Debbie Sorkin, the National Director of Systems at the Leadership Centre joined NELFT Deputy CEO, Dr Mohit Venkataram to discuss a different future for primary care. 

Ms Sorkin spoke about the ways to strengthen people’s capacity to work in complex and difficult environments when trying to balance the long- and short-term issues in primary care. 

She gave practical advice and strategies for the audience on how to create the conditions to make change happen. Concentrating on the staples of adaptive or systems leadership including:

• The importance of relationships
• Trust - What it can lead to and what happens when it is not there
• Purpose
• Influence – When you don’t have positional power or think that you don’t.

Talking about the voluntary sector, Ms Sorkin said:

“The key is to form real alliances with the voluntary care sector. Joining forces as a group will give primary care the extra resource to actually be part of the system and have a louder voice.”

Dr Venkataram reflected on what primary care has delivered in the last published period. In the month of August alone, with a population of approximately 60 million, 28 million appointments were delivered in primary care. 65% of these were face to face appointments and 45% were seen by GPs. He said:

“Every second person has had contact with primary care, so its power combined with community services cannot be underestimated, and reimagining care in this space through leadership approaches and relationships is the way to make change happen.”

 

You can watch the full webinar on YouTube here: The Future of Primary Care – In conversation with Debbie Sorkin

Register now for November’s webinar here:Future of Primary Care webinar – 20 November 2024