People can refer themselves into a range of community services in Lincolnshire and don’t need to ask their GP practice to refer them: this includes podiatry, weight loss services, community equipment services, falls services and community audiology services.

Work on self-referrals continues to progress well with improvements in data reporting giving a clearer picture of how people are using self-referral opportunities and work with Patient Participation Groups to develop information to raise public awareness. Around 3,000 people per month self- refer into health services in Lincolnshire, this roughly equates to around 1,000 GP practice clinical hours saved over the year, releasing more appointments for people who need to see a GP practice clinician.

The Pharmacy First service launched on 31 January 2024 – this means people can receive treatment for a range of common conditions without the need for the patient to see a GP e.g. shingles, acute earache and sore throats. This aims to improve access to care for patients and to help GP practices reduce demand for conditions where treatment can be provided by a pharmacy. Raising public awareness of the community pharmacy extended service offer has increased the number of people accessing care directly from their pharmacy, the ICB has also worked with pharmacies and urgent care services so people can be directed to their pharmacy for care instead of attending an Urgent Treatment Centre this is expected to reduce waits and improve people’s experience of care. Pharmacy First saved an estimated 3,700 GP practice hours over the first half of 2024/25.

The NHS App supports people in managing their health and care with GP practices making access to online patient records, appointment booking and ordering prescriptions available over the App. GP practices also enabled online registration, new patients can now register with a GP practice online making the process simpler and quicker as well as reducing administration for practices.

There has been ongoing engagement from GP practices and Primary Care Networks on supporting patient access. The number of appointments offered by practice continued to grow in 2024/25 with 4.75 million appointments provided by GP practice in Lincolnshire by the end of January 2025, 4% more than the same period the previous year. The Health Insights Survey indicates that people in Lincolnshire find it easier to access their GP practice than the national average with 85% describing it as ‘easy’ compared to 78% nationally.

Work on developing a GP Strategy for Lincolnshire got underway this year with engagement across the health and care system and with the public. Around 2,400 people fed back on their experience of GP services and how they might like to access care and treatment in future – improving telephone access, extended access hours and keeping online access open for longer were two of the most frequent responses.

All GP practices in Lincolnshire have now moved to a digital telephone system, this will make contacting a practice by telephone quicker and easier with less dropped calls and options such as call-back so people don’t need to wait in a queue. Working with practices to continue to improve telephone access will remain a priority area of work. In addition to digital telephone systems, all GP practices have access to online consultation tools with the number of online appointments available doubling over 2024 to around 1,000 per day across the County. Some practices have implemented Total Triage systems with all patients contacts triaged by a senior clinician, local experience indicates this means more patients are offered an appointment that day and GP practices are better able to manage demand. The ICB is sharing local learning from this work across GP practices.

The ICB continues to support practices to improve patient experience and access through effective care navigation with reception teams trained to guide people more effectively to the right clinician or service or to manage the health and wellbeing effectively themselves where appropriate – 94% of GP practices took part in care navigation training over 2024/25.

Work on delivering the Lincolnshire Primary Care People Plan progressed over the year with the number of GPs in Lincolnshire increasing by 25 full time roles between April and December 2024 giving a total of 474 full time equivalent GP capacity. This is mainly due to the high conversion rate of trainees to GPs in the county and the targeted support being given to practices for recruitment and retention activities.

Nationally GP trainees and locums are reporting less availability of opportunities and NHSE has brought in a GP Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) initiative for newly qualified GPs to gain funded employment until end March 2026 – this has seen five new GPs employed to date in Lincs, with more planned. Use of ARRS funding has improved again this year with Primary Care Networks making good use of the additional funding to increase primary care capacity – around 97% of the £20 million funding available is forecast to be used in 2024/25.

Clinical leaders from across the health system have continued to develop the interface programme work which aims to free up GP practice time to focus on patient care by improving how community and hospital teams work with GP practices.

Lincolnshire has a well-established collaborative approach with vision and strategic themes agreed and a defined programme of work developed.

Key achievements over the year include developing guidance for hospital clinicians on issuing fit notes, improving messaging and online access to information for patients waiting for a hospital appointment, developing training and education opportunities focused on themes from the interface work programme and developing a clinician behavioural charter.