Our new video tells the ‘behind the scenes’ story of our patient service transformation

We’ve developed a new video – General Practice Redefined – to explain how the merger of our four founding practices in Bollington, Disley and Poynton has enabled new ways of working to transform services for patients.  These improvements include a multi-disciplinary health team providing specialist skills, much closer working with local community and social care partners and a strong focus on personalised care and continuity of care.

“The decision to merge was not only to address how small practices survive in an increasingly pressured NHS but was our opportunity to make some big changes to improve quality and safety of care and to make our services easier for patients to access” said Paul Bowen, GP Partner and Middlewood Medical Director.

“It’s now much easier for our team, and Team Bollington, Disley and Poynton (BDP) – our health and social care colleagues – to work more closely together.  This makes patient care more cohesive and joined-up, which is particularly important for patients with complex needs.  Team BDP is located at one of our practice bases, so it works hand in hand with our Middlewood team.”

All requests from patients, carers and professionals now come into Middlewood via a single digital system – around 900 requests a day.  Every request is reviewed and prioritised so it can be allocated to the most appropriate member of either the Middlewood practice or Team BDP.  Ninety percent of requests are dealt with on the same day, making the service really responsive.

Paul Bowen continued “We are really proud of what we have achieved and the importance we place on meeting patients’ different requirements – whether it’s how quickly the patient feels they need to see a health professional or continuity of care with the same clinician.”

Middlewood’s merger paved the way for other new initiatives such as a home visiting service that is integrated with Team BDP, the establishment of community virtual wards, the appointment of new clinical roles, a dedicated musculoskeletal (MSK) service and different appointment times and types in long-term conditions clinics.

To watch the video – General Practice Redefined – and find out more about Middlewood’s transformation story, including the benefits, click here.  Information about the development of Middlewood can also be found here.

Team BDP, including Middlewood, has been shortlisted in the 2021 Health Service Journal’s Value of the Year awards category.