to be developed.

This article develops an analysis of population-level priority setting informed by Bevir's decentred theory of governance and drawing on a qualitative study of priority setting for service improvement conducted in the complex multi-layered governance context of English primary care. We show how powerful actors, operating at the meso-level, utilize pluralistic and contradictory elements of complex governance networks to discursively construct, legitimize and enact service improvement priorities. Our analysis highlights the role of situated agency in integrating top-down, bottom-up and horizontal influences on priority setting, which leads to variation in local priorities despite the continuous presence of strong hierarchical influences.

ObjectivesThe UK faces major problems in retaining general practitioners (GPs). Scotland introduced a new GP contract in April 2018, intended to better support GPs. This study compares the career intentions and working lives of GPs in Scotland with GPs in England, shortly after the new Scotland contract was introduced.Design and settingComparison of cross-sectional analysis of survey responses of GPs in England and Scotland in 2017 and 2018, respectively, using linear regression to adjust the differences for gender, age, ethnicity, urbanicity and deprivation.Participants2048 GPs in Scotland and 879 GPs in England.Main outcome measuresFour intentions to reduce work participation (5-point scales: 1=‘none’, 5=‘high’): reducing working hours; leaving medical work entirely; leaving direct patient care; or continuing medical work but outside the UK. Four domains of working life: job satisfaction (7-point scale: 1=‘extremely dissatisfied’, 7=‘extremely satisfied’); job stressors (5-point-scale: 1=‘no pressure’, 5=‘high pressure); positive and negative job attributes (5-point scales: 1=‘strongly disagree’, 5=‘strongly agree’).ResultsCompared with England, GPs in Scotland had lower intention to reduce work participation, including a lower likelihood of reducing work hours (2.78 vs 3.54; adjusted difference=−0.52; 95% CI −0.64 to −0.41), a lower likelihood of leaving medical work entirely (2.11 vs 2.76; adjusted difference=−0.32; 95% CI −0.42 to −0.22), a lower likelihood of leaving direct patient care (2.23 vs 2.93; adjusted difference=−0.37; 95% CI −0.47 to −0.27), and a lower likelihood of continuing medical work but outside of the UK (1.41 vs 1.61; adjusted difference=−0.2; 95% CI −0.28 to −0.12). GPs in Scotland reported higher job satisfaction, lower job stressors, similar positive job attributes and lower negative job attributes.ConclusionFollowing the introduction of the new contract in Scotland, GPs in Scotland reported significantly better working lives and lower intention to reduce work participation than England.

Policy driven change is challenging, with a significant gap between theory and practice. A key tension in enacting such change is achieving a balance between bottom-up development of local, context-specific approaches, and top-down, centrally determined policy solutions and their mutual sequencing. Ideal type models of the policy-making process envisage a rational ordered approach, driven by evidence and accompanied by ongoing evaluation of outcomes (Parsons, 1995, p77); however, the reality is far more complex. We examine the implementation and early operation of the New Care Models (NCM) Vanguard programme in England, using Matland’s (1995) ambiguity-conflict model, to explore the aims and expectations of the programme. We consider the relationship between top-down and bottom-up approaches to policy development and draw attention to the pressures coming from what was initially perceived as a permissive policy approach of encouraging experimentation, whilst also requiring rapid learning, scale and spread. We suggest that future programmes for large-scale policy implementation initiatives could be crafted differently to take account of the environment of implementation and render ambitions more realistic. Rather than aiming to create a set of definite products and templates, it may be that a set of principles for design and implementation should be developed and spread.

BackgroundGeneral practices have begun working collaboratively in general practitioner federations, which vary in scope, geographical reach and organisational form.ObjectivesThe aim was to assess how federating affects practice processes, workforce, innovations in practices and the interface with health and social care stakeholders.DesignThis was a structured cross-sectional comparison of four case studies, using observation of meetings, interviews and analysis of documents. We combined inductive analysis with literature on ‘meta-organisations’ and networks to provide a theoretically informed analysis.ResultsAll federations were ‘bottom-up’ voluntary membership organisations but with formal central authority structures. Practice processes were affected substantially in only one site. In this site, practices accepted the rules imposed by federation arrangements in a context of voluntary participation. Federating helped ease workforce pressures in two sites. Progress regarding innovations in practice and working with health and social care stakeholders was slower than federations anticipated. The approach of each federation central authority in terms of the extent to which it (1) sought to exercise control over member practices and (2) was engaged in ‘system proactivity’ (i.e. the degree of proactivity in working across a broader spatial and temporal context) was important in explaining variations in progress towards stated aims. We developed a typology to reflect the different approaches and found that an approach consisting of high levels of both top-down control and system proactivity was effective. One site adopted this ‘authoritative’ approach. In another site, rather than creating expectations of practices, the focus was on supporting them by attempting to solve the immediate problems they faced. This ‘indulgent’ approach was more effective than the approach used in the other two sites. These had a more distant ‘neglectful’ relationship with practices, characterised by low levels of both control over members and system proactivity. Other key factors explaining progress (or lack thereof) were competition between federations (if any), relationship with the Clinical Commissioning Group, money, history, leadership and management issues, size and geography; these interacted in a dynamic way. In the context of a tight deadline and fixed targets, federations were able to respond to the requirements to provide additional services as part of NHS Improving Access to General Practice policy in a way that would not have been possible in the absence of federations. However, this added to pressures faced by busy clinicians and managers.LimitationsThe focus was on only four sites; therefore, any federations that were more active than those federations in these four sites will have been excluded. In addition, although patients were interviewed, because most were unaware of federations, they generally had little to say on the subject.ConclusionsGeneral practices working collaboratively can produce benefits, but this takes time and effort. The approach of the federation central authority (authoritative, indulgent or neglectful) was hugely influential in affecting processes and outcomes. However, progress was generally slower than anticipated, and negligible in one case.Future workFuture work would benefit from multimethod designs, which provide in-depth, longitudinal, qualitative and quantitative methods, to shed light on processes and impacts.FundingThis project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme and will be published in full inHealth Services and Delivery Research; Vol. 8, No. 11. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

The optimal balance between central governmental authority and the degree of autonomy of local public bodies is an enduring issue in public policy. The UK National Health Service is no exception, with NHS history, in part at least, a history of repeated cycles of centralisation and decentralisation of decision-making power. Most recently, a significant reorganisation of the NHS in 2012–13 was built around the creation of new and supposedly more autonomous commissioning organisations (Clinical Commissioning Groups – CCGs). Using Bossert's (1998) concept of ‘decision space’, we explored the experiences of local commissioners as they took on their new responsibilities. We interviewed commissioning staff from all of the CCGs in two regional health care ‘economies’, exploring their perceptions of autonomy and their experiences over time. We found significant early enthusiasm for, and perceptions of, increased autonomy tempered in the vertical dimension by increasingly onerous and prescriptive monitoring regimes, and in the horizontal dimension by the proliferation of overlapping networks, inter-organisational groups and relationships. We propose that, whatever the balance between central and local control that is adopted, complex public services require some sort of meso-level oversight from organisations able to ‘hold the ring’ between competing interests and to take a regional view of the needs of the local health system. This suggests that local organisational autonomy in such services will always be constrained.

Objectives To describe how processes of primary care access influence decisions to seek help at the emergency department (ED).Design Ethnographic case study combining non-participant observation, informal and formal interviewing.Setting Six general practitioner (GP) practices located in three commissioning organisations in England.Participants and methods Reception areas at each practice were observed over the course of a working week (73 hours in total). Practice documents were collected and clinical and non-clinical staff were interviewed (n=19). Patients with recent ED use, or a carer if aged 16 and under, were interviewed (n=29).Results Past experience of accessing GP care recursively informed patient decisions about where to seek urgent care, and difficulties with access were implicit in patient accounts of ED use. GP practices had complicated, changeable systems for appointments. This made navigating appointment booking difficult for patients and reception staff, and engendered a mistrust of the system. Increasingly, the telephone was the instrument of demand management, but there were unintended consequences for access. Some patient groups, such as those with English as an additional language, were particularly disadvantaged, and the varying patient and staff semantic of words like ‘urgent’ and ‘emergency’ was exacerbated during telephone interactions. Poor integration between in-hours and out-of-hours care and patient perceptions of the quality of care accessible at their GP practice also informed ED use.Conclusions This study provides important insight into the implicit role of primary care access on the use of ED. Discourses around ‘inappropriate’ patient demand neglect to recognise that decisions about where to seek urgent care are based on experiential knowledge. Simply speeding up access to primary care or increasing its volume is unlikely to alleviate rising ED use. Systems for accessing care need to be transparent, perceptibly fair and appropriate to the needs of diverse patient groups.

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1. Julia Segar[1][1] 2. Kath Checkland[1][1] 3. Anna Coleman[1][1] 4. Imelda McDermott[1][1] 5. Stephen Harrison[1][1] 6. Stephen Peckham[2][2] 1. 1University of Manchester, UK 2. 2University of Kent, Canterbury, UK 1. Julia Segar, Centre for Primary Care, University of Manchester, 5th Floor, Williamson Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK. Email: julia.segar{at}manchester.ac.uk The English National Health Service (NHS) is undergoing significant reorganization following the 2012 Health and Social Care Act. Key to these changes is the shift of responsibility for commissioning services from Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) to general practitioners (GPs) working together in Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). This article is based on an empirical study that examined the development of emerging CCGs in eight case studies across England between September 2011 and June 2012. The findings are based on interviews with GPs and managers, observations of meetings, and reading of related documents. Scott’s notion that institutions are constituted by three pillars—the regulative, normative, and cognitive–cultural—is explored here. This approach helps to understand the changing roles and identities of doctors and managers implicated by the present reforms. This article notes the far reaching changes in the regulative pillar and questions how these changes will affect the normative and cultural–cognitive pillars. [1]: #aff-1 [2]: #aff-2

OBJECTIVES: To conduct a systematic review to identify studies that describe factors and interventions at primary care practice level that impact on levels of utilisation of unscheduled secondary care.SETTING: Observational studies at primary care practice level.PARTICIPANTS: Studies included people of any age of either sex living in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries with any health condition.PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measure was unscheduled secondary care as measured by emergency department attendance and emergency hospital admissions.RESULTS: 48 papers were identified describing potential influencing features on emergency department visits (n=24 studies) and emergency admissions (n=22 studies). Patient factors associated with both outcomes were increased age, reduced socioeconomic status, lower educational attainment, chronic disease and multimorbidity. Features of primary care affecting unscheduled secondary care were more complex. Being able to see the same healthcare professional reduced unscheduled secondary care. Generally, better access was associated with reduced unscheduled care in the USA. Proximity to healthcare provision influenced patterns of use. Evidence relating to quality of care was limited and mixed.CONCLUSIONS: The majority of research was from different healthcare systems and limited in the extent to which it can inform policy. However, there is evidence that continuity of care is associated with reduced emergency department attendance and emergency hospital admissions.

Objectives To investigate the relationship between performance on the UK Quality and Outcomes Framework pay-for-performance scheme and choice of clinical computer system. Design Retrospective longitudinal study. Setting Data for 2007–2008 to 2010–2011, extracted from the clinical computer systems of general practices in England. Participants All English practices participating in the pay-for-performance scheme: average 8257 each year, covering over 99% of the English population registered with a general practice. Main outcome measures Levels of achievement on 62 quality-of-care indicators, measured as: reported achievement (levels of care after excluding inappropriate patients); population achievement (levels of care for all patients with the relevant condition) and percentage of available quality points attained. Multilevel mixed effects multiple linear regression models were used to identify population, practice and clinical computing system predictors of achievement. Results Seven clinical computer systems were consistently active in the study period, collectively holding approximately 99% of the market share. Of all population and practice characteristics assessed, choice of clinical computing system was the strongest predictor of performance across all three outcome measures. Differences between systems were greatest for intermediate outcomes indicators (eg, control of cholesterol levels). Conclusions Under the UK9s pay-for-performance scheme, differences in practice performance were associated with the choice of clinical computing system. This raises the question of whether particular system characteristics facilitate higher quality of care, better data recording or both. Inconsistencies across systems need to be understood and addressed, and researchers need to be cautious when generalising findings from samples of providers using a single computing system.

The 2004 new General Medical Services (nGMS) contract exemplifies trends across the public services towards increased definition, measurement and regulation of professional work, with general practice income now largely dependent on the quality of care provided across a range of clinical and organisational indicators known collectively as the 'Quality and Outcomes Framework' (QOF). This paper reports an ethnographically based study of the impact of the new contract and the financial incentives contained within it on professional boundaries in UK general practice. The distribution of clinical and administrative work has changed significantly and there has been a new concentration of authority, with QOF decision making and monitoring being led by an internal QOF team of clinical and managerial staff who make the major practice-level decisions about QOF, monitor progress against targets, and intervene to resolve areas or indicators at risk of missing targets. General practitioners and nurses, however, appear to have accommodated these changes by re-creating long established narratives on professional boundaries and clinical hierarchies. This paper is concerned with the impact of these new arrangements on existing clinical hierarchies.

Background Historically, primary medical care in the UK has been delivered by general practitioners who are independent contractors, operating under a contract, which until 2004 was subject to little performance management. In keeping with the wider political impetus to introduce markets and competition into the NHS, reforms were introduced to allow new providers to bid for contracts to provide primary care services in England. These contracts known as ‘Alternative Provider Medical Services’, were encouraged by two centrally-driven rounds of procurement (2007/8 and 2008/9). This research investigated the commissioning and operation of such Alternative Providers of Primary Care (APPCs). Methods Two qualitative case studies were undertaken in purposively sampled English Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and their associated APPCs over 14 months (2009-10). We observed 65 hours of meetings, conducted 23 interviews with PCT and practice staff, and gathered relevant associated documentation. Results and conclusions We found that the procurement and contracting process was costly and time-consuming. Extensive local consultation was undertaken, and there was considerable opposition in some areas. Many APPCs struggled to build up their patient list sizes, whilst over-performing on walk-in contracts. Contracting for APPCs was ‘transactional’, in marked contrast to the ‘relational’ contracting usually found in the NHS, with APPCs subject to tight performance management. These complicated and costly processes contrast to those experienced by traditionally owned GP partnerships. However, managers reported that the perception of competition had led existing practices to improve their services. The Coalition Government elected in 2010 is committed to ‘Any Qualified Provider’ of secondary care, and some commentators argue that this should also be applied to primary care. Our research suggests that, if this is to happen, a debate is needed about the operation of a market in primary care provision, including the trade-offs between transparent processes, fair procurement, performance assurance and cost.