General Practice - Who's Who? FREE Guide

The primary healthcare system acts as the ‘front door’ to the NHS and includes community pharmacies, dental, optometry services and local medical centres (which may also be known as local medical practices, general practices or general surgeries). The primary healthcare system in England is ever changing.

The ongoing rise in demand for primary care services, especially local medical centres, has led to the Government and NHS England introducing new healthcare professional roles into this setting. These new roles aim to improve patient experience and ensure they are getting the best quality care from the most appropriate healthcare professional. This may not necessarily be a GP/Doctor.

Following on from a piece of work between Healthwatch Lincolnshire and a number of Patient Participation Groups (PPG) in 2019, together we developed a Toolkit. We identified the need to inform patients what each role was in their local medical centre.

We were especially keen to include an up to date document explaining these different roles to reflect the changes since 2019, as we frequently hear from individuals who are unable to get an appointment with a GP. The aim of this document is to highlight and reassure the public, that in many cases, other healthcare professionals such as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner or a Pharmacist are often able to and more suitable to deal with your concern. The document should also empower you by providing you with the knowledge of the roles of different healthcare professionals and how they are able to help you. 

Not all local medical centres will employ all these different professionals, but patients may encounter them as they access health services.