Learning Together to improve children's health.

Abstract

Bringing general practitioner (GP) and paediatric trainees together for shared training could improve children's health care says a new position paper published jointly by the UK's Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) on May 13, 2016. “Despite the high quality of specialist GP and paediatric training in the UK, children still face relatively poor health outcomes when compared to other comparable countries”, said David Evans of the RCPCH. Children are estimated to make up a quarter of a GP's average workload, but less than 25% of GP trainees are able to undertake paediatric placements during training. These secondary-care-based placements might prepare GPs relatively poorly for the common presentations they will encounter in the community. Conversely, paediatric trainees have little exposure to community-based child health—contrary to current NHS shifts to deliver care closer to home.Two pilot schemes are currently running. Learning Together brings senior GP and paediatric trainee pairs together to run GP-based clinics. Joint consultations facilitate peer learning and specialist knowledge can then be disseminated throughout the GP practice. The pilot scheme saw hospital visits being avoided in 55% of appointments and compliance with clinical guidelines improve from 57% to 76%. “Although the clinics are primarily a training initiative, they also represent an educational intervention leading development of services”, says Chloe Macaulay, London clinical lead. She also co-leads the Programme for Integrated Child Health, which brings together paediatric and GP trainees to train them to work in an integrated way and lead the development of integrated services.The two Royal Colleges have correctly identified that breaking down the divisions between these two traditional specialist silos is vital if the NHS is to deliver high-quality child and family centred care. The pilot schemes represent a key first step to achieving the laudable vision described in this position paper, but further action is urgently needed if improvements are to be achieved quickly enough to benefit the UK's current generation of children.For more on Learning Together see http://www.learningtogether.org.uk Bringing general practitioner (GP) and paediatric trainees together for shared training could improve children's health care says a new position paper published jointly by the UK's Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) on May 13, 2016. “Despite the high quality of specialist GP and paediatric training in the UK, children still face relatively poor health outcomes when compared to other comparable countries”, said David Evans of the RCPCH. Children are estimated to make up a quarter of a GP's average workload, but less than 25% of GP trainees are able to undertake paediatric placements during training. These secondary-care-based placements might prepare GPs relatively poorly for the common presentations they will encounter in the community. Conversely, paediatric trainees have little exposure to community-based child health—contrary to current NHS shifts to deliver care closer to home. Two pilot schemes are currently running. Learning Together brings senior GP and paediatric trainee pairs together to run GP-based clinics. Joint consultations facilitate peer learning and specialist knowledge can then be disseminated throughout the GP practice. The pilot scheme saw hospital visits being avoided in 55% of appointments and compliance with clinical guidelines improve from 57% to 76%. “Although the clinics are primarily a training initiative, they also represent an educational intervention leading development of services”, says Chloe Macaulay, London clinical lead. She also co-leads the Programme for Integrated Child Health, which brings together paediatric and GP trainees to train them to work in an integrated way and lead the development of integrated services. The two Royal Colleges have correctly identified that breaking down the divisions between these two traditional specialist silos is vital if the NHS is to deliver high-quality child and family centred care. The pilot schemes represent a key first step to achieving the laudable vision described in this position paper, but further action is urgently needed if improvements are to be achieved quickly enough to benefit the UK's current generation of children. For more on Learning Together see http://www.learningtogether.org.uk For more on Learning Together see http://www.learningtogether.org.uk For more on Learning Together see http://www.learningtogether.org.uk