Abstract

Academic Primary Care plays an important role in the NHS . Primary care educators design, deliver and oversee about 15% of the total undergraduate medical curriculum in UK medical schools, and make significant contributions to postgraduate training. Primary care research provides the main source of new evidence for cost effective primary care, guiding health policy and updating clinical practice in NHS priority areas e.g. GP workload, new service models for care of the acutely ill, payment for performance models, managing multimorbidity, and continuity of care.

But Academic Primary Care groupings within Universities are changing. Academic Primary Care is becoming less visible – indeed some have queried a future for a ‘discipline’ that is APC . In this presentation, I will draw on three areas of my own work to consider whether APC offers something distinct…above and beyond generic health services research in the primary care setting (compassionate care, blue sky research and workforce retention). And so invite you to join me in considering the implications for the future development of the discipline.