Winter planning often centres on what happens when patients arrive at hospital. A new programme in England puts the focus on an earlier opportunity: helping vulnerable patients stay well before they need emergency care.

Announced on 9 November, the government’s £40 million winter support programme aims to help general practice provide proactive care for up to 300,000 patients. For primary care teams, it raises a practical question: how can earlier intervention fit into an already demanding working day?

What does the programme involve? 

According to the government announcement, support will focus on patients at particular risk of becoming seriously unwell, including people living with frailty, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Depending on individual needs, care could include health checks, medication reviews, home assessments and nurse-led respiratory clinics. Primary care networks will be able to receive £126 for each eligible patient supported.

The ambition is to identify problems earlier and reduce avoidable hospital admissions. These are intended outcomes; the programme’s impact will need to be evaluated.

The funding also needs context. As Pulse PCN reports, the £40 million is being reallocated within existing general practice budgets for 2026/27. It should therefore be understood as ring-fenced funding for this work, rather than an additional £40 million for general practice overall.

The work behind proactive care 

For a patient, proactive care might begin with a telephone call inviting them for a review. For the practice, that contact sits within a much wider process.

Someone needs to identify the patient, arrange an appropriate appointment, understand their circumstances and make sure any resulting actions are followed through. Where several professionals or services are involved, information needs to reach the right people.

Our view is that this coordination deserves as much attention as the appointment itself. A review has greater practical value when the patient understands what happens next, the team knows who is responsible for follow-up, and changes in need can be acted on.

That makes proactive care a whole-team consideration. Practices will need to decide how clinical expertise, administrative support and available appointment capacity can work together locally.

Capacity means more than finding a spare appointment 

For practices planning their response, useful questions include:

• Which patients need support first?
• What skills and experience are needed to deliver that support?
• How will reviews and follow-up fit alongside existing appointments?
• Who will coordinate actions involving other services?
• How will continuity be maintained when different clinicians contribute?

These are workforce planning questions as well as operational ones.

Where temporary clinicians form part of a practice’s response, we believe clear preparation matters: an agreed scope of work, access to relevant systems, a useful induction and clear routes for seeking advice. The aim should be to help each professional contribute effectively within the team.

What happens after winter? 

The programme offers an opportunity to learn more about delivering proactive care, but its longer-term value will depend on what follows.

In its response, included in the government announcement, the Royal College of GPs welcomed the focus on prevention while calling for sustained investment beyond short-term initiatives.

That is an important consideration for workforce planning. Teams need the capacity to respond to immediate pressures, alongside a sustainable approach to supporting patients whose needs continue throughout the year.

Supporting the teams delivering care 

At Pertemps Medical, we believe recruitment conversations should start with the work a service needs to deliver.

For primary care, that means understanding the patient population, the skills required, the working pattern and how a clinician will fit into the existing team.

As practices prepare for winter, our Primary Care team is available to discuss staffing requirements and opportunities for healthcare professionals. The starting point is a clear understanding of what effective support needs to look like locally.

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