There are 11 GP practices in the North Herts locality, covering the areas of Hitchin, Letchworth and Baldock.  They provide care for a population of around 113,000.

Who's who

During 2016/17, the eleven practices in the North Herts locality led a number of projects to improve the health and wellbeing of their patients including:

Looking after frail and elderly patients 
Around 1,000 patients in the North Herts locality live in care homes – higher than the CCG average. The locality has begun work to better support these elderly and frail patients and identify any additional services that are needed. New GP ward rounds in care homes have begun and practices have been working with the HomeFirst team to refine the identification of those who are most likely to benefit from closer ‘case management’ to help them remain as well and independent as possible.

Investing in GP services
The locality has committed funds to ensure that all practices can upskill non-clinical staff in order to release clinical staff to provide more patient care. Practices are using text and email, as well as the traditional landline telephone to communicate with patients and have enhanced their websites to provide quicker, more interactive and intuitive patient access to service information. This will be further enhanced to enable patients to contact services directly, where a professional’s referral is not required.

Winter pressures
Locality practices have been promoting best use of NHS health services in Hertfordshire during the winter months and opened up additional appointments for patients to be seen at their local surgery and reduce demand on the emergency department at the Lister Hospital. Practices in North Herts continue to have the lowest A&E attendance rate in the CCG.