Introduction
GP practices across Kent and Medway CCG have formed local ‘Primary Care Networks, to improve the services we provide to patients. These networks, or PCNs, were officially established across the CCG on 1st July 2019.
PCNs support groups of practices to come together locally, in partnership with community services, social care, and other providers of health and care services.
This practice has now formed its own PCN – as Ashford Medical Partnership, meaning the practices Willesborough Health Centre, St Stephens Health Centre and Singleton Health Centre. We came together as merged practice and now have formed our own PCN because we share a the same aim to improve the service we provide to our patients, and a wish to work more unite and independent to achieve this aim.
Our clinical director is Dr Navin Kumta and our PCN Project Manager is Michelle Courtley. We will update you regarding any other lead roles that may by appointed to in order to support network development.
Ashford Medical Partnership PCN will offer care on a scale which is small enough for patients to get the continuous and personalised care they value, but large enough to be resilient.
Initially, the formation of Ashford Medical Partnership PCN will have little impact on you. Clinical and management staff from each of the three practices will meet regularly to learn from best practice, and discuss ways of collectively improving the service we offer you.
In time, you will start to benefit from changes that have been implemented as part of this process. You are already able to book out of hours appointments at our practices in order to offer you an appointment at a time that may suit you better. Some practices may lead on specific clinical areas in order to offer a higher standard of care across the whole network.
Meet The Team
PCN Manager
Michelle Courtley
Meet the Medicines Management Team
Led, supported and managed by the Director of Medicines and Chief Pharmacist
Mohammad M Rahman, our Medicine Management Team is comprised of the Clinical
Pharmacy Team and Prescription Administration/Clerks team. The Clinical Pharmacy
team is comprised of experienced Clinical Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians.
They come from diverse backgrounds of Advanced Clinical Practice, Independent
Prescribing, Clinical Pharmacy, Hospital Pharmacy and Community Pharmacy that
facilitate us to offer wide-ranging services to our patients in the primary care network.
Our Clinical Pharmacy team is responsible for patient’s long-term condition
management including but not limited to hypertension, Heart failure, Lipid
management, Chronic Pain Management, asthma & COPD and diabetes. A range of
chronic care clinics are in place where they review medications and treatments in line
with patient’s clinical conditions and take necessary measures to ensure better patient
care including devising the care plan and initiation of treatment. In addition, our
clinical pharmacy team is pivotal for medication reconciliation, transfer of care, and
providing specialist medication advice when an expert opinion is needed relating to a
specific patient’s medication.
Repeat prescriptions represent approximately 60-75% of all prescriptions written by
GPs/Clinicians and approximately 80% of primary care prescribing costs. Our Prescription
Administration team/clerk is responsible for all forms of prescription administration work,
including issuing repeat prescriptions and responding to prescription queries. The members
of this team, arguably, are known to be the main point of contact for patient enquiries
about their prescriptions, in the receipt and preparation of repeat prescriptions, and are
responsible for liaising on sensitive medical information, and coordination with local
dispensing community pharmacies.
It is beyond argument that, in addition to the robust clinical and management team,
Ashford Medical Partnership’s commitment to patient care and success is largely
dependent on skilled cross-functional teams and the Medicines Management Team sits
at the core of our multidisciplinary team.