NHS England has given UK consultancy company Develop Consulting a substantial one-year contract to provide “General Practice Level Support” to an extra 1,000 GP practices. The work will be part of NHS England’s Primary Care Access Recovery Plan.

Max Pardo-Roques, the firm’s commercial director, who oversees critical contracts such as those with NHS England, recently said that the firm’s influence has been significant enough to attract attention well outside the health service. It has been cited in BBC stories, by government ministers and even in the dispatch box in Parliament.

The new arrangement with NHS England, which begins in April 2024, builds on an existing successful partnership and will increase Develop Consulting’s delivery of NHS England’s General Practice Improvement Programme (GPIP). Building on the consultancy’s considerable expertise after assisting over 2,000 practices in implementing productivity and workflow improvements over the last five years, Develop Consulting will now support up to 1,000 more GPs in the coming year.

Pardo-Roques, Commercial Director of Develop Consulting, stated, “With general practice continuing to face significant workload and resource pressures, there is a strong demand for proven efficiency solutions.” We are thrilled to expand our collaboration with NHS England and help thousands more professionals and patients through the critical project.”

As part of NHS England’s Time for Care programme, Develop Consulting’s team of up to 50 coaches will engage directly with practices to evaluate operations, establish new procedures and train employees. The efforts have already resulted in the unlocking of 1.2 million appointment spaces among prior programme participants and the new contract allows the team to increase capacity and appointments in primary care.