Sefton practices demonstrate the impact of investing in proactive, preventative and community-based care
Tuesday, 18 August 2026
Sefton Local Quality Contract Phase 11
The completion of the Local Quality Contract (LQC) Phase 11 evaluation provides clear evidence of the difference that primary care continues to make for local people across Sefton.
The aim of the LQC is to invest in the capacity needed to deliver a consistently higher standard of care in general practice, and deliver schemes which result in quality improvements, efficiencies in spend elsewhere in the health economy, and sustainability of general practice.
Working collectively across 39 GP practices, the programme has supported the delivery of proactive, preventative and person-centred care at scale, while strengthening neighbourhood working, reducing health inequalities and improving access to services closer to home.
The findings demonstrate the significant contribution general practice is making to both local priorities and the wider NHS ambition to shift care from hospitals into communities.
An outstanding year of achievement
This infographic summary highlights the remarkable scale of delivery achieved during 2025/26, with over 271,000 positive patient impacts recorded across a broad range of clinical and operational initiatives.
Some of the headline achievements include:
- 2,166 end of life care plans shared with Out of Hours services and North West Ambulance Service
- 21,288 additional appointments delivered to support winter resilience
- 54,422 patient contacts supporting the uptake of digital services
- 28,611 pulse checks completed, identifying 640 previously undiagnosed patients with atrial fibrillation
- 6,335 bowel screening reminders resulting in increased participation
- 1,958 Serious Mental Illness health checks resulting in the highest uptake of ever in Sefton
- £1.49 million in prescribing quality savings achieved through the Prescribing Quality Scheme.
These achievements reflect the commitment, innovation and hard work of practice teams across Sefton and their determination to improve outcomes for patients.
Supporting the NHS shift towards neighbourhood health
A key theme throughout the evaluation is the strong alignment between the LQC and the emerging Neighbourhood Health agenda.
By identifying people earlier, delivering more care in community settings and strengthening partnerships between general practice, community services and specialist providers, the programme demonstrates the practical implementation of neighbourhood-based care.
Examples include:
- Proactive identification and management of frailty, dementia, osteoporosis and liver disease.
- Improved care coordination for people living with serious mental illness through collaboration with Mersey Care.
- End of life care planning shared across services to enable more coordinated and personalised care.
- Expansion of services such as phlebotomy, drug administration and ABPI testing within primary care settings.
- Targeted support for vulnerable groups including carers, veterans, LGBTQ+ communities and Gypsy and Traveller populations.
This approach not only improves patient experience but also helps reduce demand on urgent and secondary care services by intervening earlier and delivering care closer to home.
Improving outcomes for patients
At its heart, the LQC is about improving care for patients.
The Phase 11 evaluation demonstrates how practices have used the programme to focus on prevention, early diagnosis and personalised care.
Patients have benefited through:
- Earlier identification of previously undiagnosed conditions, including atrial fibrillation, dementia, osteoporosis and depression.
- Safer prescribing and structured reviews for long-term conditions such as chronic kidney disease, asthma and anticoagulation therapy.
- Enhanced support for patients approaching the end of life, helping more people receive care aligned to their wishes.
- Improved access to cancer information and safety-netting advice following suspected cancer referrals.
- Increased uptake of national screening programmes and preventative interventions.
The evaluation also highlights significant progress in reducing health inequalities through targeted work with people who traditionally face barriers to accessing healthcare, including patients with serious mental illness and those requiring reasonable adjustments.
Investing in sustainability and system resilience
The programme has also strengthened the sustainability of general practice by investing in workforce development, digital transformation and additional capacity.
The Digital Champion programme supported staff development across practices, while digital inclusion initiatives helped thousands more patients access NHS online services and prescription ordering platforms. Practices also delivered over 21,000 additional appointments and increased support during winter pressures, helping maintain access for local communities.
Importantly, the evaluation concludes that the LQC has contributed to greater consistency of care across Sefton, supported partnership working across organisations and provided strong value for money through quality improvements and efficiencies elsewhere in the health system.
Thank you to our practices
The success of Phase 11 reflects the dedication of GP practices, practice managers, clinicians, administrative teams, Primary Care Networks, Medicines Management colleagues and partner organisations who have worked collaboratively to deliver these outcomes.
Together, they have demonstrated how investment in primary care can improve population health, support neighbourhood health models and deliver tangible benefits for patients.
Evaluation report
The full evaluation report contains detailed analysis of each scheme delivered through the LQC Phase 11 programme, evidence of impact and recommendations for future development.