GP Practice Team
This guide introduces you to the roles working alongside your GP practice team in providing you and your family timely, tailored care.
When you visit your GP Practice, you’re supported by a whole team of healthcare professionals who work both at your surgery and within the wider community to help you stay well and receive the right care when you need it.
Many people are familiar with GPs, nurses, and healthcare assistants, but may not realise there are also other professionals working behind the scenes and alongside your GP to support your health. These include specially trained experts such as clinical pharmacists, mental health practitioners, paramedics, social prescribers, and health and wellbeing coaches.
While you might not always see a doctor, you’ll always see the right person for your needs. This ensures you get timely, expert care from the most appropriate professional.
The mix of healthcare professionals in each GP Practice may vary. Your practice will decide which roles are needed based on the health and wellbeing needs of the local community, and every member of the team is here to help you and your family with compassion, expertise, and respect. By sharing their skills and working collaboratively, they make it easier for you to access the care you need and ensure that those with more complex needs receive timely, tailored support.
Your GP Practice Team – here to help you
Your GP Reception team
As your first point of contact for phone or in person enquiries, your GP Reception team are there to efficiently help navigate you to the most appropriate health professional or service.
Members of your general practice’s reception team are specially trained to use the information you provide to help identify which health professional or local service is best placed to help you, so it’s important to give them as much information as possible. Any information that you discuss with the reception team will remain confidential. GP receptionists asking about the nature of your call is generally not about being nosy or trying to prevent you from seeing a doctor. Instead, it’s a crucial part of how our GP practices manage patient care efficiently and effectively. This process is often referred to as “care navigation” or “signposting.”
While it’s highly recommended to give at least a brief reason, you are not legally obliged to disclose detailed medical information to the receptionist if you are uncomfortable. You can usually say that the matter is “personal” or “private” and that you only wish to discuss it with the doctor. In such cases, the receptionist should respect your wishes, though it might mean they can’t fully “care navigate” you to the most efficient service immediately.
Scroll down and find out more about who you might see and what they can do for you.
Working together to keep your care safe, connected, and accessible
Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs)
Who they are:
Highly experienced and specially trained nurses who can do many of the things a doctor can do, especially for common health problems.
What they do:
- They diagnose illnesses and can prescribe medication if needed.
- They perform physical exams and order tests, X-rays, or other scans if required to help understand your condition.
- They refer patients to specialists and help individuals with ongoing health issues, such as asthma or diabetes, ensuring they receive the appropriate care.
How they help you:
For most everyday illnesses, minor injuries, or routine check-ups, an ANP is perfectly qualified and skilled to help you, and you might get seen quicker than waiting for a GP. If an ANP assesses your condition and believes it is more serious or complicated, they will always discuss it with a doctor or arrange for you to see one.
How they help the NHS:
When patients are seen by an ANP for common issues, it allows the GPs to focus their time and expertise on patients with more complex, serious, acute health problems.
Ageing Well Practitioners
Who they are:
Trained practitioners, often registered nurses, who focus on promoting health and well-being in older adults, to prevent or delay the onset of age-related health issues.
What they do:
• Work alongside the paramedics, providing proactive clinical care and advice to patients and their families with complex needs.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to maintain continuity of care.
• Complete referrals to other agencies and services as required.
• Case management for patients with severe frailty and dementia.
• Future care planning and palliative support visits (if specialist palliative care is not required)
How they help you:
To help improve the quality of life and avoid unnecessary hospital admissions for you or your loved ones.
How they help the NHS:
By focusing on prevention, proactive care, and integrated support for older people, Ageing Well Practitioners alleviate pressure on acute services and improve the overall health and well-being of the ageing population.
Care Co-ordinators
Who they are:
Non-clinical staff who work alongside your GP and other health professionals to help you manage your health and well-being, and provide support, in particular if you live with long-term or complex conditions.
What they do:
- Work closely with you, your GP, and other healthcare professionals as part of a multidisciplinary team to ensure your healthcare is well-organised.
- Organise structured medication review appointments for you with a Clinical Pharmacist.
- Invite you to attend medical review appointments, follow-ups, and treatment across various services.
- Connect you to Community SWITCH and other resources, such as local groups, activities, and services in the community, that can help you manage your health, support your quality of life, and emotional well-being.
How they help you:
They make your care more seamless and less confusing by acting as a central point between services, ensuring you don’t fall through the cracks.
How they help the NHS:
Care Co-ordinators improve the continuity and integration of care with other services, ensuring patients don’t fall through the cracks, especially those with complex or ongoing needs.
Clinical Pharmacists
Who they are:
Highly qualified experts in medicines, with advanced training in how medications work and interact.
What they do:
- Conduct structured medication reviews to ensure your medications are safe and effective
- Help manage long-term conditions, such as high blood pressure, asthma, and diabetes
- Provide advice on potential side effects, changes, or alternatives to medications.
- Can sometimes prescribe medications (with the right qualifications).
How they help you:
To help improve the quality of life and avoid unnecessary hospital admissions for you or your loved ones.
How they help the NHS:
By focusing on prevention, proactive care, and integrated support for older people, Ageing Well Practitioners alleviate pressure on acute services and improve the overall health and well-being of the ageing population.
Data and Digital Care Co-ordinators
Who they are:
Digital Care Co-ordinators are non-clinical staff members who work alongside your healthcare team to help you make the most of digital tools and services that support your health and well-being.
What they do:
- Gather and review data from digital health platforms to spot trends and suggest improvements to patient care.
- Introduce and support new technology, showing you and your healthcare team how to use tools like the NHS App, online appointment systems, and devices for monitoring your health at home (such as Viso BP@Home).
- Work with the entire care team to explore new ways of supporting patients using digital tools.
- Support digital health projects in your local area to make services more effective and easier to use.
How they help you:
They can help you navigate existing and new digital health services as they become available, allowing you to use these resources more effectively. By providing you with easier access to your health information and tools, they empower you to manage your health, mental health, well-being, and long-term conditions more effectively.
How they help the NHS:
By helping patients use digital tools, Digital Care Co-ordinators take pressure off busy GP practices. They reduce the need for phone calls and admin tasks, allowing the healthcare team to focus more on patient care. By showing patients how to manage their health digitally, they encourage them to take a more active role in their care, which can lead to improved health and fewer last-minute or emergency appointments.
GP Registrars (Training Doctors)
Who they are:
Qualified doctors who have usually completed several years of hospital work (like Accident & Emergency, Paediatrics, or Medicine) and are now undertaking their final stage of specialist training to become a fully independent General Practitioner (GP).
What they do:
- They run their own clinics and see patients with a full range of medical problems, from simple coughs to complex long-term conditions.
- They prescribe medication, arrange blood tests, and make referrals, just like an established GP.
- They are closely supervised by an experienced, senior GP within the practice (known as their Trainer or Educational Supervisor).
- As part of their training, they may occasionally audio or video record consultations (only with the patient's full consent) or ask their Trainer to sit in.
How they help you:
They bring the latest medical knowledge and recent hospital experience to your care. Because they are training, they often have more time set aside for appointments and can offer a fresh perspective on your health concerns.
How they help the NHS:
The GP Practice plays a vital role in training the future NHS workforce. By supporting GP Registrars, the practice ensures there will be enough fully qualified doctors to serve the local community and the wider NHS in the future.
Health and Well-being Coaches
Who they are:
Accredited non-clinical professionals who are trained to provide unique support and coaching to help individuals achieve their health and well-being goals.
What they do:
- Listen with empathy and without judgment.
- Help you explore practical ways to self-manage your health and well-being.
- Support you to feel more confident, positive and in control to meet life’s challenges.
How they help you:
Whether you’re adjusting to a new health diagnosis, struggling with anxiety, or simply feeling overwhelmed, you can receive dedicated one-on-one coaching support sessions to help you find clarity and confidence again.
How they help the NHS:
Empowering patients to manage their health and well-being proactively, promoting preventative care, and freeing up appointments with other healthcare professionals in the GP Surgery.
Mental Health Practitioners (via partnership with Mental Health Trusts)
Who they are:
Experienced mental health professionals, such as nurses, social workers, or therapists, who specialise in adult mental health for patients aged 18 or older.
What they do:
- Offer early support for anxiety, depression, low mood, or emotional distress.
- Provide mental health assessments and short-term therapy or support.
- Help connect you with local mental health services if needed.
How they help you:
You can speak to them directly (through your GP surgery) instead of waiting for a referral to a mental health service.
How they help the NHS:
By providing assessment, support, and brief interventions for common mental health conditions in a primary care setting, this improves early access to mental health support.
Paramedics
Who they are:
Highly trained paramedics who support the team at your GP practice as part of a multidisciplinary team, carrying out triage and assessment of patients and providing care and treatments for patients at home.
What they do:
At a GP’s request, they will
- Conduct urgent same-day home visits, especially for housebound or frail patients.
- Assess and treat minor illnesses or injuries.
- Take urgent blood tests.
- Arrange for x-rays and organise hospital admissions if required.
How they help you:
They can help you receive timely care closer to home for urgent, non-life-threatening conditions, conduct home visits, and support acute care.
How they help the NHS:
They support GPs in delivering fast, responsive care and help manage the daily workload – including home visits - more efficiently, while timely interventions can reduce the risk of hospital admissions.
PCN Healthcare Assistants
What they do:
- Carry out routine clinical tasks for housebound patients or those in a care home. This may include diabetic reviews, blood tests, minor wound care, vaccinations (e.g., COVID-19, flu, pneumococcal, B12, Shingles), and general observations.
- Work alongside the paramedics, providing proactive clinical care and advice to patients and their families with complex needs.
- At the direction of the GP Practice, the PCN Healthcare assistant may perform safety and well-being checks on housebound patients.
How they help you:
By ensuring that you or a loved one can access quality care even if they are unable to attend a GP surgery.
How they help the NHS:
Undertaking home and care home visits, which would otherwise require a healthcare professional, enables more clinical time to be available for meeting the healthcare needs of patients who can visit their surgery.
Pharmacy Technicians
Who they are:
Trained professionals who work alongside clinical pharmacists to support medicine-related tasks.
What they do:
- Help review your medication records for accuracy.
- Support repeat prescriptions and medication changes after hospital discharge.
- Monitor high-risk drugs and provide guidance on using medicines safely.
- How they help you:
They support the safe management of medicines and help reduce waiting times for prescriptions and reviews.
How they help the NHS:
Pharmacy Technicians work behind the scenes to ensure medication records and prescriptions are managed effectively and efficiently.
Physician Associates
Who they are:
Physician Associates (PAs) are healthcare professionals who work as part of a multidisciplinary team, supporting doctors in the diagnosis and management of patients. PAs always work under the supervision of a named senior doctor (a GMC-registered consultant or GP), and since December 2024, newly qualified Physician Associates are required to be registered with the General Medical Council (GMC)
What they do:
- Taking comprehensive medical histories from patients.
- Performing physical examinations and identifying possible diseases or conditions that could be causing a patient’s symptoms.
- Propose treatment plans to present to a senior doctor.
How they help you:
Having a PA in your GP practice expands the team’s capacity, which can often translate into quicker access to care, more time during appointments, and effective management of many common health issues for you.
How they help the NHS:
PAs expand the capacity of the medical workforce, helping to ease the workload on doctors and improve patient access to care. By handling routine tasks and less complex cases, PAs can free up doctors’ time to focus on more complex patients or training requirements.
Social Prescribers
Who they are:
Non-clinical staff who focus on your overall well-being by listening and supporting you to address non-medical issues that may be affecting your health and well-being.
What they do:
- Help with social, emotional, or practical challenges that affect your health—like loneliness, housing, finances, or caring responsibilities.
- Connect you to Community SWITCH and other resources, such as local groups, activities, and services in the community, that can help you manage your health, support your quality of life, and emotional well-being.
How they help you:
By supporting your well-being in ways that go beyond medicine, Social Prescribers can help you feel more confident, connected, and in control.
How they help the NHS:
They help tackle a patient’s underlying issues, which may lead to repeat appointments. By supporting patients with non-clinical needs, this frees up GP time for medical care.
Allied healthcare professionals you may also see
Community Midwives
Who they are:
Specialist healthcare professionals responsible for the care of expectant and new mothers and their babies, both before and after birth. They are usually employed by the local NHS hospital trust but work closely with the GP practice.
What they do:
- Provide antenatal (before birth) clinics at the GP practice or a local community centre, offering advice, screening tests, and monitoring the health of both the mother and baby.
- Offer postnatal (after birth) care and support in the mother's home, checking on the baby's feeding and development and the mother's recovery.
- Act as the main point of contact throughout pregnancy, coordinating care with GPs, hospital obstetricians, and other specialists when needed.
- Provide advice on healthy pregnancy, preparation for labour, and infant feeding.
How they help you:
They provide continuity of care and specialist support during one of the most important times of life. By having clinics based at the practice, they offer convenient and familiar care close to home, helping to ensure a healthy and safe pregnancy and transition to parenthood.
How they help the NHS:
By working out of the GP practice, they ensure seamless, local care for pregnant women, coordinating regular check-ups that are essential for early detection of potential issues. This integration of maternity care helps to reduce the burden on hospital-based services.
District Nurses
Who they are:
Registered nurses who provide skilled nursing care to patients in their own homes or other community settings (like residential homes). They specialise in long-term and complex care outside of the hospital or GP practice.
What they do:
- Provide essential medical care at home, such as wound care (dressing changes), administering injections, managing catheters, and checking vital signs.
- Support patients and their families with palliative and end-of-life care, working to keep patients comfortable at home.
- Assess patients for necessary equipment or adaptations to their homes to help them maintain independence and mobility.
- Monitor and manage long-term conditions for housebound patients, ensuring their care plan is followed.
How they help you:
They provide specialised, essential nursing care to those who are too ill, frail, or housebound to attend the GP practice or clinic. Their support allows patients with complex needs or those nearing the end of life to remain in the comfort and familiarity of their own home.
How they help the NHS:
They help prevent unnecessary hospital admissions and speed up hospital discharges by delivering high-quality, continuous medical care in the community. They are critical for managing the care of the frailest and most vulnerable patients.
Health Visitors
Who they are:
Registered nurses or midwives with specialist public health training who focus on the health and development of children aged 0–5 years and their families. They are typically employed by the NHS trust or local authority, but work closely with your GP Practice.
What they do:
- Provide the Universal Partnership Programme, which includes scheduled home visits and check-ups at key times (e.g., during pregnancy, after birth, and at ages 1 and 2).
- Assess your child’s development, including their physical growth, language skills, and emotional wellbeing.
- Offer expert advice and support on subjects like breastfeeding, parenting, mental health (especially postnatal depression), accident prevention, and managing common childhood illnesses.
- Connect families to local services and support groups in the community.
How they help you:
They are a key source of expert advice and support during the early years of your child's life, helping you feel confident and supported in your parenting journey. They help ensure your child reaches their full potential and can assist the family with any health or social challenges.
How they help the NHS:
By focusing on early intervention and prevention, Health Visitors tackle health issues before they become serious. This support helps improve long-term outcomes for children and families, reducing the need for reactive services like GP visits and hospital care later on.
Page created: 26 October 2025
