New report highlights progress of multidisciplinary teams within general practice
The Primary Care Phased Investment Programme final report is now available.
The Primary Care Phased Investment Programme was led by Healthcare Improvement Scotland and commissioned by the Scottish Government.
The programme looked at the progress of multidisciplinary team development within general practice. It focused on pharmacotherapy and community treatment and care services (such as chronic disease monitoring and wound care) across four demonstrator sites: NHS Ayrshire & Arran, NHS Borders, Edinburgh City Health and Social Care Partnership, and NHS Shetland.
The programme found that investment, combined with structured quality improvement support and strong leadership, led to:
- improved access to services
- better use of existing multidisciplinary teams,
- more appropriate redistribution of workload from GPs to multidisciplinary staff, ensuring patients are seen by the most appropriate person
Despite progress, the report highlights that funding alone is not enough. Full implementation of multi-disciplinary team working will require stronger workforce planning, physical space for staff, improved digital infrastructure for sharing clinical information and collecting data, and a focus on continuity of care.
The report also highlights a need for better public understanding of multi-disciplinary team roles.
Local context is critical – multidisciplinary team models need to reflect population needs, geography and workforce availability. The report recommends a more flexible, needs-based approach.
The report’s findings will inform future policy development and improve access to care.