The June issue of Pulse, The abuse epidemic, focuses on the growing levels of abuse faced by GP practices and their staff.

The cover feature, The abuse epidemic, looks at data received from police forces that show violent crime, harassment and racially motivated abuse increasing since pre-pandemic. And we speak to a number of GPs and practice staff about their own experiences, and how the abuse they have faced has led to them changing the way they practise.

We also provide a deep analysis of NHS England’s GP Recovery Plan, looking at the stipulations around access, workforce and pharmacists providing more items without the need of a GP prescription.

Alongside this, we scrutinise Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson’s ‘seven point plan’ for general practice, and feature some of the best entries we received for our Writing Competition.

In our clinical section, we have key questions on kidney disease, we look at diabetes in pregnancy, a clinical clanger around blood pressure and a great new feature where we invite readers to consider pathology involved in works of art, starting with the most famous, the Mona Lisa.

The annual Improving Outcomes in the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (IOTOD) conference returned for its 21^st year on 17^th and 18^th May 2022. 

The IOTOD 2023 virtual conference is an educational initiative, run by PCM Scientific, and was held virtually for the fourth year running, covering advanced topics in the treatment of opioid dependence.

The IOTOD initiative brings together healthcare professionals from across the globe to share and discuss best practice in the field of opioid dependence. The two-day live event covered several topics delivered by experts on opioid dependency, prevention and treatment, viral hepatitis, pain management among other thought-provoking subjects.

The event utilised Cogora’s virtual event platform, HCP Connect, and comprised of seven educational sessions, 15 expert international speakers, two sponsored satellite sessions, and five scientific posters with live German and Spanish translation.

Overall feedback has been very positive surrounding the IOTOD 2023 virtual conference. Following our initial survey, 90% of the attendees rated the quality of the content presented as excellent/good, 95% rated speakers as excellent/good and 100% said that there was no bias during the educational programme.

All live sessions were recorded and are available on-demand for 30 days post event, to enable delegates to access sessions they may have missed at their convenience. Marketing of the live and on-demand content has been to our community of primary and secondary care healthcare professionals via our media brands, as well as the well-established IOTOD community and faculty. The audiences includes addiction specialists, GPs, primary care nurses, community pharmacists, psychiatrists, as well as other healthcare professionals interested in the management of opioid use disorder across the UK and Europe.

The IOTOD Spring webinar, the first IOTOD event of the year, is now also available to watch on-demand.  

Healthcare Leader’s first roundtable has now launched, bringing together system leaders and experts to discuss the urgent matter of creating a sustainable workforce.

Healthcare Leader’s roundtables look at the core issues facing the new NHS leaders at integrated care boards (ICBs), the challenges they face, the solutions they’ve found and their plans for the future.

Leaders from Somerset and Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICBs discuss competing with large employers such as Amazon and Lidl for staff and actions they’ve taken to address the workforce challenge, such as setting up training hubs and courses.

Editor Victoria Vaughan says: ‘These roundtables will provide a valuable insight into the work of the ICBs which are not yet a year old and are often not yet well understood by the wider NHS.

‘In this workforce roundtable, NHS leaders articulate their aims and solutions to the NHS workforce challenge, which has never been so acute given the strikes from both nurses and junior doctors and competition for staff from retail chains.

‘Leaders explain that sitting at a system level and working in partnership with local authorities and the voluntary sector means they can look at health and care staff across a whole area and work strategically to plan their future populations.’

Healthcare Leader’s roundtable series broadens the intelligence offering for integrated care boards, including news, views, features and reports.

The roundtables also feature on our new ICB Hub, which highlights the latest developments in each NHS region along with key ICB facts. The next roundtable will cover tackling health inequalities.

In July last year, clinical commissioning groups were dissolved, and their staff were transferred into ICBs. This change was made to shift the way of working from competition to collaboration and bring health and care together. The ICB aims are better health for everyone, better care for all, efficient use of NHS resources, and to enhance the NHS contribution to social and economic regeneration.

ICBs represent the NHS in the wider integrated care partnerships as part of the integrated care systems.

Healthcare Leader aims to support NHS system leaders in taking forward their strategies for the future of health and social care in their places and neighbourhoods.

For the opportunity to reach our audience of decision-makers across NHS integrated care systems (ICSs), including ICB leaders, through a variety of digital advertising options, please contact us.

We are thrilled to announce that Pulse have been nominated for three awards at the BSME Talent Awards.

Cogora’s Clinical Editor, Caroline Price, has been nominated for Section Editor of the Year at the BSME Talent Awards, Sofia Lind has been nominated for Deputy Editor, and Rachel Carter, Pulse’s investigations and analysis Editor, has been nominated for B2B Writer and for data journalism for her Lost Practices investigation.

The 2022 September issue of Pulse magazine featured a major investigation on GP practice closures – Lost Practices. This revealed that 474 surgeries across the UK have closed in the past nine years without being replaced, with small practices on lower funding in more deprived areas most likely to be affected.

Winners will be announced on 6 June 2023.

The Pulse team have also recently received three nominations at the PPA Awards:  Event of the Year (Business Media) – General Practice Awards, Subscriptions Initiative of the Year – Pulse 365, and Editor of the Year (Business Media) – Jaimie Kaffash.

The new HHE Clinical Excellence: Cardiology zone hears from experts discussing their pioneering approaches to optimising and achieving excellence in patient care in cardiology and cardiovascular medicine.

Hospital Healthcare Europe is excited to announce the launch of a new venture for 2023: the HHE Clinical Excellence programme. 

Continuing our mission to provide high-quality clinical education to our audience across the UK and the EU, HHE Clinical Excellence in Cardiology provides expert insight from renowned key opinion and thought leaders from Centres of Excellence in cardiovascular care. 

The HHE Clinical Excellence: Cardiology zone offers our community of secondary care healthcare professionals the opportunity to: 

• Learn how these Centres of Excellence are delivering pioneering approaches to optimising patient care 
• Explore clinical advances and technologies in areas ranging from cardiovascular care in pregnancy, to stroke care, and how electronic patient data is shaping the future of healthcare in cardiology  
• Understand how different hospitals and departments are utilising multidisciplinary teams to improve clinical outcomes.

The offering ties in with our brand-new event series, offering hospital teams the chance to explore the latest advances via talks presented by renowned experts from recognised Centres of Excellence. Free to attend and delivered virtually live and on-demand, the events are tailored to work around busy schedules.

Endorsed and supported by the European Hospital and Healthcare Federation (HOPE), Hospital Healthcare Europe is an indispensable resource for best-practice information, pan-European guidelines and case studies from key pinion leaders at centres of excellence in clinical care and specialist services across Europe and the UK. 

Coming soon to Hospital Healthcare Europe is the HHE Clinical Excellence Respiratory zone.

Please contact us to discuss sponsorship opportunities of the HHE Clinical Excellence: Cardiology zone. 

The Spring issue of Nursing in Practice looks at the impact of the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS) on general practice nurses.

The GP nurse was one of the first ‘additional roles’ in general practice, with their evolution over the past 60 years. Today, the ARRS is having a significant impact in further expanding the general practice workforce. Now, a wide range of healthcare professionals – such as pharmacists, physician assistants, occupational therapists and dieticians – are working alongside nurses and GPs in the care of patients.

In the recent edition of Nursing in Practice, we asked general practice nurses how these recent changes are affecting them.

Marilyn Eveleigh, nurse and chair of Nursing in Practice’s advisory panel, believes the government’s ARRS scheme could help take general practice ‘to another level’. At the same time, she argues that nurses should have been more closely involved in the growth of the scheme from the outset.

Some GPNs told Nursing in Practice that, without action, the rapid influx of new roles and changes to working practices could jeopardise their own role in the longer term. 

The Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) UK professional lead for primary care, Heather Randle, commented: ‘From a GPN point of view, ARRS threatens to dilute the role. Patients may be getting a diabetic check by one person; a pharmacy review with another, but this is forgetting the unique role the practice nurse does so well.’

Nurses are quick to defend the importance of preserving a holistic nursing approach in general practice, with Ms Randle saying: ‘Sometimes, for example, an inhaler might be better for the patient’s symptoms, but they might not be able to afford it. It’s those nuances of general practice we’re losing.’ 

What are the solutions to these issues? We suggest a range of possible actions: including making sure that the direction of senior nurses is in place at PCN level; ensuring there is sufficient training for those joining new roles; and taking steps to improve understanding of different health professionals’ roles and approaches.

Also, in this print edition of Nursing in Practice we examine key clinical topics of potential changes to the childhood immunisation schedule, mental health and COPD, cow’s milk protein allergy, syphilis, and weight loss. We feature an exclusive interview with RCN president, Sheilabye Sobrany, who reflects on nursing leadership, strikes and the ongoing pay dispute, and were pleased to meet practice nurse of the year, Janette Morgan.

More content from Nursing in Practice can be found at nursinginpractice.com, via the Nursing in Practice app, and on social media.

Cogora handbooks are an effective way to communicate educational or product-centred messaging, through the creation of a visually appealing A5 handbook, written and designed by Cogora: The Agency.

The handbook is introduced by a foreword from a KOL,  who holds the same role as your target audience, to add an element of authenticity and relatability for your reader. We work with the KOL to ensure their foreword sets the scene of the treatment landscape and introduces the unmet need.

Cogora has an extensive database of trusted experts and Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) who know and trust us. We can then access this database to help select the right KOL for your project.  

We walk our readers through an introduction to your therapy area, product information and key clinical trials, product safety information, the disease burden and importance of treatment, and guidance on using the product. We introduce an ideal patient profile at the beginning of the handbook, which is then revisited at the end to tie it all together.

• Understand the client’s key messages for their product
• Convey the unmet need and how the product fills this
• Communicate complex data from clinical trials in an engaging and digestible way
• Emphasise the disease burden and the impact of suboptimal treatment
• Provide clear and concise guidance for the therapy area and where the client’s product fits

We produce a handbook with concise and relevant information, for clinicians to keep in the top drawer of their desks. These are designed into a visually appealing A5 handbook by our in-house Design team.

With direct access to global communities of engaged healthcare professionals, we can tailor the information provided to each market, to ensure clinicians have all the ‘need to knows’ on the therapy area and the product. Handbooks can then be distributed via print to our audiences of healthcare professionals, including via our market leading publications, Pulse magazine, the PCN supplement and Nursing in Practice magazine. Copies can also be ordered for your field team.  

Please contact us to discuss Cogora handbook sponsorship opportunities.

Nursing in Practice and Pulse LIVE London both took place last month, welcoming over 1,100 GPs and nurses working in primary care.

Last month saw a very busy time for our Events team as they ran back-to-back in-person conferences at the Novotel London West hotel. Pulse LIVE took place on 21-22 March followed by Nursing in Practice on Thursday 23^rd March. Across the three days the team welcomed over 1,100 GPs and nurses working in primary care.

At Pulse LIVE the expert speakers covered an extensive range of clinical topics, with some of the highlights including:

• Integrated Care Systems: what they mean for GPs
• Using Group Clinics to increase access and patient and GP satisfaction
• NICE guideline: Rapid updates: Mental wellbeing at work and Delirium: prevention, diagnosis and management
• Obesity: clinical assessment and management
• Primary care for people experiencing homelessness
• Everyday ENT for every GP
• Treat the person not the number: management of commonly abnormal blood tests in primary care

We also welcomed two fantastic keynote speakers to the event. Day 1 saw Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair, Royal College of General Practitioners, speak to the audience on the challenges facing general practice and what the future could look like. On Day 2 we were joined by Charlie Massey, Chief Executive, General Medical Council, for a talk on the role of the regulator in building a sustainable workforce.

At Nursing in Practice London our nursing community enjoyed talks on:

• Leading the way to integrated care
• Palliative care for patients with Dementia
• Let’s Talk Menopause
• Long Covid – a patient’s perspective
• The return of travel vaccination: implications on Meningococcal Disease and Hepatitis A
• Making contraception accessible for all
• Routine men’s health screening

Rounding off the event was a wonderful closing keynote on supporting adolescence in mental health, presented by Ann Feloy, Founder and Chair, Olly’s Future.

100% of attendees at Pulse LIVE London have said they would recommend the event to their colleagues, and over 99% at Nursing in Practice have said the same.

Please contact us to discuss sponsorship opportunities at our remaining face-to-face events this year.

• Pulse LIVE Birmingham – 6 June
• Pulse LIVE Liverpool – 12 September
• Pulse LIVE Glasgow – 30 November
• Nursing in Practice Liverpool – 14 September
• Nursing in Practice Cardiff – 15 November

We are thrilled to announce that Cogora have received three nominations at the PPA Awards in June.

Cogora have received three nominations at the PPA Awards 2023: Event of the Year (Business Media) – General Practice Awards, Subscriptions Initiative of the Year – Pulse 365, and Editor of the Year (Business Media) – Jaimie Kaffash.

Our 15th annual General Practice Awards took place in December 2022, welcoming over 700 guests from across primary healthcare and the healthcare industry in the UK, for a fantastic night celebrating the very best in patient care – highlighting innovation, dedication, and passion.

Pulse 365 launched in July 2022 as our new education platform for GPs, bringing together our face-to-face events, virtual events, CPD learning platform and our community – the first of its kind. Users can choose from a mix of bite-sized, interactive and longer-form content spanning over 20 clinical areas, depending on their preferences and time. 

A positive learning to come from the Covid-19 lockdowns was the discovery of the convenience and effectiveness of online learning. A ‘hybrid’ offering for events and online education has been universally welcomed by our audience and this is where Pulse 365 comes into its own.

We are very excited and delighted that all our hard work has been recognised. Results from the three nominations at the PPA Awards 2023 will be announced on 28^th June 2023.

Following the first Improving Outcomes in the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (IOTOD) event of the year, our spring webinar is now available to watch on-demand.  

The 60-minute webinar, titled ‘Transitioning between opioid dependence treatments: clinical considerations and switching strategies’, covers reasons why patients with opioid dependence (OD) may switch between treatments and the logistic considerations for such transitions.

Using case study examples, the on-demand spring webinar shares how to prepare patients for a change in treatment and choose a transition strategy best suited to the patients’ needs.

Feedback has been fantastic:

• ‘Excellent learning opportunity’
• ‘This was my first IOTOD webinar and I really enjoyed it. Very interesting and useful information for my practice’
• ‘Keep up the good work, it’s a big help for many professionals’

The spring webinar is the first of this year’s IOTOD webinar series and builds upon the success of our 2022 webinars providing targeted education to both primary and secondary care audiences.

Marketing of the live and on-demand webinar has been to our community of primary and secondary care healthcare professionals via our media brands, as well as the well-established IOTOD community and faculty. The audiences includes addiction specialists, GPs, primary care nurses, community pharmacists, psychiatrists, as well as other healthcare professionals interested in the management of opioid use disorder across the UK and Europe.  

The IOTOD spring webinar 2023 ‘Transitioning between opioid dependence treatments: clinical considerations and switching strategies’ is supported by grant funding from Camurus. The educational programme is run at arm’s length from the financial supporters and all content is created by the faculty. No funder has had input into the content of the materials or presentations used in the educational programme. PCM Scientific is the medical education company acting as scientific secretariat and webinar organiser.

Coming up in May is 2023 IOTOD conference, returning for its 21^st year. The conference will cover advanced topics and cutting-edge research, providing high quality education to healthcare professionals across Europe over a 2-day live virtual event, taking place on 17th-18th May 2023.

To help promote the variety of news, views and clinical content from Pulse, Pulse Daily newsletters have been updated, with a new template and schedule – contributing to an increase in engagement and website traffic.

Pulse Daily newsletters will now be sent to our community of GPs twice a day, Monday to Friday, one lunchtime send at 12pm, and one evening send at 6pm. There will also be new Saturday edition. The redesigned newsletter templates are now shorter, bite-size updates with the latest news, views and clinical content from Pulse.

Since launching at the start of March, we have seen a significant 80% increase in website traffic generated from newsletters.

Pulse sits at the heart of a highly engaged and loyal audience of GPs. Over its long history, the brand has evolved their offering to provide an indispensable and comprehensive range of trusted content that meets the needs of all GPs.

Please contact us to discuss sponsorship and advertising options.

Healthcare Leader Primary care digest is a new monthly newsletter, launching in April, bringing together leading opinions from core primary care professions.

The Healthcare Leader Primary care digest newsletter will focus on issues relevant to general practice, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry and optometry, highlighting stories from Healthcare Leader as well as our other media brands, Pulse, Nursing in Practice and The Pharmacist. This will provide our audience of leaders in integrated care boards (ICBs) with a quick, direct insight into the professions across primary care.

We have columns from prominent key opinion leaders being showcased in the April newsletter: Andrew Lane head of the National Pharmacy Association, Eddie Crouch head of the British Dental Association and David Hewlett, group director of  FODO, The Association of Eye Care Providers/DHSC advisor. This is to mark April 1 when the ICBs will begin to take over running dentistry, optometry and pharmacy.

Healthcare Leader aims to support NHS system leaders in taking forward their strategies for the future of health and social care. Healthcare Leader features expert opinion and insight on the aims of ICBs as well as the latest news.

Earlier this month, Healthcare Leader launched the ICB 101 series, introducing the aims and organisations of the new NHS leaders through exclusive interviews with NHS CEOs.

Editor Victoria Vaughan says: ‘There is a huge amount of optimism from the new integrated care board leaders and their mission to reduce health inequalities but relatively little is known about the plans of this whole new tranche of NHS leadership. Our Healthcare Leader ICB 101 interviews seek to provide an overview of the ICB areas and the current thinking of the new NHS leaders, particularly with regard to primary care, and to shed light on what NHS system working means for primary care staff and patients.’

Please contact us to discuss sponsorship and advertising options.

Healthcare Leader’s ICB 101 series introduces the aims and organisations of the new NHS leaders through exclusive interviews with NHS CEOs.

The Healthcare Leader ICB 101 interviews cover the unique aspects of each NHS integrated care board (ICB), the organisations established in July 2022, which are now responsible for running the NHS budget in their area.  

The series features ten of the 42 leaders so far including Mark Fisher CEO of Greater Manchester, Shane Devlin, chief executive of Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) and Tracey Bleakley chief executive of NHS Norfolk and Waveney.

The interviews are part of our new ICB Hub where the latest developments in each NHS region are highlighted along with key ICB facts.

Editor Victoria Vaughan says: ‘There is a huge amount of optimism from the new integrated care board leaders and their mission to reduce health inequalities but relatively little is known about the plans of this whole new tranche of NHS leadership.

‘Our Healthcare Leader ICB 101 interviews seek to provide an overview of the ICB areas and the current thinking of the new NHS leaders, particularly with regard to primary care, and to shed light on what NHS system working means for primary care staff and patients.’

In July last year clinical commissioning groups were dissolved, and their staff were transferred into ICBs. This change was made to shift the way of working from competition to collaboration and to bring together health and care with the aims of better health for everyone, better care for all, efficient use of NHS resources, and to enhance the NHS contribution to social and economic regeneration.

ICBs represent the NHS in the wider integrated care partnerships as part of the integrated care system.

Healthcare Leader aims to support NHS system leaders in taking forward blueprints for the future of health and social care in their places and neighbourhoods.

Visit our new ICB Hub to find out the latest developments in each NHS region. The site also features expert opinion, reports and insight on the aims of ICBs as well as the latest news.

For the opportunity to reach our audience of decision makers across NHS integrated care systems (ICSs), including ICB leaders, through a variety of digital advertising options, please contact us.

The Pulse Best Laid Plans investigation, the cover feature of the March issue, looked at previous Government ‘rescue’ plans for general practice ahead of its latest proposals that are set to be released this Spring.

The Pulse Best Laid Plans investigation rated each of their pledges out of ten, and looked at detail whether huge sums of funding pledged by ministers ever actually reached GPs.

The Pulse clinical section answered key questions on rectal bleeding, and provides guidance on treating mental health problems in pregnancy.

Finally, Pulse Checker – our satirical look at general practice – asked artificial intelligence programme ChatGPT to write an NHS England recovery plan in the style of Dr Nick Riviera from the Simpsons. And the results were terrifying (though probably better than the real thing)…

The ASK Real-World Evidence UK case study has now launched, the third regional case study within the programme, focusing on the adoption of oncology biosimilars in the UK healthcare system.

The ASK Real-World Evidence UK case study will cover the implementation of biosimilars medications within the UK National Health Service (NHS), with a focus on the Cancer Vanguard Project in NHS England. Developed with Emma Foreman, Consultant Pharmacist at the Royal Marsden Hospital, this case study outlines the oncology biosimilars landscape in the UK and discusses the benefits of oncology medications to the UK healthcare system.

Alongside the case studies, you can also explore the education hub which offers additional free education including the real-world evidence abstract library, a core handbook, on-demand webinars, resource library, and learning chapters. Helping to expand your knowledge on the use of biosimilars in the treatment of cancer.

The programme’s resources are specifically targeting oncologists, oncology nurses, and hospital pharmacists in Europe, United States, Canada, Australia and globally. Marketing of the resources is done via the ASK Real-World Evidence community, as well as our media brands Hospital Healthcare Europe and Hospital Pharmacy Europe.

Working in strategic partnership with Cogora: The Agency gives you first-in-class access to market insight via our advisory boards, meeting your business needs, while ensuring tangible return on your investment.

Our approach is encapsulated in these top tips on the way we plan and implement half-day or full-day advisory boards (face-to-face or virtual) for our pharmaceutical and medical device clients in the UK, Europe and globally:

We listen to our client’s needs, and gain understanding of what they are looking to achieve – the closer our understanding of our client’s definition of a successful advisory board, the more likely we are to achieve it. The client may need to gain a critique of an innovation in development, or to access company-confidential market insight, or to hear the delegates propose specific tools with which to address a specific need – we are flexible in our delivery of the type of advisory board the client needs.

Based on this, we bring the right people to the table, ideally a mix of our client’s selected advocates or key opinion leaders from Cogora’s extensive list of experts. These people (ideally not more than 8) will be the team that provides market insight, so they must all be knowledgeable, influential and complementary. Getting the team right is the single most important element of a successful advisory board.

We create and agree an agenda for the advisory board that maximises the transfer of market knowledge and insight from the delegates to the client. Structure the agenda so as to introduce various means of engagement.

We prepare. One-to-one interviews in the week preceding the advisory board are conducted. Ten interview questions (agreed with the client) in 30 minutes is all it takes for the Chair to appreciate the delegates’ perspectives on the topic to hand, the better nuanced the discussion on the day of the board. And it is an ideal platform from which the delegates can step into the discussion.

We build a rapport with the delegates. Chair the advisory board in a way that gives a voice to all delegates, not only those who are inclined to speak loudest. Focus at all times on the client’s objectives. Stay on piste. Remember: the client is not paying for the Chair’s opinion – it is the Chair’s sole responsibility to get to the essence of what the delegates can contribute to the discussion. This will not occur in a question-and-answer format, but rather when they are steered to interact with each other. Remember, although our delegates will all be experts, they may well never have met each other, especially if they come from across disciplines and many countries. The more energy the Chair can muster in running the board, the more energy will result from the delegates, for the benefit of the client.

We deliver the outcome of the board in the format that suits the client’s needs – a report to be published in one of Cogora’s media brands (print or digitally), a presentation for the client’s internal requirements, or as a series of options of tools for further development from which to choose.

This allows Cogora to develop a long-standing relationship with our clients, working on additional projects which have been strategically decided on based on the outcome of the advisory board.

We nurture our relationships with the client and with the delegates – they will want to remain associated with the delivery of change-provoking, insightful activities.

Advisory boards are an excellent example of the type of strategic partnership by which Cogora: The Agency seeks to define itself, bringing our clients in close working contact with healthcare professionals around the world. 

To discuss how advisory boards can suit your business needs, please contact us.

Brought to you by PCM Scientific, our CME division, we are excited to announce the launch of the HCM Academy 2023 programme.

Expanding on last year’s pilot, the programme offers independent medical education, surrounding diagnosis and best practice care for patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).

The programme will target primary and secondary care audiences including GPs, primary care nurses, cardiologists, interventional cardiologists, electrophysiologists, echocardiographers, and hospital pharmacists across the United States, Canada, and Europe, including the United Kingdom.

The HCM Academy 2023 offers free online education, designed to increase awareness and knowledge surrounding HCM. The curriculum will include three primary care and six secondary care focused webinars, with on-demand content available after the live event, and six case studies, linked to each of the secondary care webinars.  

The first primary care webinar will take place on 27 March 2023 led by Anjali Owens and Lubna Choudhury and the first secondary care webinar on 11 April 2023 led by Anjali Owens and Stefano Nistri.

Marketing of the resources will be via the HCM Academy, and our media brands, Pulse, Nursing in Practice, Hospital Healthcare Europe and Hospital Pharmacy Europe. 

Pulse’s February cover feature, ‘urgent care in critical condition’, looked at the impact the urgent care crisis and ambulance delays were having on GPs.

Pulse’s ‘urgent care in critical condition’ investigation revealed significant numbers of GPs were advising patients not to wait for an ambulance and some were conveying patients to hospital themselves due to the delays.  GPs shared harrowing accounts with Pulse about the situations they were finding themselves in, including waiting 80 minutes for a patient with complex cardiac history when the response should have taken 18; pushing a patient with sepsis to A&E in a wheelchair; and having to travel to two neighbouring surgeries to get oxygen for a patient with failing breathing before taking the risk to drive them to hospital.  

Elsewhere in the issue, Pulse analysed how the cost-of-living crisis was affecting general practice. A survey of 1,000 GPs found 22% of consultations were currently health problems caused or exacerbated by the rising cost of living. GPs said the effect on mental health was one of the biggest problems but patients with long-term physical health conditions such as diabetes and asthma were also being impacted.

Our clinical section featured advice for GPs on dealing with suicide risk, as well as how to successfully refer for dermatology conditions.

And finally, our CPD this month was on developing a culturally competent practice.

Healthcare Leader has launched an ICB hub, a new resource to bring together and showcase developments across the NHS’s 42 Integrated Care Boards (ICBs).  

The new hub houses all the latest news, interviews and case studies in ICB areas giving a snapshot of the work involving primary care across the systems in the seven NHS regions.

The ICB hub is part of Healthcare Leader’s new focus on integrated care boards that officially launched on July 1 last year, replacing clinical commissioning groups, and now hold much of the NHS budget. Each ICB covers a population of around 0.5-3 million people.

Since their launch, they have been setting up their organisations, writing their strategies and working to bring together health and care in their Integrated Care System alongside their partner organisations – local authorities, care providers and the voluntary sector.

Each ICB in each System has a different set of challenges covering historic financial positions, populations and geographies, but they all have a set of common goals: better health for everyone, better care for all, efficient use of NHS resources, and to enhance the NHS contribution to social and economic regeneration.

The North Star or guiding principle for these new bodies is to reduce health inequalities – and it is the first time the NHS has an official mandate to tackle this issue.

The Healthcare Leader ICB hub will highlight primary care-led innovations and projects at system and place levels to help spread best practice and shine a light on work being done across the 42 areas.

Editor Victoria Vaughan said: ‘This new resource will be the go-to place to find out about ICB work, news and case studies. The new ICBs have the potential to really change healthcare for the better by targeting health inequalities. But sharing best practice and galvanising the primary care voice are two areas which have long been difficult for the NHS.

‘Our new Healthcare Leader ICB hub will act as an easy-to-digest resource for all those interested in primary care in the system and at place level. ICBs need to have flexibility so they can tackle their own unique problems. However, that has created increased complexity. Healthcare Leader aims to distil that and get to the heart of the plans and the changes that are making a difference to both the NHS and patients.’

Healthcare Leader aims to support NHS system leaders in taking forward their blueprints for the future of health and social care in their places and neighbourhoods. The site also features expert opinion and insight on the aims of ICBs as well as the latest news.

For the opportunity to reach our audience of decision makers across NHS integrated care systems (ICSs), including ICB leaders, through a variety of digital advertising options, please contact [email protected].

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We’re pleased to announce the launch of Nursing in Practice 365, our new education platform for UK primary care and community nurses, brought to you by Nursing in Practice.

Following the Covid-19 lockdowns, our audience became accustomed to the convenience and effectiveness of online learning. A ‘hybrid’ offering for events and online education has been universally welcomed by our audience and this is where Nursing in Practice 365 comes into its own.

Designed to give easy access to the best CPD and professional educational content in a variety of formats, Nursing in Practice 365 allows nurses to learn anytime, anywhere.

A mix of bite-sized, interactive and longer-form content spans over 27 clinical areas, meeting users’ preferences and time available. Relevant and constantly updated, content is presented in a variety of formats: CPD modules, virtual seminars, on-demand sessions, and in-person events; with tools to help nurses to plan their engagement throughout the year: ‘save favourites’, ‘track progress’, ‘add to calendar’, and more.

It’s sister platform Pulse 365, which launched in 2022, provides a similar educational offering for GPs.

For further information about Nursing in Practice 365 and the advertising opportunities available including virtual event sponsorship and online content hosting, please contact Nick Hayward at [email protected].

Pulse 365 offers GPs access to our face-to-face events, virtual events, CPD learning modules and our community.

In the spring edition of Nursing in Practice, ‘Climbing the leadership ladder’, we asked: why do female nurses struggle to reach the top of the leadership ladder?

For many years, nurses were often viewed as doctors’ handmaidens. Times have changed, but despite the advances the profession has seen, how much do elements of these old-fashioned views linger? What’s holding primary care nurses – female nurses, in particular – back?

In primary care, although men make up only 4% of the nursing workforce in general practice, they occupy 10% of nurse partner roles. They also hold 10% of advanced nurse practitioner and nurse specialist posts, according to NHS Digital figures. 

In the spring edition of Nursing in Practice, ‘Climbing the leadership ladder’, we spoke to women from a variety of nursing backgrounds who hold a range of leadership roles but who all have a shared experience – they have had to work hard for their voices to be heard.

We asked: Why do female nurses struggle to reach the top of the leadership ladder?

Carole Phillips was until recently a nurse clinical director at Brunel Health Group PCN, and is a national professional advisor for the CQC, and a senior lecturer at the University of Portsmouth, developing the physicians associate and advanced clinical practice course.

She says practice nurses can still be seen as subordinates to GPs, as nurses or HCAs in general practice today are given tasks such restocking supplies in the practice rooms, changing the paper on examination tables and emptying bins. 

Jade Fenton, a practice nurse team leader in Worcester, told Nursing in Practice that nurses may lack confidence in their leadership abilities, but many would make great leaders if the right training was available to them.

We also heard that there are too few primary care and community nurses in senior decision-making roles. Addressing issues such as pay and conditions for general practice nurses, and ensuring their voice is heard amongst decision-makers, are urgent challenges.

Nursing in Practice is exploring the experience of nurse leaders in primary care in a new series ‘Lessons in leadership’. Kicking off the series is a discussion with Tricia D’Orsi, nurse director at NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board (ICB).

Also, in the spring edition of Nursing in Practice, is an exclusive analysis of the introduction of virtual wards – the bridge between hospitals and the community that are helping to improve discharge rates from secondary care.

The prevention and management of pressure ulcers, hypertension diagnosis and management, psoriasis, genitourinary symptoms of the menopause, and the management of self-harm in primary care, feature in our latest Clinical updates. 

More content from Nursing in Practice can be found at nursinginpractice.com, and via the Nursing in Practice app, and on social media.

The coming year may prove pivotal for general practice, and our Pulse January cover, Viva la revolución, looks into what may happen with negotiations around the GP contract in England. We look at some radical changes, such as workload limits, GPs being paid by activity rather than by patient numbers and even privatisation. We canvass the opinion of more than 1,000 GPs on what radical solutions they are willing to adopt, as well as examining the positions of the BMA and the Government.

A major analysis from Pulse January also examines the criticism around GP access, and asks whether it is fair. When ‘league tables’ of access were produced, the media accused them of shunning face-to-face appointments and long waiting lists. Pulse’s analysis examines the systemic pressures, revealing that practices are having to make choices between face-to-face access and shorter appointment times as it is impossible to provide both with current resources.

In the clinical section, we have key questions on postural tachycardia syndrome, while our new series on ‘rational referrals’ supports readers in navigating pathways. We have a therapeutics update on CKD management, and another quiz based on symptoms found in the new Pulse Reference service.

And finally, our columnists look to the year ahead and provide their predictions – some more serious than others.

The 2022 HCM Academy programme was a great success, offering education on diagnosis and best practice care for patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Launched in November 2021 by PCM Scientific, the HCM Academy offers free education to healthcare providers, including live digital CME workshops and online CME and non-CME activities.

Marketing of the 2022 HCM Academy programme ran until December 2022 and focused on targeting GPs, family physicians, nurses, and community cardiology teams across the United States. It provided learners with access to education from leading HCM experts through live digital workshops, CME online modules and case studies, and patient videos that shared their real-life HCM journeys. The HCM Academy generated 126,600+ website page views, 300+ workshop attendees, and 510+ participants in educational activity.

“The HCM Academy offers the full gamut of disease. Whether it’s age, symptoms or treatment or missed opportunities. I would encourage everyone to take advantage of this unique offering” – Physician, TN 

After a successful pilot phase of the HCM Academy, the programme is being expanded in 2023. Launching in February 2023, the programme will now target both primary and secondary care healthcare professionals, including GPs, primary care nurses, cardiologists, interventional cardiologists, electrophysiologists, echocardiographers, and hospital pharmacists across the United States, Canada, and Europe.

The offering will aim to further increase education and knowledge surrounding HCM and will include three primary care focused webinars, six secondary care focused webinars, and six secondary care case studies, linked to each of the webinars.

On Friday 9^th December, the 15^th Annual General Practice Awards were held at the Novotel London West. We welcomed over 700 guests from across primary healthcare and the healthcare industry in the UK, for a fantastic night celebrating the very best in patient care – highlighting innovation, dedication, and passion.

Head of Events Marketing at Cogora, Jess Cornish, kicked off the night’s proceedings: “We may say every year how truly valuable it is to have a night like tonight where we recognise those who have gone above and beyond, but I think in the current climate, these words have never been more appropriate.   

Two years on and the impact of the Covid pandemic is still ever present – as are the knock-on effects it is having on patient care. I was lucky enough to be one of the judges on the panel for the new Vaccination of the Year category, and I was honestly blown away by the amazing dedication, innovation, leadership and courage so many of you showed.    

Using the experience of the covid vaccination programme, you have extended the way you engage with communities, adding opportunistic health checks to increase access to healthcare. All this innovation has been against a backdrop of the usual challenges; tackling staff shortages, managing rising patient demand, the secondary care workload dump…..  

But this is why I think it is as important as ever to celebrate your successes and the amazing resilience that you continue to show. Tonight is our chance to put all our worries to one side and celebrate the very best examples of general practice.”

And what a celebration it was! Here are our 2022 winners . . .

Practice Manager of the Year
WINNER: Martin Turner, Practice Manager and PCN Manager, Staveleigh Medical Centre
Sponsored by Livi
Having recognised the demand in patient expectations since COVID, Martin has innovated positive change, not just within his own practice but amongst others in the local area. Despite never having worked in healthcare before, Martin sets an example to other managers with his enthusiasm and passion to improve services. Martin has set up a homelessness project, a training centre for clinical and non-clinical staff, a staff welfare programme, frailty and dementia projects and a local version of a 111 scheme to reduce hospital admissions and calls to practices.

Reception Team of the Year
WINNER: Health Care First, Sponsored by Think Healthcare
After a successful merge of seven practices in 2019, the Health Care First Reception team has significantly contributed to a review of patient access alongside the implementation of a new operating model. The average time to answer calls has reduced from 50 minutes to less than 10 minutes and patient satisfaction has hugely improved over the past 12 months. Working at the forefront of the new online platform, the reception team now assist 20% of patients via a 2-way messaging service. Staff morale has improved due to the reduced pressure of the call queues and patients are now receiving a happier, more responsive and efficient service.

HCP Programme Provider of the Year
WINNER: Qualitas
Qualitas’ Pathway to Partnership is a development programme for GP Partners that blends academic rigour with examples of excellent practice and new ways of thinking. Featuring group study, coaching, and intermediary projects, the programme has been designed to make an immediate positive difference. All graduates are alumni and there is a growing super-cohort who can benefit from ongoing post-programme support. The longevity of sustainable and peer learning is embedded.

Clinical Improvement Award: Long Term Conditions
WINNER: UCLPartners Proactive Care Team
The UCLPartners Proactive Care Frameworks was developed to help primary care restore and transform the management of long-term conditions as we emerge from the pandemic. Core elements include comprehensive risk stratification tools to prioritise and optimise care, the use of the wider workforce to support patient education and self-management, and complementary digital tools. Widely welcomed by GPs, the innovation has been adopted into two national programmes and 14 Integrated Care Systems are formally committed to supporting implementation in their PCNs.

Clinical Improvement Award: Mental Health
WINNER: Primary Care Gambling Service
Established in 2019, the aim of the Primary Care Gambling Service was to raise awareness of gambling harms amongst healthcare professionals and to provide a free NHS treatment service to patients who are suffering harm focusing on a holistic and multidisciplinary approach. The service bridges the gap between primary care and the voluntary and specialist services and now provides an integrated, easily accessible treatment service. The first of its kind in the country, the service has helped 120 patients and the team have successfully engaged GPs, addressed the needs of those with gambling addiction and established a robust treatment service.

Clinical Improvement Award: Public Health & Prevention
WINNER: The Integrated Motivational Proactive Anticipatory Care Team (IMPACT)
The IMPACT team utilises population health intelligence to identify patients diagnosed with LTCs who are not engaging with healthcare provision. Care Coordinators take a holistic approach that is sensitive to the wider determinants of health which influence self-management and engagement with services. Outcomes included: A&E attendances reduced by 23%, hospital admissions decreased by 44%, 94% of patients did not require additional GP care, and the number of patients reporting problems with anxiety/depression decreased by nearly 10%. The hope is that by sharing the success of the project it may be rolled out across the country.

Digital Solutions Provider of the Year
WINNER: X-on
When faced with a client who needed to urgently upgrade their telephony to accommodate a new way of working due to the pandemic, X-on stepped up to offer a new cloud-based system that offered the practice the solutions they needed. The system seamlessly integrated with major clinical systems which improved productivity at the practice. X-on changed the way the practice worked and offered little extras which all contribute to reducing call wait times.

GP Trainee/Rising Star Award
WINNER: Dr Solomon Lebese, GP Trainee, Symphony Health Services
Sponsored by Atrumed
Destined for great things, Dr Lebese was nominated for going above and beyond expectations, excelling in his workload, in promoting Symphony Health Services as an organisation, and in contributing to regional trainee committees and events. He combines enthusiasm and a natural flair for communication, referencing evidence and poignant personal anecdotes. He is a calming and constructive presence and talks truth to power. The type of colleague everyone wants to work with and who everyone wants to be looked after by.

Pharmacist/Pharmacy Team of the Year
WINNER: Helen Kilminster, Senior Clinical Pharmacist, Portway Family Practice
Extraordinary, exceptional, exemplary – just some of the words used to describe Helen Kilminster. Having recently completed a two-year tenure as one of a handful of pharmacist Clinical Directors in England, her achievements included PCN and regional roll out of the COVID vaccination effort, improving the inclusion of Bangladeshi, Chinese and LGBTQ+ communities, and the integration of PCN Pharmacists and ARRS staff.

Medical Supplier of the Year
WINNER: Enhanced Primary Care
Offering a unique PPA reconciliation service, Enhanced Primary Care is a hassle and risk free service for practices. Their mission is to offer practices time – a precious commodity in primary care. They have found hidden income worth £733,531 for practices in just 15 months.

Extended Practice Team Member of the Year
WINNER: Allied Patient Intervention Team
By diversifying the workforce within Primary Care, the Allied HCP team are able to take a holistic approach to tackling health inequalities within the population, specifically focusing on the most vulnerable patients. The team responded to the post-covid rise in patients requiring mental health and substance misuse support, by providing stability in treatment and encouraging physical health checks. The introduction of a full-time safeguarding lead enabled information requests to be shared efficiently and for procedures to be completed swiftly. They were able to bridge the gap between primary and secondary services and have prevented patients becoming unstable or disengaged.

Staffing/Recruitment Agency of the Year
WINNER: Clinical Pharmacist Solutions
Clinical Pharmacist Solutions offer an innovative recruitment service incorporating the clinical expertise of their staff, allowing them to specialise in recruiting Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians for surgeries and PCNs. Providing high-calibre, trained clinicians, from their network of over 8,500 pharmacists.

Practice Nursing Award
WINNER: Janette Morgan, Practice Nurse, Practice 2, Keir Hardie Health Park
Sponsored by Benecol
A truly committed and devoted all-rounder, Janette has become the key person at the practice in dealing with all chronic disease queries. She has been instrumental in helping the team achieve the QAIF targets; she has significantly decreased the obesity rate in the local population; and in 2021 she started a “Green inhaler project”. This was a self-initiative that Janette undertook as part of sustainable inhaler prescribing. She carried out an audit of all patients on Ventolin and reviewed them, achieving a 60% drop in acute and repeat prescriptions. A laudable achievement undertaken over and above her usual duties, reflecting her commitment to her patients and a wider responsibility to the environment.

The General Practitioner of the Year
WINNER: Professor Michael Holmes, GP Partner, Haxby Group; Chair Nimbuscare; Chair of the Trustee Board, RCGP
Described as not just a GP but a selfless visionary leader in General Practice who champions collaboration and innovation, Professor Holmes gives his time to support individuals and communities at local and regional level, as well as contributing to valuable national programmes. His practice delivers care to almost 100,000 people and he has worked to set up services in areas of deprivation where there is inequality of access to healthcare. Amongst other things, Michael has set up a local GP Mentoring Scheme offering grants to help people from disadvantaged backgrounds apply for medical school.

PCN of the Year
WINNER: Norwich Primary Care Network
Sponsored by X-on
Having identified several issues common to all practices within the PCN, the team worked to come up with effective solutions for all, and significant improvements were made across many areas. A GP Front Door service reduced footfall in emergency departments and over 14,000 patients have now been seen by staff. The Improved Access Service has provided more than 93,000 telephone or face-to-face appointments, greatly reducing pressure on the practices. Finally, the Living Well team has created an effective social prescribing offer supporting patients across Norwich. Early local estimates suggest the programme is delivering in excess of £5m in savings to the local system each year.

Telecoms Provider of the Year
WINNER: Babblevoice
Babblevoice have recognised that today’s demands on primary care are complex and diverse and so they aim to provide their customers with a unique combination of innovative technology with a user-centric focus on adaptable solutions. When required, in just 24 hours they were able to get a new client up and running with almost unlimited lines, essential staff trained, and softphones implemented throughout the practice, all without impacting patients.

Vaccination Service of the Year
WINNER: Modality Partnership
The Modality Partnership team worked hard to increase vaccine uptake in their local area, focusing on groups characterised as vaccine hesitant. Targeting areas with significant pockets of deprivation and populations across a number of ethnic groups, they worked to overcome language and knowledge barriers, and to reach those who had declined the vaccine. Successes include their first Mosque pop up clinic which led to a further four more opening. They have run over 30 pop up vaccination centres to date in community centres, churches, shopping centres, an Asian women’s centre (the first female only vaccination event) and music festival. Community relationships have deepened, and strong links now exist – all contributing to reducing inequalities.

GP Team of the Year
WINNER: Miriam Primary Care Group
Miriam Primary Care Group delivers general practice services to over 15,000 patients in some of the most deprived socio-economic boroughs of the Wirral. Consistently bucking the trend by delivering a comprehensive service, the team provided extended access 8am-8pm 365 days during the pandemic. Led by Dr Mantgani, who has been described as a formidable and passionate advocate for reaching communities most in need, The Miriam Primary Care Group have developed strategic partnerships offering drop-in sessions for health promotion, free covid testing, satellite health promotion clinics, and a Covid Art project where staff worked with a local college to create artwork to celebrate healthcare workers using packaging leftover from the vaccination programme.

The General Practice Awards will be back in 2023 with new categories, a new host, and lots of opportunities for you and your team to shine! To stay updated, click here to sign up to our mailing list.