NHS South West London’s primary care team in Kingston and Richmond hopes that the personalisation approach, which asks patients to consider ‘what matters to me?’ rather than ‘what’s the matter with me?’, will further develop the relationship between people, health professionals, and the wider integrated care system
The first stage of the personalised upskilling programme has finished, having supported primary care teams to begin embedding the concept of personalised care into their interactions with residents.
The training covered health coaching, outlining how these skills can support people to take ownership of their health, recognising that this can be more effective than just asking or telling people to change their behaviour. In total, 16 GPs in Richmond and eight in Kingston completed the training.
People will always achieve better results when they are being empowered and involved in their treatment rather than being told what to do. It can be hard to unlock this self-belief in patients, but this way of working means GPs can support them to make real changes to their lives.
Kingston GP, Dr Sarah Douglas
Local GP, Dr Nitu Gehdu, attended one of the recent training sessions, she said: “I thought the course was great, it was delivered really well and was very relevant to daily practice. Working in this way will further my confidence in supporting patients to manage their own health.
Sometimes, with only having a 10-minute consultation, it can be daunting to try and fit in a discussion, rather than just prescribing, but this has helped me see that we can use that time in a different way, empowering people to make lasting changes which will really benefit them in the long run.”
Kingston GP, Dr Sarah Douglas, added: “This is definitely a different way of working for many, but enabling patients to make health-related decisions themselves will lead to better outcomes.
People will always achieve better results when they are being empowered and involved in their treatment rather than being told what to do. It can be hard to unlock this self-belief in patients, but this way of working means GPs can support them to make real changes to their lives.”
The next stage of the personalised care strategy is to offer further training for other members of the primary care team.