Last Thursday (14th March) was International Social Prescribing Day and we brought you a short series of podcasts to recognise this. Last week we gave you social prescribing ambassador Marie-Anne Essam. This week it is the turn of Christiana Melam who is Chief Executive of the National Association of Link Workers; the national professional network for link workers. In this episode Christiana describes what the National Association does, outlines the roles and responsibilities of the link worker and suggests what primary care networks should be doing now to prepare for this role.

This Thursday (14th March) is International Social Prescribing Day. To recognise this and to focus on the new GP Contract commitment to provide link workers in all primary care networks, we begin a short series of two podcasts. In the first, this week, Ben talks to Marie-Anne Essam a GP in Herts Valley and an enthusiastic ambassador for social prescribing. She explains what it is and tells a powerful story about a patient of hers which amply illustrates the value of social prescription. She also talks about the role of link workers including their salary, their competences and their likely backgrounds

Ben’s special guest for the second week is Dr Nikki Kanani, Director of Primary Care for NHS England. You can listen to the first episode here. In this second part she addresses the concerns of podcast listeners about primary care networks including population size, hosting of the networks and the role of federations. She looks at how clinical leaders should be identified and focuses in detail on the timetable from March 2019 onwards and what practices should be doing now to guarantee success.

Ben’s special guest this week is Dr Nikki Kanani, one of the chief architects of the new GP contract. Nikki is a GP in south-east London and is currently Director of Primary Care for NHS England. This is the first of two discussions with Nikki and in this part, she explains the role of primary care networks in general practice and looks in detail at the funding behind the new contract. She explains how the money will be delivered and what it will be made available for including 20,000 new staff, support for clinical leadership and investment in innovation. The second part of the discussion will be published next week.

This week Ben is joined by Neha Shah, a Legal Director from Capsticks and Accountant Colin Haw from BHP Chartered Accountants. In this episode they discuss some of the legal, financial and governance issues facing general practice as it begins to establish Primary Care Networks. Specifically they consider how networks will be hosted and the implications for liability, choices around the organisational form, employment contracts, pensions and VAT.

Ross Dyer Smith is a GP Partner with the Hurley Group, a former Darzi Fellow, an expert in online consultations and developer of the GP eHub. He is also an NHS Digital Academy Fellow. In this podcast he talks about how online consultations work, how potential problems can be avoided and the benefits they deliver to GPs and patients. He also explains how the GP eHub operates and how it facilitates online consultations at-scale.

Something different this week; the tables are turned with Ben Gowland in the hot seat explaining the importance of the new GP contract. Ben, presenter of the General Practice Podcast and Principal Consultant for Ockham Healthcare, explains why the new GP contract is a huge opportunity and gives him optimism for the future. He describes the way that the additional £2.8bn attached to the contract will flow, how primary care networks will be developed and how they will be staffed. He also gives practical advice to practices about what they should be doing now, in preparation for the year ahead.

Matt Aiello is the national programme lead at Health Education England for Urgent and Emergency Care and for Physician Associates. In this episode we focus on the continuing introduction of the Physician Associate role into primary care. Matt explains how the profession is expanding supported by Health Education England, how the role supports general practice, how the recognition and regulation of the profession is being approached and offers some advice for practices wishing to appoint a PA.

Robin Miller is a Senior Fellow at the Health Services Management Centre of the University of Birmingham. Robin is heavily involved in research into the transformation of primary care. In this episode he shares some of the lessons that have emerged from this research including a study of the Aspiring for Clinical Excellence programme developed by a CCG in Birmingham. He looks at what transformation means, how innovation can be encouraged, how practical is the expectation that transformation will save money and how GPs and CCGs need to change their mind-sets if transformation is going to work.

In this episode Ben talks to two people behind an innovative initiative to develop the next generation of primary care leaders. The NHS@2030 programme was developed under the auspices of NHS England, the Thames Valley Strategic Clinical Network and the Thames Valley and Wessex Leadership Academy with the intention “…to grow individual confidence, courage and the conviction to transform care, and establish a system of continuous quality improvement for patients and primary care teams alike” In fact, the content of the programme was a co-production with its participants. To hear all about the programme and how this co-production process works, Ben talks to Marion Lynch from NHS England South and former CCG Chief Executive Alan Webb.