THE role of GP practices across the county is in for a big shake-up as a health commissioner looks to create medical hubs.

Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is looking for new and innovative ways to build a sustainable and robust primary care service in the county.

One idea health bosses have had is to look at creating a health hub, where specialists and nurses would work alongside GPs in practices to provide a wider-ranging service.

Julie Dandridge, head of primary care and localities at the CCG, said: “We have a growing and ageing population and we need to look at ways that would ensure patients will get the best possible care.

“An idea we have had is for several practices to work together to be able to afford specialist practitioners and nurses, who can then offer appointments to patients.

“This would relieve GPs and allow them to care for elderly patients and those with more complex illnesses and would need that continuity of care.”

Oxfordshire GPs offer about four million appointments every year, which is about 70 per cent of patient contacts with healthcare.

The number is increasing at a rate of about four per cent every year and will increase further because of a growing and ageing population.

Already an out-of-hours GP service has been rolled out across the county to help with the rising demand, providing an extra 6,000 appointments every month.

Now the CCG wants to hear from patients and has set up a series of participation events to hear their ideas for transforming primary care.

Ms Dandridge added: “We want to know from people, what works well at their GP practice at the moment and how services could work better in the future.

“We have also deliberately organised sessions for the six different localities the CCG covers because we understand what might work in the city centre could be completely redundant in the more rural areas of the county”

The first event will be held on Tuesday for residents living in North Oxfordshire. A venue has yet to be decided.

On Wednesday residents in the CCG’s South West locality, Faringdon, Wantage, Abingdon and Didcot can attend an event a Didcot Civic Hall.

In Oxford City there will be a session on Thursday at St Gregory the Great School.

Residents in the South East locality are able to attend a session at the George Hotel in Wallingford on Tuesday, November 28 and those living in Bicester and Kidlington have an event organised for Thursday, November 30 at the Littlebury Hotel in Bicester. All sessions will run from 6.30pm to 8pm.

The information gathered from the meeting will form background material to be used for phase two of the Sustainability and Transformation Plan, which will look at changes to primary care and community hospitals.

To take part in the survey visit: consult.oxfordshireccg.nhs.uk/consult.ti/system/home