Are trust-led PACS making a success of integrating services under this healthcare model?
A Yeovil District Hospital Foundation Trust subsidiary has revealed plans to take on the running of five further GP practices this year.
This is in addition to eight practices it currently runs as part of the area’s South Somerset Symphony Programme. The new practices will bring its GP population to more than 100,000.
The planned expansion was revealed in an interview by Mandy Seymour-Hanbury, managing director of Symphony Healthcare Services. She added that her company could offer to provide back office, human resources and finance to practices that do not wish to join the primary and acute care system (PACS).
The move is a sign of the success of the PACS. Project leaders say that, compared to 2016/17, the PACs project has seen 7.5% reduction in emergency admissions with an overnight stay during 2017/18, and a 15% drop in non-elective bed days.
Further information
HSJ: Five more GP practices to join hospital trust
NHS England: South Somerset Symphony Programme
Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: Operational plan 2017/18-2018/19