Primary Care Cluster

What is a primary care cluster?

Clusters are groups of local health and social care organisations working together to improve the health and wellbeing of people in their area.

The Central Vale Cluster supports around 64,000 patients across 7 GP practices in Barry and Sully.

The aim is to bring care closer to home and better co-ordinate local healthcare services for everyone.

 

What is a cluster responsible for?

Since 2014, the Central Vale Cluster has developed a range of projects to improve access to care, support patients, and help GP practices work more efficiently together.

Funding is provided by the Welsh Government to support projects that:

  • Improve local health care - Clusters bring together GPs, pharmacists, dentists, optometrists, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to plan and deliver services tailored to the needs of the local communities.
  • Enhancing access to care - Clusters work to improve patient access to healthcare by developing new services, supporting prevention and early intervention, and ensuring better coordination between different care providers.
  • Address community health priorities - Each cluster identifies key health challenges in their area and implements targeted initiatives to improve population health and wellbeing. An example of this could be mental health support and managing long-term conditions.  

These projects are led by local GP practices, working closely with community partners to deliver better, more joined-up care.

 

Central Vale Cluster

There’s more to Barry than the beach, amusement park and Gavin and Stacey. There is also a burgeoning independent food and retail scene, and to top it all a cohesive and forward thinking cluster!

The central vale cluster comprises 6 practices from the Barry and Sully area. We have developed many innovative projects, some of which have spread beyond our cluster (the first point of contact physio model in place in Cardiff in the Vale was started in the central vale cluster). We have a solid ethos of supporting each other’s practices, which particularly developed during the pandemic.

As well as our own practice, surgeries within our cluster include:

  • Court Road Surgery
  • West Quay Medical Centre
  • Sully Surgery
  • The Waterfront Medical Centre
  • Vale Group Practice

Sustainability for primary care is at the core of what we do, and all of our projects are developed with this aim included. We currently have projects running to support mental health, MSK, phlebotomy, and wellbeing, with new projects including paramedics and a pain clinic due to start shortly.

Additionally we are deeply involved as a pathfinder for national work on acute unscheduled care, and have attracted additional funding from WAG to set up and develop an MDT model of acute unscheduled primary care. We have designed and set up an acute unscheduled care hub in Barry, which is being used as an example that may shape the future direction of acute unscheduled primary care in Wales in the future.

 

Key projects and improvements

Pharmacists in GP practices
Pharmacists were first introduced across the cluster to test the model. Following its success, most GP practices now have their own pharmacist as part of the team.

First contact physiotherapy
Patients with joint or muscle problems can now be seen directly by a physiotherapist, without needing to see a GP first.

Mental health support
Working in partnership with MIND to provide support for people experiencing mental health difficulties.

Acute care hub
A same-day service for urgent medical problems across the cluster, helping patients get quicker care while allowing GP practices to focus on more complex cases.

Flu vaccinations for housebound patients
Delivering flu vaccines directly to patients who are unable to leave their homes.

COVID-19 response and safety improvements
Supporting practices with equipment, safety changes, and resources to enable safe care during the pandemic, including the COVID-19 vaccination rollout.