ABSTRACT
Social care services are normally run by local councils, sometimes in conjunction with local National Health Service (NHS) providers and organisations. Primary care trusts run primary and community services and commission care from a wide range of NHS and other providers. Practice-based commissioning means that healthcare professionals and patients may have a greater say in decisions about care providers. The primary healthcare team in its broadest sense includes doctors, the practice manager, practice nurses, nurse practitioner, reception, secretarial and other administrative staff, health visitors, midwives, community nursing staff, social workers, community psychiatric nurses and any other nursing specialists. The practice manager is the leader responsible for building, maintaining and co-ordinating the practice team so that the objectives are achieved and tasks completed satisfactorily. The health visitor is a trained nurse with a post-registration qualification, employed by the community health NHS trust, and working mainly as a member of the primary healthcare team.
