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

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

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.

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.

Primary care leaders are navigating neighbourhoods working with limited resources.

The removal of the Capacity and Access Payment from the PCN budget does not have to be an all-or-nothing story. The contract has taken the money away, but nothing stops a network and its practices deciding together what to do next. Here is what PCN leaders can still choose to do.

This is the seventh year of the PCN DES, and for most of us a lot of the specification will be business as usual. But Q1 is still an opportunity worth taking. A practical guide to the priorities PCN leaders need to focus on in the first 90 days of 2026/27, from year-end tidy-up through to IIF, ARRS and access.

If your PCN had to justify every ARRS role it currently funds, could it? Not in theory. With evidence of impact, embedded relationships, and a clear case for why that role, in your network, is worth protecting.

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.

The PCN Network Contract DES 2026/27 specification is here. Members get a 13-slide key changes deck, updated ARRS salary calculator, financial entitlements tool, templates and AskTHC. All in one place.

This blog, written in partnership with BAXCQC, cuts through the assumptions and sets out what every provider in a shared space needs to understand. The NHS is moving decisively toward a neighbourhood model of care.

At THC Primary Care, we provide resources to support the leadership and management of primary care networks. In this blog, we summarise our recent YouTube Live session with Ben Gowland, Dr Andy Foster, and Dr Hussain Gandhi. This conversation has become something of a yearly tradition, where we come together to discuss the news stories affecting primary care in the run-up to our national conference, PCN Plus Live , taking place on 22nd April. If you want the full discussion,

The 2026/27 PCN DES specification was published on 26 March 2026. This blog covers what has changed in payment rates, ARRS funding, and operational requirements.