Navigating new organisation forms: a qualitative study of primary care networks

BACKGROUND: NHS England (NHSE) instigated primary care networks (PCNs) as a collaboration of general practices working together at scale to improve population health in the local community. AIM: To capture GP PCN leaders’ perceptions of the opportunities and pitfalls of PCNs, as well as points of learning, during their inception and development, in order to guide the future development of PCN form and function. DESIGN & SETTING: A qualitative study in UK primary care. METHOD: Nine PCN GP leaders were interviewed in depth to gather their views and experiences of PCNs. In addition, 31 free-text survey responses pertaining to how participants perceived the purpose of PCNs were collated. RESULTS: Four key themes were identified: defining purpose and managing ambiguity; bureaucracy versus local autonomy; relational working; and facilitative leadership. The need for purpose setting to remain adaptive was seen as crucial in avoiding the constraints of too rigid a structure in order to retain local ownership, while remaining focused around meeting complex population needs and reducing variation. Participants reported navigating their way through striking a balance between the ‘top-down’ mandate and recognising local need. Of importance to the success of PCNs was the necessity of effective relational working and facilitative leadership. CONCLUSION: While the desire to be proactive and collaborative was emphasised by the PCN leaders, the importance of distributed leadership and time given to building trust and effective working relationships within new organisational forms cannot be underestimated.