Nurses' experiences of working in emerging primary care groups.

Primary care in England is being restructured and reorganized around primary care groups and primary care trusts, and a new system of clinical governance has been put in place to standardise levels of clinical care. There has been little exploration of the effect of these changes on the working practices of nurses in primary care. Telephone interviews were conducted with 20 nurses working in two primary care groups. The participants described an involvement in traditional roles within primary care. Access to information was problematic, with poor information technology support a particular problem. The respondents reported limited engagement with the primary care groups and the implementation of clinical governance. Ongoing staff shortages and the resulting increased workloads were identified as 'disablers' that need to be addressed as they will limit the capacity of the nurses to embrace new ways of working and prevent full engagement in the primary care trusts.