Primary Care Sheffield and Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust are to join forces to run five of the city’s GP practices.

The collaboration will see the two organisations working in partnership to deliver high quality primary care services to 21,500 patients – improving access to services and addressing challenges of GP retention.

The 15 year contract covers the Clover Group of practices (Darnall Primary Care Centre, Highgate Surgery, Jordanthorpe Health centre, the Mulberry Practice) and Sheffield City GP Medical Centre.

Dr Andrew Hilton, Chief Executive of Primary Care Sheffield, said: “We are delighted to be working alongside Sheffield Health and Social Care Trust to run the Clover group and Sheffield City GP Medical Centre.

“This partnership brings together a wealth of knowledge of the city’s health and social care system and patient population as well as the ability to innovate and improve access to primary care services.

“Through the Enhancing Primary Care programme, we have already begun to see how new approaches to providing services can ensure that patients have better access to primary care and we hope to use this learning to support the future development of these practices.”

Kevan Taylor, Chief Executive of Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are very pleased to be working in partnership with Primary Care Sheffield.  We are delighted to be able to continue to provide services at the Clover Group of Practices and extend a warm welcome to Sheffield City GP Medical Centre staff and patients.

“This partnership is an innovation for Sheffield and we are proud to be at the forefront of devising better access to primary care.  As a Trust we are committed to improving the physical health of our service users and we believe that by working together, with our partners in the city, we can have a significant, positive impact on people’s physical wellbeing.”

The two organisations will formally take on the contracts for the practices from 1 April 2016.

ENDS