Website of the Department of Health

New guidance - Implementing care closer to home: convenient quality care for patients

Our health, our care, our say - a new direction for community services reinforced the importance of services provided by healthcare professionals working in community settings, and both Practitioners with Special Interests (PwSIs) and NHS specialist staff have a key role in the delivery of such services.

This updated national guidance aims to provide practical support to commissioners for the provision of more specialised services closer to home with the emphasis on the role of PwSIs. It also includes new robust governance arrangements for GPs and Pharmacists with Special Interests to ensure the services in which they work are safe, of a high quality and better able to meet patients’ needs in the communities in which they are located.

The guidance comprises:

• Part 1: Introduction and overview
• Part 2: Step-by-step guide to commissioning services using Practitioners with Special Interests (PwSIs)
• Part 3: The accreditation of GPs and Pharmacists with Special Interests
• The Accreditation of General Practitioners and Pharmacists with Special Interests Directions 2007
• Download Supporting Q&A (PDF, 155K)
• Implementing care closer to home - providing convenient quality care for patients: A national framework for Pharmacists with Special Interests