What is the Primary Care Foundation?
The Primary Care Foundation was formed in 2006 by the three directors (see 'About Us' below). It was set up with the explicit aim of ‘developing and spreading best practice in unscheduled, emergency and primary care in the UK’. We do this by:
- Using information to create understanding that drives improvements in care
- Seeking to reduce unnecessary variation, both across organisations and between individual clinicians
- Developing practical tools that can be widely applied across the urgent care system
- Applying our understanding of national policy in urgent care to support local changes
We are interested in all aspects of urgent and primary care, from general practice through to A&E and hospital care. This includes working with all partners of the urgent healthcare system, either separately or together, to make improvements in patient care. We specialise in carrying out reviews, based on analysing a range of data sources and examining local practice, that make local and national recommendations. We also look for opportunities to share learning, building resources that can solve problems more widely across the NHS. This includes benchmarking performance across urgent care as a key tool for driving service improvement. We are also interested in exploring and understanding international comparisons in urgent care.
Most of our work is carried out by the three directors, but we do bring in associates with specific skills and experience, or work in partnership with others (see Clients & Partners), when required.
As a foundation, we reinvest part of our income in initiatives that further the aims of the organisation.