Sharing and Developing Excellence in Primary Care

 "Promoting a 'step change' improvement in the quality and quantity of multi-disciplinary research in Wales and compete on a world stage with research of an international standard generating evidence that is locally applicable and internationally relevant to inform practice and policy in Wales and beyond."

 

The Wales School for Primary Care Research (WSPCR) is a virtual school and partnership between the Universities of Cardiff, Swansea, Glamorgan and Bangor. It is a multi-disciplinary collaboration of primary care disciplines. 

If you are interested in finding out more about potential research collaborations with the WSPCR or would like to become a researcher member of our research network, we would like to hear from you.


Primary care is fundamental to a sustainable NHS. However, the quality of care and service provision varies greatly. Post-industrialised Wales and rural Wales pose special healthcare delivery challenges. There are thus vast opportunities for development and improvement in health and in the wide range of health services delivered by many different primary care disciplines in Wales.

Several reviews of the NHS in Wales have highlighted an imbalance in the provision of health services, with an excess of the activity focusing around the acute sector. In the Review of Health and Social Care Services in Wales, Derek Wanless highlighted the strategic need for investment in primary care to reduce pressure in the acute sector.

Many policy documents accept that primary care in Wales is central to the vision of achieving sustainable, high quality services for the country. This is evidenced in the Welsh Assembly Government’s Designed for Life and complementary Designed to Deliver strategy documentation. 

The ultimate vision is to provide locally accessible services which offer patients an integrated response by appropriate clinical, health and social care professionals. However, the success of this vision ultimately depends on the existence of relevant and effective research evidence underpinning the development of high quality primary care services.

Through the Welsh Assembly Government’s announcement to fund the establishment of a “Wales School for Primary Care Research”, the development of relevant research evidence will undoubtedly have a positive future impact on the health and quality of life for the people of Wales.