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Care Navigation

The NAPC’s bespoke Care Navigation programme is training to systems/PCNs/GP practices across the country. NHS England found that effective care navigation could direct over 15% of patients to either teams that could better help them or to the most appropriate healthcare professional for assessment and response – without the need to see a GP.

We recognise the important role frontline staff in primary care can play in signposting to sources of help, advocacy and support, which helps people to feel empowered to take action to support their own health and wellbeing and in turn improves access to primary care services.

We have released new dates for the programme!

Register your interest here

We offer:

  • different levels of training dependent on the skills/experience of the staff /practice
  • training to large numbers of staff and equally small groups
  • training aligned to the HEE/NHSE framework by experienced facilitators who understand primary and community care
  • bespoke/tailored support and work with the system/PCN/ practice to align the training to the local model/ambitions
  • follow–up support to embed the training and work with local primary/community /VCSE orgs to develop pathways/areas of support that enhance the role of care navigation

Care navigation is highlighted in the NHS England ‘Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care’ as playing a ‘critical role’ in supporting patients to receive faster navigation, assessment and responses.

If you’d like to talk to us about this, please email NAPC@NAPC.co.uk

I feel I have made changes to patients’ lives that have really helped them, and they appreciate the time that Care Navigation staff take to support them.

Read the case study

Introducing the Digital Front Door Care Navigation Module

Building on NAPC’s proven care navigation programme, our new Digital Front Door (DFD) module reimagines access to care in General Practice through a human-centred, digitally enabled lens. This next evolution integrates population health principles with cutting-edge digital tools to create a seamless experience for both patients and staff. By embedding behavioural science, cognitive ergonomics, and systems thinking, the module ensures that technology enhances decision-making, equity, and patient satisfaction.

Empowering Staff and Patients Through Digital Literacy

Modern care navigation cannot succeed without a digitally confident workforce. Our programme addresses one of the most persistent barriers to digital transformation: staff digital literacy. The DFD module includes tailored training and support to ensure frontline teams can confidently use digital tools to guide patients to the right care, at the right time. Internally, this strengthens triage and workflow efficiency; externally, it improves patient engagement and trust in digital-first services.

Co-Designing for Inclusion and Impact

True transformation requires co-production. The DFD module prioritises inclusive patient engagement, especially among younger, digitally fluent populations and underrepresented groups in Patient Participation Groups (PPGs). By involving patients in the design and testing of digital pathways, such as virtual reception models and chatbot triage, we ensure services reflect real-world needs and reduce digital exclusion. This approach fosters empathy, usability, and shared ownership of care access.

A Vision for Future-Ready Primary Care

Aligned with NHS priorities including the Fuller Stocktake and Primary Care Access Recovery Plans, our vision is clear: a person-centred, data-informed care navigation model that bridges the gap between people and systems. Through human-centred design, we prototype, test, and refine digital access solutions that reduce cognitive burden, safeguard clinician time, and improve equity. The result is a care navigation system that is intuitive, reliable, and ready for the future of primary care.

Core Principles:

  • Empathise: Understand real-world patient journeys and staff workflows.
  • Define: Identify friction points, digital exclusion, appointment bottlenecks, misdirected demand, and population health gaps.
  • Ideate: Co-design solutions using patient archetypes and lived experience.
  • Prototype: Test digital triage pathways, chatbots, and virtual reception models.
  • Evaluate: Apply usability testing, human reliability assessments, and population health metrics to refine systems.

Interested in signing up? Email care.navigation@napc.co.uk