At Ockham we prioritise those arenas where we believe problems are not properly understood, or where insufficient action is being taken. Our first area of focus is general practice.

General practice is not part of the NHS.  It contracts with the NHS, but is not part of it.  Yet the values of general practice are more in tune with the original values of the NHS than the current NHS itself.  As a nation, we trust GPs more than any other profession in the country.  And GPs can innovate, make decisions, and hold onto their own dreams of making a difference to their patients.

But the NHS doesn’t help general practice, because it is not part of the NHS.  It has consistently cut its funding for over 10 years, to fund its own organisations.  It hasn’t trained enough doctors to become GPs.  It has driven up bureaucracy for practices, through more complex contracts and greater regulation.  And it does not support practices who need help.

Ockham, however, will help general practice.  We have:

• Produced a TV documentary investigating the problems facing general practice at present (link to TV programme)
• Created audio case studies of how different individuals have overcome the problems within general practice that they have faced in our podcast (link to the Ben Gowland podcast)
• Published a white paper on the problems facing general practice with recommendations of actions that need to be taken (link to white paper)
• Established a regular blog examining the issues within general practice (link to the general practice blog)
• Developed a programme of support for those practices that need it most: the Practical Steps programme (link to text below)