NHS needs evidence about MSK care, says leading GP

^{Jonathan Serjeant: GPs struggle to let go of what they are doing professionally}

‘I think we would benefit from a review of the different MSK models around the country,’ he said.

‘So do people actually get what they need first time in the different models? And what is the impact in terms of the transformation cost, but also in reducing interventions?’

Dr Serjeant, clinical director of Brighton and Hove Integrated Care, was at a King’s Fund event on 18 October to speak about NHS Collaborate. He described this as a programme to support ‘capable and determined’ primary care leaders.

The aim is to help transform teams and accelerate the delivery of new models of care, he told delegates.

‘In its early phase, it has been a real journey of discovery for all of us involved, he said.

‘And it is providing a really deep foundation and self-sustaining community, which is committed to taking a fresh approach to leadership development and support.’

NHS Collaborate currently involved doctors, but the aim was to ‘cede to a broader range of professional groups’ over the next two to three years, said Dr Serjeant. This could mean that different professional groups, such as physiotherapists, will join the project and ‘connect’ and ‘support each other’.

One of the things the initiative had identified was that: ‘GPs, while recognising that they need to work in partnership with other professionals, struggle to let go of what they are doing professionally.’

While suggesting that better evidence about MSK services could help lower this barrier, he told Frontline about the Sussex MSK Partnership in Brighton, an organisation that he is involved with.

‘What we have done there is to enable extended scope physiotherapists to take a leadership role in supporting patients out of hospital care,’ he said.

‘We have changed the dynamic …. and we have put the ESP at the forefront of the gateway to how you access physiotherapy.’