Care navigation in General Practice (2022)

The aim of care navigation in general practice is to signpost patients to appropriate local services so that they are able to access the right service to meet their needs in a more timely way, and avoid unnecessary GP appointments.

As part of the GM Primary Care Reform Programme (2017-2020) funding was allocated for primary care in Salford to support workflow optimisation, and this included developing care navigation across primary care. Whilst training was delivered and some local algorithms developed, implementation varied across practices and PCNs. It was therefore difficult to understand potential synergies, barriers and opportunities that might support standardisation and scaleup across primary care in Salford.

The Safer Salford team at Aqua worked with key stakeholders to gain an understanding of the current state, and to understand and synthesise best practice. The outcome was a co-designed model, supported by key principles, that would support the implementation of a change package and enable a standardised approach to care navigation in primary care in Salford.