The Improvement Foundation has been working with the Centre for Change and Innovation (CCI) at the Scottish Executive on the Scottish Primary Care Collaborative (SPCC) since 2003.

It aims to build capability and capacity for quality improvement within primary care in Scotland.

In addition, knowledge and skills have been transferred to a CCI team to enable them to run collaboratives independently.

The programme is designed to remodel the way general practice works to improve access and reduce delays for patients and also improve outcomes for people with long-term conditions.

The Scottish Primary Care Collaborative aims to improve the overall experience and outcomes for every patient by identifying and removing the barriers that cause delays.

To date there have been almost 500 GP practices participating in the SPCC. The programme has provided assistance to all participating practices in the redesign of their systems and their ways of working and will eventually involve half of all practices in Scotland.

Phase I of the SPCC focused on improving patient access to GP practices and improving the management of care for people with diabetes. The first wave of 98 practices in Phase I completed their 24 months of the programme in September 2005.

Phase II began in May 2004 and finished in May 2006 and involved 152 practices. It focused on improving access for patients and also worked towards improving secondary prevention of coronary heart disease.

Phase III began in March 2007 with 62 practices. These practices will again work to make improvements in patient access to GP services and will also focus on improving the management of care for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic kidney disease.

For further information and key results please go to the SPCC website.