Nurse-led practices could become more common in the future, according to the practice nurse lead at Health Education West Midlands (HEWM).
Karen Storey, practice nurse lead at HEWM, told IN that the Primary Care Workforce Commission's report, The future of primary care: Creating teams for tomorrow, released in July 2015, looked at areas of good practice in primary care across the country.
She said that nurse-led practice Cuckoo Lane in West London, which was rated 'outstanding' by the CQC in April 2015, was mentioned in the report as an 'alternative staffing model that can be used to deliver high-quality care.'
'When we went to visit Cuckoo Lane they demonstrated certain practices such as a model of shared leadership and a daily huddle where they exchanged advice and touched base. I think all of those things demonstrate a way of working that we would like to see going forward,' said Ms Storey.
She said that providing specific guidance or training to set up nurse-led practices was still something HEE had to think about but did identify that providing more training for nursing leadership was crucial for these models.
'I think that one of the things the report highlighted was that we didn't necessarily advocate that any particular model was right, we just identified examples of best practice. We would recommend that organisations like HEE look into supporting and developing future roles,' Ms Storey added.
The report has already been sent to key stakeholders so between now and September, when the report is formally launched, organisations such as local education and training boards and CCGs will consider the report and how it is going to be used within their organisations.