Our Primary Care Network

Primary Care Networks (PCN) were established in 2019 – they bring GP practices together with other local services – such as community, mental health, social care and the voluntary sector to look after local populations. PCNs aim to help to join up services at a local level, focusing on the specific needs of these local populations and responding to them.

What are PCNs?

PCNs build on current primary care services and enable greater provision of proactive, personalised, coordinated and more integrated health and social care. Clinicians describe this as a change from reactively providing appointments to proactively providing care for the people and communities they serve.

What are we doing in south Southwark?

In South Southwark, we were fortunate in already having an established GP Federation, Improving Health (IHL). The GP Federation, established in 2014, brought together the 18 practices in South Southwark and delivered a number of services for our population including the Extended Primary Care Service (providing GP and nurse appointments, 8am to 8pm, seven day a week) and central support for people with complex needs. It also allowed us to create strong foundations for our practices to work together to deliver improved outcomes for local residents.

The South Southwark Primary Care Network was established in July 2019, covering all 18 practice and approximately 150,000 patients and is actively supported by our GP Federation, Improving Health (IHL). South Southwark is a large PCN with four active neighbourhoods (Camberwell, Dulwich, Dulwich & Nunhead and Peckham) that vary considerably in demographics and needs. We have a Clinical Director aligned to each neighbourhood – this is a local clinician that works closely with the practices in their neighbourhood

Our Clinical Directors

Our PCN is underpinned by four neighbourhoods, each led by a PCN clinical director:

Camberwell - Dr Mitu Pandey
Peckham - Dr Wilson Onyeka
Dulwich and Nunhead - Brenda Donnelly (Practice nurse)
Dulwich - Dr Emma Brown

Our Priorities

Expand and strengthen our local workforce

We are dedicated to maximising the potential offered by the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) in expanding and strengthening our local workforce.

Work effectively with partners and communities to deliver our aims

Further, develop pre-existing partnerships across the Southwark system while reaching out to form new ties in the wider community including the Voluntary & Community Sector (VCS).

Support sustainable general practice

We recognise the importance of engaging our local residents at every step and acknowledge existing methods do not reach all population groups equally.

Deliver improved population health outcomes

We will continue to work closely with our primary care colleagues to understand and deliver population health management priorities.

Ensure we build and develop the capacity to deliver our ambitions

As we build a new organisational structure with an increasing remit, we recognise the need to develop appropriate infrastructure and governance systems to ensure we are prepared for the future and ready to deliver on our aims.

Our Primary Care Team

People will be familiar with GPs and nurses, but there are a large range of healthcare professionals working in general practice that support local residents. It's really valuable for different types of staff to work together to provide you with high quality care. The PCN has now recruited over 50 staff that work across our practices providing much needed and valued support to our local residents.

You can find more information on the different people working in South Southwark.

OUR PRIMARY CARE TEAM