Valens Medical Partnership joins NPC

We would like to update you in relation to the acquisition of Valens Medical Partnership by Northumbria Primary Care (NPC).

This acquisition has been approved by the partners of Valens and directors of NPC following a very thorough and detailed due diligence process.

The new GP contract clearly outlines what is expected from primary care going forward. As you may be aware some of these requirements include:

• improving access for patients
• increasing capacity to offer more integrated and holistic patient care
• strengthening workforce and resilience in services
• embracing digital technologies
• prioritising the well-being of our team and our patients

We believe that together, NPC and Valens Medical Partnership, can more readily achieve the above for our patients and colleagues as a single, larger organisation.

Valens has made significant progress in providing meaningful care navigation for patients and in the development of multi-disciplinary team working with partner organisations, including community colleagues.

NPC has continued to grow year-on-year as ten GP practices, from Northumberland and North Tyneside, have willingly joined the organisation to date. It is fair to say that NPC is fast becoming one of the leading employers in the local health system.

The senior teams of NPC and Valens have spent a significant amount of time together over the past few months to assess how aligned NPC and Valens Medical Partnership are in relation to values, culture, goals and processes. We acknowledge that there will be work to do, as with any large organisational change project.

We wish to assure stakeholders that we would not be pursuing coming together if we did not believe that we can deliver more holistic, patient centred and sustainable care for our patients as a result.

Also, at the core of our decision making is ensuring we can further develop, retain and recruit a skilled, talented and dedicated workforce and that we can embrace technology and estate opportunities to enable us to be innovative in our approach to patient care.

Working together will enable workforce stability, career/progression opportunities, a wider staffing pool for patient access and further investment in technology, processes, and our people.

We are very mindful that with any acquisition there is a process to follow. Given the scale of this acquisition, as well as board approval from NPC, it has been necessary to gain sign off by NPC’s sole shareholder, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

NPC and Valens Medical Partnership will continue to work through the detail that we need to over coming months. Part of this will be the sub-contracting of Valens services to NPC being approved by the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board and undertaking the relevant internal HR processes.

Ten practices are currently part of NPC with an eleventh currently undergoing due diligence processes with a view to join in the autumn. If the sub-contracting and internal processes go as planned, NPC will employ around 500 people and care for approximately 135,000 patients across Northumberland and North Tyneside.

While we will be able to work at scale, we know how important it will be to maintain our focus on the health of local populations. We are looking to potentially work in five geographical clusters or neighbourhoods and are working through the detail of how this could work.

It is difficult to be precise about timescales for the whole acquisition process, but we anticipate that Valens Medical Partnership will be part of NPC by January 2024.

We fully acknowledge the importance of the relationships both organisations have formed locally, regionally and nationally with a very wide and diverse range of NHS colleagues, partners and wider stakeholders.

Strong relationships are the foundation of collaboration and truly integrated patient care. Please be assured that we are committed to being transparent and keeping everyone, including our patients, updated throughout this process.