A new PM… It’s a situation that’s become all too familiar over the last few years but that doesn’t make it any less disconcerting from a planning point of view.
Following the transition in leadership that saw Andy Burnham become Prime Minister and Yvette Cooper take office as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, primary care leaders are assessing what this change means for the direction of travel set by Starmer and Streeting..
While early signals suggest continuity regarding core reforms, and more subtle shifts toward regional community-based prevention are continuing to take shape. So with the 10 year plan still pretty much intact, what might actually change for general practice and primary care network leaders?
Key Takeaways
- The overarching shift toward community care and preventative medicine remains the primary focus across government departments.
- Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s strong background in regional devolution is likely to accelerate decision-making power toward local systems.
- Embedding a managed clinical pharmacy workforce offers networks immediate capacity to align with both national standards and local health plans.
Is It Business as Usual for PCNs and ICBs Under Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper?
Under Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Health Secretary Yvette Cooper, the core direction of primary care reform remains focused on neighbourhood-level integration, though policy execution is shifting towards accelerated devolution and greater regional autonomy for each ICB and PCN.
Rather than scrapping existing policy frameworks, the new administration is building upon established long-term strategies. However, given Andy Burnham’s extensive track record in regional governance as former Mayor of Greater Manchester (and his early focus on devolved powers), could health care leaders expect a stronger emphasis on placing budget control and service design directly into local hands? IT would certainly fit with both the ethos of the ten year plan and Burham’s focus on local power.
What about our new Health Secretary? Yvette Cooper has enjoyed a long history in politics (both in government and opposition), so we have a lot of previous voting history to look back on as a clue to the future. Bringing prior ministerial experience in health policy, Cooper has consistently advocated for early intervention, maternity care improvements, and joined-up public services.
So not wildly different from the direction of travel already set under the last government with customised and collaborative Neighbourhood Health services that reflect local population demographics.
Early Focus on Social Care
One potential point of interest for Primary Care in these early weeks is actually the absence of Primary Care in most of the healthcare chatter. The big talking point in the early days has been finding cross party consensus for social care reforms.
Other early discussion and announcements from the Health Secretary include specific issues like hospital flow and maternity care. Is this a sign that the new government sees the shift to neighbourhoods as under control without needing comment or a slow shifting away from the priorities of the previous government. There is nothing to suggest the latter currently, but certainly reforming both Social Care and Primary Care at the same time will certainly stretch focus at the top.
How Might Health Policy Priorities Shift for Primary Care Pharmacy?
Health policy under Yvette Cooper emphasises integrating community-based clinical roles, expanding preventative care models, and reducing general practice workload through multi-disciplinary skill mix.
While it is still early in the parliamentary term, it seems the direction of travel remains largely unchanged – shifting healthcare from reactive hospital treatment to proactive community management. So, PCN leaders should still be looking towards expanding routine chronic disease management and medicines optimisation.
Key operational focus areas for pharmacy teams include:
- Expanding patient access for high-risk medication monitoring and long-term condition reviews.
- Conducting thorough Structured Medication Review (SMR) tasks to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions.
- Optimising skill mix so that every clinical pharmacist works at the top of their licence as an Independent Prescriber.
- Integrating pharmacy technicians to streamline repeat prescribing and administrative workflow.
How Medacy Helps Primary Care Networks Adapt to Regional Devolution and Prevention Targets
Medacy supports general practice and network leaders by providing a fully managed pharmacy service that delivers immediate clinical capacity, meets local target outcomes, and absorbs all internal supervision and governance responsibilities.
Navigating policy shifts requires flexible, high-performing workforce models that do not divert GP partners away from direct patient care. Medacy deploys 100% qualified Independent Prescribers from day one, ensuring your practice or Primary Care Network achieves immediate clinical output without supervisory friction.
Through our clinical governance structure, senior Medacy pharmacists handle clinical audits, performance management, and complex escalations internally. Operating via secure remote VPN or on-site, our clinicians seamlessly integrate into your daily workflow, helping your network achieve QOF, IIF, and local health priorities efficiently.
What Comes Next?
Short of another Prime Minister (at this stage, who is ruling it out, right?) Primary Care seems set to continue with the priorities set out by the last Government: expand community capacity, focus on prevention, and protect general practice workload. And, with a PM who has a strong desire for local powers across all areas, we don’t see this changing yet.
Will priorities drift as social care changes pull focus? Given the desire for cross party consensus before systematic change – hopefully Primary Care will be well down the road to transformation by this point.
How can you prepare for whatever the future holds? By partnering with Medacy, Primary Care leaders can adapt to evolving regional priorities with confidence. Ready to build resilient clinical capacity in your network? Contact us to speak to the team today about our ARRS-compliant primary care solutions.
