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In this episode of the General Practice Podcast, Ben is joined by Dr Sian Stanley, GP Partner, PCN Clinical Director and Health System Transformation Leader to explore how general practice can play a central role in reshaping urgent and community care.

Sian shares the story behind a GP-led urgent treatment centre collaborative in West Essex, bringing together primary care, community services, the acute trust and wider system partners to redesign patient flow and reinvest savings back into local services.

This is a fascinating discussion about practical system leadership, collaboration, and the future role of general practice in NHS transformation.

Introduction (0:09)

Tell us about your roles (0:23)

Tell us about the urgent treatment centre and why it’s unusual for primary care to lead it (1:38)

How does the funding and profit-sharing work within the collaborative? (3:27)

Is the hospital involved in the collaborative? (4:42)

How does making “left shift” tangible help bring practices on board? (6:15)

Is it difficult balancing system leadership with representing practices? (7:16)

How do you reassure practices and keep them engaged? (7:50)

What is the relationship with the acute trust and how has it developed? (10:04)

What impact has the loss of ICB funding had on these roles? (11:28)

How do you see the provider collaborative developing? (12:23)

Is there nervousness about acute trusts becoming too powerful in community care? (13:47)

How do you stop general practice becoming an extension of the acute trust? (15:01)

How are you tackling the “substitution effect” around hospital admissions? (17:55)

Are you starting to see shared savings models work in practice? (21:14)

How did you build influence and get a voice at the table? (23:48)

Closing reflections (26:24)

For all enquiries about the Ockham podcast, please contact Ben Gowland here.