Each PCN has at least one elected Clinical Director who is accountable to the GP practices in their PCN. In Feltham and Bedfont PCN, our Clinical Director is Dr Mark Remedios.

PCN Clinical Directors are responsible for:

• Helping to steer the PCN and its GP practices to improve the quality of care, patient experience and develop new services or ways of working to meet the health needs of the PCN’s patients.
• Encouraging and supporting the GP practices in the PCN to work together. This helps with things like sharing learning and experience so that patients get better outcomes from their care.
• Providing leadership to ensure the workforce in the PCN is well supported and the PCN team has the right mix of clinical and non-clinical professionals.
• Working closely with the Clinical Directors from the other 4 PCNs in Hounslow. This is important for when the PCNs need the same support or services, so something can be done once at a borough level instead of five times.

PCN Managers

Your PCN has one or more managers who supports the Clinical Director(s) and PCN with a wide range of business activities. For example, providing data to NHS England, supporting projects and helping all the GP surgery teams in their PCN work together and be involved in the role of the PCN. They help their PCN to work more closely with other providers for better patient care as well as identify ways to reduce health inequalities so everybody has the same access to health services in Hounslow.

Your Clinical Pharmacy team is made up of Clinical Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians. Clinical Pharmacists are highly qualified experts in medicines and Clinical Technicians work alongside them to help you get the best from your medicines. They work closely with your GP surgery team and their PCN team to provide patients with personalised care.

Care coordinators play an important role within a Primary Care Network. They proactively identify and support patients, including the frail/elderly and those with long-term conditions. The team provides coordination and navigation of care and support across health and care services for those patients. The care coordinators ensure that patient health and care planning is timely, efficient, and patient-centred.

Care Coordinators invite patients for reviews of their long-term conditions, screenings or vaccinations when they are due. They also book patient appointments with the most suitable clinician when online requests are made. This may not always be a GP, for example, they may book a patient to see the MSK First Contact Practitioners, Clinical Pharmacists or Social Prescribing Link Workers, where this is most appropriate. This helps free up GP time for those patients that need to see a GP.

Care Coordinators also organise and document the monthly meetings in GP practices with various health and care professionals, known as Multi-Disciplinary Team meetings (MDTs). These meetings discuss some patients in each practice with more complex health needs. The wide attendance at these meetings helps to ensure that patients can be seen by the most appropriate teams in a timely way.

The aims of our Care Coordinators are:

• To help patients see the right professional for their concern
• To provide quick and effective support to manage patient requests sent online
• To support non-clinical support teams in the GP surgeries to be able to have more time to focus on patients that cannot use online services
• To help clinical and non-clinical teams work together to make sure patient need are met
• To help make sure practices and PCNs can reach as many eligible patients as possible for important things like cancer screening

Dietitians are qualified health professionals. In a PCN, they work as part of your GP practice team. They assess, diagnose, and treat problems with diet and nutrition. Dietitians can help treat some diseases and prevent problems linked to nutrition. They use the latest scientific evidence to provide advice.

Dietitians support adults with food, drink and lifestyle choices. They can help you to manage your medical conditions and stay well.

By working closely with your GP and local community services, they can make sure you access the services you need as quickly as possible. Your dietitian may signpost you to other services they think could help you.

If you are interested in an appointment with a Dietitian, please speak to your healthcare team.

Your appointment

You will be booked to see dietitian by your GP practice where appropriate. Your appointment may be face-to-face or via a video call.

As with all appointments provided by your GP practice, if you cannot attend your appointment, please notify your GP practice as soon as possible. This will help to make your appointment available for another patient. If it is a same-day cancellation, it is best to call your GP practice. Otherwise, you can contact your GP practice as you normally would.

If you’ve got new pain in your joint or muscle, your GP practice may decide to offer you an appointment with a Musculoskeletal First Contact Practitioner (FCP). As highly trained Physiotherapists, their job is to assess and diagnose your problem and provide a treatment plan. Your FCP will organise any prescriptions, scans, tests or referrals they think you need. They can also provide a fit note if required.

Appointments

Your GP practice may offer you an appointment with the FCP based on your symptoms. You can self-refer to see an FCP by contacting your GP practice as you usually would for an appointment – please indicate that you would like to see an FCP. If your symptoms are appropriate for an FCP and you do not meet the exclusion criteria, then the GP practice team can offer you an assessment with the FCP.

As with all appointments provided by your GP practice, if you cannot attend your appointment, please notify your GP practice as soon as possible. This will help to make your appointment available for another patient. If it is a same-day cancellation, it is best to call your GP practice. Otherwise, you can contact your GP practice as you normally would.

Resources

There are a wide range of FCP resources available for patients on the following topics:

• Arthritis, joint and soft tissue injuries
• Back pain
• Bone Health
• Pain
• Strength and fitness

Mental Health Practitioners are now working as part of most GP practices to help patients get the support they need. They are healthcare practitioners trained to support patients with their mental health. They support your GP by helping to get patients quicker access to mental health expertise.

If you are referred to a mental health practitioner, they will work with you to understand your needs. After assessing your needs, they will provide treatment advice and support shared decision-making about self-management. If appropriate, they may support you with brief interventions relevant to your needs over a small number of sessions. Where needed, they can make referrals to specialist mental health services.

Mental health practitioners can:

• help you with talking therapies to support a wide range of topics and issues

• provide tools and techniques to help manage symptoms

• support you if you are experiencing the psychological effects of managing long-term conditions, such as diabetes

If you, or someone you know, is struggling with mental health issues, speak to someone at your local GP practice who can arrange the right kind of support for you.

For more urgent advice and support, West London NHS Trust provides a Support and Advice Line on a 24-hour, 7 days a-week basis which can be accessed via 0800 328 4444. This service is provided by specially trained mental health advisors and healthcare professionals who will be able to offer support and guidance around the next steps for you or the person you are concerned about.

Your appointment

You will be booked to see a mental health practitioner by your GP practice where appropriate. Your appointment may be face-to-face or via a video or telephone call.

If you cannot attend your appointment, please notify your GP practice as soon as possible so your appointment can be made available for another patient. If it is a same-day cancellation, it is best to call your GP practice. Otherwise, you can complete an online form to cancel or reschedule an appointment.

The PCN Home Visiting Team supports urgent care and assessment for housebound patients. They also carry out Long Term Conditions (LTCs) reviews for permanently housebound patients. They work independently to provide care in a range of situations but always stay in contact with your GP about any care provided.

If you are referred to the Home Visiting Team, you will receive a visit from a paramedic acting on behalf of your GP. Paramedics are registered healthcare professionals who have a unique role that crosses health and social care, public health, social care and public safety. Your paramedic will work closely with your GP to manage any follow-up actions from your visit, so you don’t have to – for example, referrals or changes to medication.

Appointments

Your GP will refer you to the paramedic team. Paramedics will visit patients requiring urgent care on the same day. The paramedic will contact you for routine visits to arrange a time to visit you at home. However, as the team needs to respond to the changing wellness of patients and could be impacted by traffic, they may need to make changes at short notice.

As with all appointments provided by your GP practice, if you cannot attend your appointment, please notify your GP practice as soon as possible. This will help to make your appointment available for another patient. If it is a same-day cancellation, it is best to call your GP practice. Otherwise, you can contact your GP practice as you normally would.

Your appointment

Our Health & Wellbeing Coaches will be working across Hounslow to support PCN projects and Healthy Hounslow’s Health Check service. This is a walk-in service and does not accept referrals, instead our team of professionals operate out of a converted ambulance and travel to different locations, events and communities across Hounslow. For more information, please visit Healthy Hounslow – Health Checks.

If you would like to access health coaching please visit Healthy Hounslow and complete the online assessment form or call the telephone number provided.

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What is Extended Access?

GP practices in the PCN work together to provide extra appointments in the evenings and weekends. This is called the Extended Access Service. It helps to make more appointments available for patients if a GP practice is fully booked. It also helps provide flexibility for patients who may need to arrange an appointment in the evening or at weekends if their GP practice is not open.

Who can book an appointment in Extended Access?

Any patient registered at one of the 13 GP practices in Feltham & Bedfont PCN can book an appointment in Extended Access. This is true even if your GP practice is not one of the GP practices providing the Extended Access service.

Please note, if you are offered one of these appointments, you may be asked to visit a different GP practice, at a different location.

How do I book an appointment in Extended Access?

Your GP practice team may offer you an appointment with the Extended Access Service if you need an appointment before they can provide one in your own GP practice. If you would prefer an evening or weekend appointment, please ask your GP practice staff when requesting an appointment, and they will try to arrange this where possible. You can request a telephone, video or face-to-face appointment if you prefer.

Who provides appointments in Extended Access?

Our Extended Access Service is provided by the following GP practices. If you are given a face-to-face appointment, you can visit their website for details on how to get there.

Little Park Surgery
Carlton Surgery
Mount Medical Centre
HMC Health Bedfont
HMC Health Feltham
Hatton Medical Practice
Gill Medical Practice
Grove Village Medical Centre

Changing or cancelling an appointment in Extended Access

As with all appointments, if you cannot attend your appointment, please notify your GP practice as soon as possible. This will help to make your appointment available for another patient. If it is a same-day cancellation, it is best to call your GP practice. Otherwise, you can contact your GP practice as you normally would. If it is a same-day cancellation and your GP practice is not open, you can call the GP practice where your Extended Access appointment is scheduled to take place.

Preparing for your appointment

Before your appointment, you may find it helpful to access this NHS guidance about what to ask your doctor or other healthcare professional. Useful information on how to prepare for a Structured Medication Review can be found on this page under the tab for Pharmacy Team.