About the PCN

Portervalleymap

Primary Care Networks (PCNs) are a key part of the NHS Long Term Plan.  They provide the structure and funding for services to be developed locally, in response to the needs of the patients they serve. PCNs will help to join up services at a local level, focusing on the specific needs of these local populations, with patients still accessing routine GP appointments as they do now.

Six of the GP practices within Sheffield have joined together to form the Porter Valley Primary Care Network. They are Nethergreen Surgery, Rustlings Road Surgery, The Hollies Medical Centre, Greystones Medical Centre, Falkland House Surgery and Carterknowle and Dore Medical Practice. We serve over 45,000 patients!

By being part of the PCN, we have been given the opportunity to work together for a larger community and create services that suit to the needs of our patient community.  Our aim is that this will help to give you, our patients, better access to the right care and support, at the right time.

Our surgery teams are working closely with each other, enjoying the chance to share expertise and resources, to develop new services.  Our vision is to continue to improve the quality of care that we provide in alignment with the need of our patient population.

What are Primary Care Networks?

PCNs have built on current primary care services and enable greater provision of proactive, personalised, coordinated and more integrated health and social care. Clinicians describe this as a change from reactively providing appointments to proactively providing care for the people and communities they serve. PCNs are in place across the country and there are clear benefits for patients and clinicians. PCNs usually have a 30-50k population and are geographically contiguous (next to or touching another). All GP practices in our area have sign up to be a member of a PCN.  You can read the NHS England PCN FAQs here and view the BMA PCN Handbook (2021-2022) here. You can watch the video below for more information.