Insights from Primary Care Phased Investment Programme (PCPIP): Building on primary care improvement
PCPIP national event February 2026
On 24 February 2026, Healthcare Improvement Scotland hosted a national primary care improvement event. This in-person event brought together healthcare practitioners from across Scotland. The event had three aims:
- share key lessons from the Primary Care Phased Investment Programme (PCPIP),
- discuss how PCPIP learning can be used more widely in primary care, and
- consider priorities and next steps for improving primary care.
153 delegates were present on the day. 12 health boards were represented, alongside guests from national boards and other organisations.
Plenary sessions
Dr Paul Baughan, GP National Clinical Lead, chaired the event. The day began with three plenary sessions.
PCPIP findings
The session led by Melissa Dowdeswell, Director of Nursing and Integrated Care and Belinda Robertson, Associate Director of Improvement Support, shared findings from PCPIP, highlighting how these findings will help to inform future policy.
PCPIP quality improvement journey
April Masson, Primary Care Portfolio Lead, led a panel discussion about the learnings each demonstrator site had from being a part of PCPIP. The panel members included: Dr Deepa Shah (NHS Shetland), Cathy Wilson (NHS Borders), Karin Mathie (NHS Ayrshire and Arran) and Hazel Garvin (NHS Lothian).
Health equity: building on PCPIP
This session led by Dr Peter Cawston and Dr Marianne McCallum, GP advisors for Health Inequalities, highlighted the importance of health equity in the primary care landscape.
Scottish Government update
Professor Graham Ellis, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Scottish Government, highlighted the vital role of multidisciplinary teams, relational continuity, and rigorous evaluation in strengthening primary and community care across Scotland.
Breakout Sessions
Delegates had the opportunity to attend two of the three breakout sessions held throughout the day.
Does bigger mean better? Understanding continuity of care as MDTs expand
Dr Paul Baughan and Aimee Denver-Wason, Improvement Advisor, discussed the key characteristics of an effective multidisciplinary team (MDT) in general practice. They explained why continuity of care is critical for patient outcomes and service quality.
CTAC unlocked: What is key and what does the future hold?
Joanne Anderson, National Clinical Lead for Primary Care Nursing led panel discussions on the essentials of transitioning into community treatment and care (CTAC) and what is needed to support the future of CTAC. Owain Wilson, Senior Project Manager, presented on the importance of engaging with people to deliver an equitable CTAC service.
Exploring skill mix in pharmacotherapy hubs and the impact on the pharmacy teams in practice
Lois Gault, National Clinical Lead for Pharmacy, led a discussion around effective hub implementation. A panel discussion explored the impact of hubs in different regions of Scotland and considered the future of pharmacotherapy.
Future of primary care
This session led by April Masson involved an interactive activity to capture the feedback and thoughts from the delegates about how HIS could add more value in:
- supporting work around prevention and early intervention?
- 57% of delegates answered: ‘Targeting patients with greater needs’
- supporting improvements in access to primary care?
- 54% of delegates answered: ‘Health equity’
A word cloud captured the audience’s views on emerging challenges in primary care that are not receiving enough attention. The top 5 themes were: ‘funding’, ‘access’, ‘inequalities’, ‘IT systems’ and ‘AI’.
Feedback
Of the delegates who answered the evaluation questions:
- 91% Strongly agreed or agreed that the opportunities for networking or shared learning were valuable.
- 59% Strongly agreed or agreed that the event helped them to consider how PCPIP learning can be applied more widely across primary care.