Norfolk and Waveney ICB has shared key updates on primary care access recovery and the primary-secondary care interface from the region, including a 145 percent increase in the use of Pharmacy First since February 2024, and over a million logins for the NHS App in March.
The ICB highlights that 58 percent of GP patients aged 13 and over have now registered to use the NHS App, with “a significant increase” in appointments booked via the app since January. “The range in appointments being booked via the app by GP surgery is extensive,” it notes, “with 3 surgeries showing 0 appointments, to a surgery that has seen 37,605 appointments booked since the NHS App functionality was implemented.” In March, there were 1,009,983 logins for the NHS App, and it was also used to order 114,162 repeat prescriptions.
All practices are now using the national online registration system developed by NHSE, and two are taking part in an automation pilot for online registrations to test direct integration between the “register with a GP surgery” service and GP IT systems. 30 GP practices have moved from “sub-optimal phone systems” to cloud-based telephony, with a further 20 receiving feature upgrades to their existing digital or cloud-based systems to comply with requirements, and 36 migrating to the GP Voice platform. As of March 2025, all practices had enabled prospective records access.
For Pharmacy First, the ICB reports seeing a 145 percent increase in the use of services since February 2024, with 167 of 170 pharmacies signed up. The new target for Pharmacy First appointments for March 2026 has been set at 5,660, representing a 33 percent increase over the year in activity. Pharmacy dispensing technology is also reportedly in place across the region, being used to “great effect” in some cases to support activity and financial viability.
Norfolk and Waveney also outlines next steps, indicating that in line with the GP Contract 2025/26, 19 of 20 PCNs have declared their online consultation forms are available for patients to make admin and clinical requests “at least for the duration of core hours”. The Primary Care Commissioning and Digital Teams will work together to identify gaps in delivery and support practices to deliver contractual requirements around functionality of GP Connect. This includes allowing read-only access to patient records, and enabling community pharmacy registered professionals to send consultation summaries into the GP practice workflow. “There will continue to be an emphasis on online access for patients in 2025/26 as directed by the new GP Contract,” the ICB states, moving toward implementation of “highly usable and accessible online journeys for patients”.
On progress toward the four main national primary-secondary interface recommendations, the ICB shares details of an ongoing audit and review of data collected through the Interface Reporting system of compliance with the consultant-to-consultant referral policy. A task and finish group has been set up to develop referrals and discharge guidance, as well as to support in the development of its EPR project; there are “clear procedures” for call and recall; and all providers now have a generic contact email to support non-urgent queries.
Key areas of focus for the latter half of 2025 cover ensuring non-medical health professionals and AHPs can “appropriately request” lab tests or imaging via the WebICE system and receive those results directly to avoid duplication. The ICB identifies improvements required around communication, involving timely discharge letters which “clearly signal any actions or important information for general practice”, noting that this remains “one of the highest issues reported in the interface reporting process”. The ICB also commits to supporting local discussions to improve interface and allow transparency around issues, and to implementing a single point of contact for all stakeholders to raise queries.
Separately to this, the ICB notes that seven surgeries across Norfolk and Waveney are due to benefit from £1.9 million in funding through the Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund.
Digital transformation in primary care
In HTN’s latest instalment of the Primary Care Region Series, we turned our attention to the East of England, where we explored the latest on digital and data from each of the seven NHS regions in turn.
For a recent HTN Now panel discussion, we spoke to experts from across the healthcare sector on the future of general practice core systems. This included exploring potential opportunities and areas of future growth, considering challenges such as integration and interoperability, and outlining what good looks like in this space. Our panellists were Bex Cottey, business manager for Conisbrough GPs, Emma Stratful, chief operating officer at OX.DH, Dr Sheikh Mateen Ellahi, GP and practice partner at ELM Tree Surgery and South Stockton Primary Care Network and Dr Shanker Vijayadeva, GP lead, digital transformation for the London region at NHS England.
NHS England has announced the approval of a core primary care clinical IT system through its Tech Innovation Framework. Marking “the first of a new generation” of EPRs for GPs, Medicus Health has been approved with more suppliers expected to be approved imminently.
