The practice team

The GP practice team used to consist mainly of GPs supported by nurses or advanced nurse practitioners. Nowadays, the GP practice team is now made up of a much wider mix of health professionals, led by GPs, who work together to look after people’s health and wellbeing. They are all highly skilled in their own areas of expertise. The exact combination of roles may vary from practice to practice.

So that everyone is seen as quickly as possible, it is important patients are matched with the most appropriate health professional for their particular medical problem and that staff members make use of the full extent of their training and experience

GPs will always care for the most seriously ill patients in the practice or those with more complicated illnesses. It is not the best use of their time and expertise if they see patients that other members of the practice team are qualified and experienced to be able to deal with. If a patient is seen by one professional, such as a nurse, but then need to be seen by someone else, such as a doctor, this will happen safely and seamlessly.

Care Coordinators working in practice reception teams are specially trained to know about the care and services available to you at your surgery and in your area. While the name of this role may differ in your practice, they’ll listen and talk to you in confidence about your health problem, to understand your needs so they can book you an appointment with the right healthcare professional or service.

They can help you:

Get seen as soon as possible
Know whether self-referral is available for certain services at your practice or in your area
Make appointments for new kinds of care or new services you may not be aware of
Access the appropriate healthcare professional.

GPs oversee all aspects of patient care. They are here to deal with complex medical problems or where a patient has more than one health condition. They meet regularly with other members of the practice team to plan joint approaches to coordinate a patient’s care. All other members of the practice teamwork under the supervision of a GP.

They can help with:

Diagnosing and treating a health condition
Ordering tests and interpreting results
Prescribing medication where necessary
Referring you to hospital and other medical services for urgent and specialist treatment.

Physician Associates

Physician Associates are trained and qualified to diagnose and treat a wide range of health conditions. They work alongside GPs to provide care to people, particularly those with long-term conditions who often benefit from being able to see the same healthcare professional.

They can help with:

Diagnosing and treating health conditions
Arranging tests and analysing results
Performing physical examinations.

Paramedics

Paramedics work in a variety of roles within a general practice. Their background in pre-hospital care means that they are used to working with people with a variety of health conditions from coughs and minor injuries to more serious conditions such as asthma and heart attacks. They work alongside GPs and help manage routine or urgent appointments, telephone triage(assessment of urgency of illness or injury) and home visits. Some can prescribe medication.

They can help with:

Diagnosing and treating health conditions
Ordering tests and interpreting results
Supporting people with long-term conditions such as arthritis and diabetes.

Nurses in general practice undertake a wide range of roles and are involved in almost every aspect of a patient’s care, assessing, screening and treating people of all ages. They can treat many health conditions and arrange any necessary tests. In addition to providing traditional aspects of nursing care such as wound care, immunisations and administration of medicines, they run health checks and clinics for those with long-term conditions such as asthma, heart disease and diabetes.

They can help with:

Vaccinations and injections
Supporting people with long-term conditions such as asthma and diabetes
Healthy living advice e.g. stopping smoking and weight loss
Family planning and sexual health advice, including smear tests.

Advanced Clinical/Nurse Practitioners

Advanced Clinical Practitioners come from a range of clinical backgrounds such as nursing, pharmacy, physiotherapy and paramedics. They are highly trained and have the knowledge and skills to manage all aspects of patient care.

They can help with:

Diagnosing and treating health conditions
Ordering tests and interpreting results
Prescribing medication
Making referrals to a specialist.

Nursing associates

Nursing associates provide a range of health checks and routine care to patients, as well as patient education and support. They would escalate any issues to a nurse who they work alongside.

They can help with:

Monitoring blood pressure, temperature, pulse, respirations and blood glucose
Blood tests
Carrying out ECGs
Patient advice and support.

Admiral Nurses

Admiral nurses are specialist dementia nurses who support families and health professionals to improve the quality of life for the person with dementia and their families.

They can help with:

• Understanding the diagnosis and managing symptoms
• Anticipating changes.in personality and behaviours and putting in place coping mechanisms
• Helping to manage the patient’s other health conditions alongside their dementia
• Coordinating health and care services to ensure the best care for the person with dementia and best support for the family
• Supporting carers and families.

Healthcare Assistants

Healthcare Assistants work under the guidance of a nurse or another healthcare professional. They help with routine health checks and provide patients with general health and wellbeing advice.

They can help with:

Health checks, such as blood pressure monitoring or taking blood samples
Vaccinations and injections
Healthy living advice, e.g. stopping smoking and weight loss
Dressings and stitch removal.

Phlebotomists

Phlebotomists are responsible for taking blood samples from patients and ensuring their safe delivery to the laboratory for testing.

Clinical Pharmacists are experts in medicines and can help people stay as well as possible. They support those with long-term conditions like asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure or anyone taking multiple medicines to make sure their medication is working. They work with GPs, local pharmacies and hospitals to ensure that medicine services are joined up. Some Clinical Pharmacists can also prescribe medicines.

They can help with:

In-depth reviews of your medicines if you have a long-term condition
Agreeing and making changes to your prescription
Advice about medicines and side effects.

Pharmacy Technicians

Pharmacy Technicians support and advise patients about how to take medication and can recommend other methods and services that can help them to manage their health condition

Physiotherapists in general practice are experts in musculoskeletal conditions. They are able to assess, diagnose and treat a range of complex muscle and joint conditions preventing the need for referrals to hospital. They can arrange swift access to further treatment, investigations and specialists when needed.

They can help with:

Diagnosing and treating muscular and joint conditions
Advising on how to manage your condition
Referrals on to specialist services.

Occupational therapists

Occupational therapists support people of all ages with problems resulting from physical, mental, social, or development difficulties. They help people find ways to continue with everyday activities that are important to them. This could involve learning new ways to do things or making changes to their environment to make things easier.

They can help with:

living with chronic physical or mental health conditions
managing anxiety or depression
advice about returning to or remaining in work
rehabilitation to continue daily activities.

Podiatrists

Podiatrists are trained to diagnose and treat foot and lower limb conditions, often related to health conditions such as diabetes, rheumatism, cerebral palsy, peripheral arterial disease, and peripheral nerve damage.

They can help with:

• Diagnosing and treating foot and lower limb conditions.

Mental health professionals in general practice may also be known as Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners, High Intensity Therapists or Cognitive Behavioural Therapists and work as part of ‘Improving Access to Psychological Therapies’ (IAPT) services.

They specialise in mental health and use a range of talking therapies to help people with common mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Sessions are usually one-on-one but can also be in couple or group settings, by phone or online. Referral can be via your GP or directly via a local psychological therapies (IAPT) service.

They can help with:

Talking therapies
Tools and techniques to manage symptoms
Support for those experiencing the psychological effects of managing long-term conditions, such as diabetes.

Health and Wellbeing Coaches

Health and wellbeing coaches support people to develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to reach their health and wellbeing goals, including helping them identify their needs, set goals, and implement their personalised health and care plan. They may help educate people on managing their long term condition, peer support and social prescribing.

They can help with:

Setting health and wellbeing goals
Developing a health and care plan to reach those goals
Managing long term conditions
Referring to supporting services.

Social Prescribing Link Workers

Social prescribing involves helping people to improve their health and wellbeing by connecting them to activities in the community. Link Workers connect those feeling lonely, overwhelmed or in need of help to a range of local support, from community and activity groups to work, debt or housing advice.

They can help with:

Getting people to focus on their own priorities and the things that affect their wellbeing
Supporting people to take more control of their health
Introducing people to groups and activities in their community.

Dietitians

Dietitians are healthcare professionals that diagnose and treat diet and nutritional problems. They support changes to food intake to address health conditions such as diabetes, food allergies, coeliac disease, and metabolic diseases. They also provide practical guidance to enable people to make appropriate lifestyle and food choices.

They can help with: