Practitioners with Special Interests (PwSIs)

Guidance and competencies for the provision of services using Practitioners with Special Interests
January 2009

Practioners with Special Interests (PwSIs) frameworks

These specialty frameworks, launched in September 2008, aim to facilitate the delivery and accreditation of services in primary and community settings. They were commissioned by the DH and have been developed by the Royal College of General Practitioners with support from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and NHS Primary Care Commissioning. They replace existing frameworks developed from 2003. See also the directions, which come into force in April 2009.

General practitioners and pharmacists (GPwSIs and PhwSIs)

Cardiology
Dermatology and skin surgery (published 2007)
Diabetes
Epilepsy
Genetics
Headache
Learning disabilities
Mental health
Older people
Pain management
Palliative care
Respiratory
Sexual health
Substance misuse
Urgent & emergency care

General practitioners (GPwSIs)

Pharmacists (PhwSIs)

Department of Health introductory guides

Our Health, Our Care, Our Say - a New Direction for Community Services reinforced the importance of services provided by healthcare professionals working in community settings, and both practitioners with special interests (PwSIs) and NHS specialist staff have key roles in the delivery of such services.

The following guides were published in 2007 under the series title Implementing Care Closer to Home: Convenient Quality Care for Patients

Click the link below for a Word version of sample PwSI applications for accreditation and reaccreditation.

PCTs may use this to develop their own documentation.

Click here for the link to the DH site

Directions for PwSI accreditation

The directions for PwSI accreditation came into force on 1 June 2007. They describe PCTs' responsibilities to have regard to the provisions of the guidance Implementing Care Closer to Home: Convenient Quality for Patients – Part 3: The accreditation of GPs and Pharmacists with Special Interests, when commissioning, assessing or accrediting any service provided by a GP or pharmacist with a special interest. PCTs need to comply with these directions by 1 April 2009.

The full text is available here on the DH site