The Business of Primary Care Networks
Over 250 blogs to support the leadership and management of primary care networks 

Community pharmacy is primary care, and it has always worked at neighbourhood level. In her third appearance on The Business of Healthcare, Shilpa Shah of Community Pharmacy North East London explains what neighbourhood working, Pharmacy First and prevention really mean for the sector, and who picks up the bill.

What is the role of a PCN manager? There is no single answer. This blog explores why different expectations between a manager and their network can create tension, how to recognise misalignment, and why honest conversations are essential for effective leadership

As neighbourhood working evolves, provider-to-provider contracting is helping some areas move faster without waiting for new national contracts. Discover how the approach works, where the opportunities lie, and the key legal and organisational risks PCNs should consider before getting started.

After 26 years building NHS software, Andrew Whiteley of Lexacom is clear on what actually decides whether new technology gets used: trust, time and judgement. Here is what that means before your next rollout.

Frailty is top of the list for nearly every neighbourhood, and there is pressure to move quickly. But in most areas, several services are already assessing the same frail patients. Community teams are going in. OTs are going in. FCPs are doing assessments in primary care. Hospital discharge teams are picking up frail patients on the way out. Before commissioning anything new or stopping a service, the first step is to map what already exists. This is how to do it. Step 1: Get

At THC, we create resources for General practice and community pharmacy, which are part of the same primary care family, but anyone who has worked across both worlds knows it does not always feel that way. The two often sit alongside each other rather than together, sharing patients and misconceptions about how and why each party operates as it does. The inaugural community pharmacy conference and general practices conference held on 21st and 22nd June set out to close that g

The new NHS Oversight Framework 2026/27 never mentions PCNs. But read Annex B and primary care runs right through the ICB scorecard, from same day access to long-term condition management and screening. Here is how the framework works, where general practice sits inside it, and why your ICB will be paying attention.

Meetings are one of the most expensive things PCN leaders do. A practical guide to making them worth the time and money they cost, plus a checklist to take away.

Occupational health referrals across PCN teams are rising. HR specialist Joanne Harding and occupational health practitioner Dr Shoby Sathananthan explain when to refer, what to ask, how to read the report, and how to handle reasonable adjustments, capability and consent.

ost GP practices work hard to deliver excellent patient care, but being a good practice does not automatically mean being a good business. Gary Hughes explores the seven ingredients that help create stronger, more resilient practices and introduces the Business Strength Model.

If you are looking for ways to improve your productivity, this one is for you. For a while now, I have been playing around with AI, and more specifically, Copilot, and I have settled on a system that is genuinely helping me. I am more intentional with my time, I touch a task only once, and I have stopped going back to the same thing three times before finishing it. This is that system. It works alongside the tools you already have. No complicated setup, just Copilot App on y

The Advice and Guidance Enhanced Service ended on 1 April 2026. There is no sign up and no £20 per request fee. Using Advice and Guidance is now a core contract requirement, with the funding folded into the global sum and delivery moving onto e-RS during the year. This is what changed, what to expect from secondary care, and what your practice and PCN should do now. If you want it shorter for a tighter card (around 30 words): From April 2026 the Advice and Guidance Enhanced S

The primary care events and conferences worth knowing about from June to October 2026, including NHS ConfedExpo, Best Practice Birmingham and the RCGP Annual Conference. A round up for PCN leaders from THC Primary Care.

The 2026/27 GP Reimbursement Scheme moves funding to practice level. Work out what your practice or network is entitled to with our free calculator, then work through a checklist of the other May changes with your team

At THC, we provide resources for primary care leaders. In this blog, I want to introduce a framework I have been developing called the Six Anchors and explain why I think every PCN board should work through it at least once.

Practices and PCNs are calling people HR Managers who have not been trained in HR. In a conversation with HR specialist Joanne Harding, we explore what HR capability actually looks like in a network, the risks of mislabelling roles, the limits of using AI for HR letters, and when to bring in specialist support.

A practical guide to costing NHS primary care services — from asking the right questions and building transparent spreadsheets to anchoring your board presentation. Includes downloadable A3 infographic.

Support PCN pharmacist progression when ARRS roles are devolved: practical insights to unlock development across your network.

This blog explores whether business principles have a place in running a primary care network. Not profit. Not customers. But vision, intentional decision-making, and a long-term view. With the average PCN managing over £1 million in staffing funding, the accountability is significant, and the approach that got you here may not get you there. This blog sets out what business thinking actually looks like in a PCN context.

Four NHS England publications dropped between 1 April and 1 May 2026, covering strategic commissioning narratives, neighbourhood health centre planning, the Network Contract DES variation, and seasonal vaccinations 2026/27. Here is what each one says, with all the key dates in one place.

The Local Variation Arrangement is the route ICBs may use to align the DES with Single Neighbourhood Providers. Here is what it means for PCN leaders.

NHS England published a variation to the Network Contract DES on 30 April 2026, introducing a new PCN DES Local Variation Arrangement route. ICBs can now request to vary the DES locally for specific PCNs, but the scope is limited and approval is not guaranteed. In this blog, I cover what the Local Variation Arrangement is, five scenarios where I think an ICB might use it, the limits of the route, the implications for general practice, and what this all means for PCN leaders.

In a previous post, we shared the GP Contract letter for 2025/26. This post does the same for 2026/27, but goes a step further. As well as covering what has changed this year, we wanted to give those of you who are not GP partners or Practice Managers a clearer understanding of what practices are contractually required to deliver and the income streams available to them.

The 26/27 DES now names cancer safety netting directly. Here's what's changed, what it means, and what PCNs actually need to do.