After 2 years of delivering primary care services in Wrexham we are sad to announce that Community Care Collaborative (CCC) will be stepping aside from 31st May 2021 following the transition of Borras Park Surgery, Forge Road Surgery and Hillcrest Medical Centre to Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) management.

We are incredibly proud of the work we have done with our team during this period and have no doubt that the learning and change we have achieved together will have a much longer-term impact. We are working hard to offer support to BCUHB to ensure a smooth transfer of the contract – keeping high quality service delivery and positive patient experience our absolute priority.

In addition to ensuring the practices under this contract are transferred effectively, another key focus for our team in the coming weeks and months is sharing our learning from this project. A key part of our values as an organisation (and those of our parent company Capacity) are that we remain reflective; that we look closely at what has worked and what hasn’t for us and other stakeholders and that we share this with our commissioners and partners to support continuous improvement into the future.

Over the last 12 months COVID has undoubtedly exacerbated some already challenging conditions for innovation within this project. Our ambition around the model, and our original motivation to get involved, related to transforming service models and creating real change in health outcomes for patients. Practically, we have exposed CCC staff members and patients to new ways of working, and highlighted the absolute value and need for diverse, multi-disciplinary team working in general practice – supporting them to challenge the status quo and look to the future of Primary Care in Wales. This is best displayed through the Emotional Wellbeing Team and the incredible impact they have made to mental health services across these practices. This meant over 1,300 fewer GP consultations in a six-month period and provided timely access to mental health support at time in our history when it is needed more than ever.

We are incredibly proud of the frontline team at CCC and what they have achieved with us in recent years and we hope that we have inspired them and our partners to see things a little differently and reimagine what Primary Care might look like for the residents of Wrexham in the future. We wish the new management team the best of luck in taking them forward.