Following the publication of the NHS 10-year plan and the subsequent neighbourhood plans, I’ve had many discussions and meetings with primary care leadership teams across the 240 primary care organisations we support in England.
I was fortunate enough to be on a panel discussion titled NHS 10 Year Plan: The Impact on Primary Care with Tara Humphrey from THC Primary Care along with some primary care heavyweights including Dan Bunstone, Clinical Director of WIN PCN, and a fan of all things healthcare technology. Ruth Griffiths, primary care focused legal mind from Hill Dickinson (who has an amazing inside track on forward views on how the primary care landscape might look from 2026 beyond). Nick Stevenson from MHA, who manages the financial structures of many practices, who understandably wanted to interpret the financial landscape and how things might change into the future.
As well as myself and my colleague Vicky Maskill, who has extensive experience in providing community based and primary care-based health and well-being services for over 15 years.
Since the publication of the NHS documents, there has been a wealth of useful blogs and webinars to help inform current thinking to how the future might look. If you haven’t already, I recommend watching the recent panel discussion mentioned above via the button below.
Pure Unity Health’s role in supporting Primary Care
Pure Unity Health supports our Primary Care organisations not just with First Contact Physiotherapy (FCP) services but also wider long term conditions support, including cardiovascular disease, smoking cessation, weight management, persistent pain and deprescribing projects, as well as integrating with local community and employment services in many areas of England.
The ongoing changes caused by the evolution of Primary Care Networks (PCNs) into either Single Neighbourhood Providers (SNPs) or Multiple Neighbourhood Providers (MNPs) will undoubtedly cause concern, particularly until more details become available — hopefully by October this year. I believe there are substantial opportunities and wins to be positive around the way in which we can link up services more effectively to improve the health and function of our local communities.
Ollie Hart’s impactful approach
Over the last few years, I’ve been fortunate enough to get to know an inspirational GP named Ollie Hart. Based in Sheffield, he is a huge advocate of health coaching and the empowering of people to take more proactive approaches to their own health. He’s also champion of involving the independent and charity sectors as well as patient advocates to support individuals with long term health needs, and coach them to maximise their ability and function. We have adopted this approach largely within Pure Unity Health as I fully agree that improving individuals’ education and awareness around how to self-manage — be that with musculoskeletal problems, cardiovascular issues, metabolic or even return to function in the workplace — the positive impacts can be enormous.
Neighbourhood transformation: how to start now
If you’re a PCN or organisation planning for likely changes next year and considering becoming an SNP of 50,000 patients or an MNP of 250,000 patients, I strongly believe that taking the initiative soon to demonstrate collaborative, neighbourhood-focused projects will put you in a strong position as we move into 2026 and beyond.
Specifically, I believe that the way forward is to organise initiatives and bring together various partner organisations such as charities, the local council, and community providers to better connect services and make them more easily accessible.
The coordination and organisation of this can be daunting, but starting with a relatively small project and gradually developing an understanding of how it operates locally and how to improve it over time is a sensible and low-risk approach. Pure Unity Health is currently involved in many projects with our primary care partners across England and we greatly value their trust in us to help coordinate a more holistic approach to their population’s health.
Persistent Pain Coaching with WIN PCN
A good example of this is the collaborative work we’re doing within the Warrington Innovation Network (WIN). We’re delivering a health coaching approach for patients with persistent pain, addressing its wider impact on long-term health conditions such as metabolic health, obesity, and overall ability to work and function in daily life.
This initiative has been underway for several months, and we’ve partnered with Primary Care Analytics to assess the impact of our coaching model. The goal is to generate meaningful data and outcomes that can be analysed to support clear, transparent service improvement and to evaluate the benefits in relation to cost and time investment.
This is a good example of one of many projects across England, each tailored to the specific needs of local populations, as identified by the practices and PCNs we support.
Award-winning collaborative projects with Primary Care Doncaster
A strong example of a federation progressing toward MNP status is Primary Care Doncaster, with whom we are partnered to deliver care across the city. Together, we have implemented targeted initiatives that respond to local needs. Two of these collaborative projects were recently recognised at a national conference, winning awards for their impact on health inequalities, chronic pain, and functional improvement.
Looking ahead
If you’re keen to make the most of the upcoming changes over the next year or two and to position yourself strongly for the next decade, now is the time to act. Many commentators in this space suggest that doing nothing is not a viable option. I would implore you to take proactive action and look at your strategic plans as primary care organisations and how you can collaborate with effective and reliable partners across all sectors to deliver meaningful change for your local population.
Collecting data on outcomes and activity is, in my view, essential to demonstrating your ability to deliver a commissionable service, whether at a single-neighbourhood or multi-neighbourhood provider level, as we move into 2026 and beyond.
Having delivered services into primary care since 2014 and being part of a large national provider of services such as FCP since 2016, before PCNs were in existence, we fully recognise the need for reliable data to be at the heart of every project we work on. This allows not only the primary care organisation to be able to analyse the impact, but also supports future commissioning decisions taken at ICB levels drawing upon meaningful relevant data as well as patient feedback to give confidence in their commissioning decisions.
What you can do today
If you’re concerned about the year ahead, the best thing you can do is to start taking proactive action now. Demonstrate your readiness and maturity as a primary care organisation by planning for and commissioning the right services for your local community.
Finally, if you would like to discuss how we are approaching some of our partnerships across England with primary care organisations both large and small, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Phin Robinson, Phin Robinson BSc (Hons), MSc Advancing physiotherapy, PG Dip Orthopaedic Medicine.
Since qualifying in 2001, Phin has worked as an MSK physiotherapist within the NHS and independent sector. He has been an injecting therapist since 2006 and spent 15 years working as an advanced practitioner in MSK between primary and secondary care settings. He heads up Pure Unity Health group and remains passionate about the physiotherapy profession and the positive impacts that can be gained from quality physio-led MSK care. Since 2020, Phin has taught on NHSE accredited FCP courses and works part time in an FCP and ARRS ambassador role.
