NCPC was established in August 2019 with the backing of local partners in the integrated health and care health system in response to an increasingly fragile general practice provision in North Cumbria. Within 12 months of the first practice joining NCPC, a further 10 practices became part of the organisation. In March 2022, 5 of the Workington practices merged to form James Street Practice, and in 2023 Queen Street Practice merged with Lowther Medical Group.
We are a not for profit company employing over 410 people across our practices and PCNs. All money we receive in funding and other business activities goes into supporting the organisation, our staff, and our services. Any surplus that we make is committed to delivering our organisational vision.
In the last 5 years we have:
- Grown from 1 practice to 6 practices (formerly 11).
- Successfully merged practices.
- Developed an aligned salary structure across all practices.
- Achieved “Good” in CQC inspections in all practices.
- Developed Primary Care Networks across Copeland Workington and Carlisle with both Workington and the NCPC practices in Copeland having their own Primary Network.
All our practices are training practices and as well as providing training for GP Registrars and Foundation Year Doctors, we also work in partnership with our local medical schools to provide primary care experience medical students.
Common Challenges:
- Infrasctructure – we have developed “back office” teams, systems and processes to support the practices.
- Dare to be different – our model of delivering general practice is novel for Cumbria and wider.
