Salford Wide Extended Access Pilot (SWEAP)
What did we do?
In April 2017, NHS Salford CCG commissioned the Salford Wide Extended Access Pilot (SWEAP). This was intended to support implementation of evening and weekend general practice appointments across all five Salford neighbourhoods. In order to inform decision making on the design of extended access in Salford, we:
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Evaluated the processes, activity and outcomes associated with SWEAP
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Provided a comprehensive assessment of the implementation and impact of the new service.
Why was this important?
The demands made of primary care are changing due to social, health and economic factors. One response to this was the national health policy priority to provide seven day access to general practice services. The NHS England General Practice Forward View states a commitment to enabling CCGs to ensure that by 2020 everyone has locally-determined adequate access to GP services (including routine appointments at evenings/weekends and effective access to out of hours and urgent care services). Since October 2013, a series pilots have been funded nationally to extend access to care.
At a local level, the provision of seven-day access to primary care was also one of eight early implementation priorities associated with the devolution of health and social care for Greater Manchester. Since 2014, we worked with NHS England (Greater Manchester) and the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, to independently evaluate the various programmes focused on seven day access in the region.
This project was a continuation of that commitment to understand and evaluate efforts made to deliver a safe, effective, accessible and sustainable health service fit for the population it serves.
How did we do it?
We analysed a variety of data, including:
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Data on activity levels in the various extended access hubs
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Routinely-collected data on activity levels in A&E, NHS 111 and Out Of Hours (OOH) services
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Service costs
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Policy and implementation documentation
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Semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders
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Patient records
Who did we work with?
Downloaded Resources
More Information
For further information please contact Susan Howard (Programme Manager) or William Whittaker (Principal Investigator)