Thirteen practices within the Northamptonshire Teaching PCT area were shown to have achieved below the national average across all areas of the national access survey in the 2006-07 National GP Survey.

The PCT commissioned the Improvement Foundation to support practices over a period of 2-3 months with and aim to improve the results for the National GP Survey.

In partnership with the PCT and the Local Medical Committee, the Improvement Foundation hosted an event for practice representatives to discuss access issues, revisit tools and techniques for delivering better access to patients, and discuss practice action plans.

The East Midlands Improvement Foundation centre then met with practices to discuss and review their systems in place, and ensure sustainable changes were put in place. This involved detailed work, looking at capacity and demand and changing systems within the practice. This work has resulted in practices that had previously had access plans rejected by the PCT now having their plans approved.