GP practices across Poole, Wimborne, Ferndown, Westbourne and Crane Valley have come together to form the new East Central Dorset Neighbourhood Partnership. This includes: Poole North PCN Poole Central PCN Poole Bay and Bournemouth PCN Shore Medical Crane Valley PCN Wimborne and Ferndown PCN Castleman Healthcare Ltd The partnership has been established in response to the NHS 10-Year Plan, which encourages health and care services to work more closely together and provide more care in local communities. Together, the partnership will support more than 280,000 people, which is around a quarter of Dorset's population. By working together, practices will be able to share expertise, resources and services, helping them respond to local needs more effectively and support people to stay well for longer. For patients, day-to-day care will remain unchanged. People will continue to be registered with their usual GP practice and routine appointments will continue as normal. Dr Simon Rees, Clinical Director at Shore Medical Primary Care Network (PCN), said, "By working together as a partnership, we have a real opportunity to do more for our patients and communities. This means we can help more people stay well and make sure general practice continues to meet local needs into the future." Jo Morris, Managing Partner at Cranborne Practice and representative for Crane Valley PCN, said, This exciting new partnership will turn forward-thinking, innovative ideas into reality for our patients. "By combining our wealth of experience and knowledge, we will continue to drive primary care forward and deliver the highest standard of care for our patients." The partnership builds on existing collaborative working across Dorset. Many practices already work together to provide services such as specialist nursing support, home visiting services and workforce support. Fiona Cleary, Chief Executive Officer at Castleman Healthcare, which supports GP practices across Wimborne and Ferndown, Poole North and Crane Valley, said, "We know that working together in this way brings real benefits. For example, our teams already provide specialist nurses, home visits for patients and support for staff. We help practices manage demand and care for people more effectively. "This partnership builds on that experience, helping practices share resources and respond to local needs more effectively." Dr Harry Gemmell, Clinical Director at Crane Valley PCN, said, "This is about working more efficiently and in a joined-up way. It means we can look at what local people need in the community to stay well, not just medical care, and respond as a partnership." Dr Neil Raha, Clinical Director at Poole Bay & Bournemouth PCN, added, "By closely working together at scale, we will be able to provide better personalised care for the community we serve and provide greater stability for general practice in these extremely challenging times." The East Central Dorset Neighbourhood Partnership will continue to develop over the coming months as partners work together to improve services and support healthier communities across the area. Ongoing updates and information about the partnership can be found on Castleman Healthcare's website.

We're pleased to share Castleman Healthcare's Annual Report 2025-26. The report reflects on the past year, highlighting the work we've undertaken with our member practices and partners to support general practice across the county. It also looks ahead to our future priorities and our continued commitment to delivering high-quality care closer to home. Inside the report you'll find updates on our services, workforce development, partnerships, governance and finances, as well as examples of how we're working together to improve care for our local communities. Read the full Annual Report 2026 below to find out more.

Castleman Healthcare, which supports GP surgeries across Dorset, has welcomed a new Chair, Dr David Hogan. Dr Hogan is a GP at Hadleigh Practice in Broadstone, one of the 12 practices that form part of the Castleman group. He was elected by the Castleman Board last Friday and is now ready to guide the organisation through its next chapter. He said, “Castleman is in a great place to keep helping shape healthcare in Dorset and beyond. We have a brilliant team and strong values like honesty and fairness. I’m really looking forward to working together to keep improving care for patients.” Alongside this appointment, Dr Christina Hawkins will continue as Vice Chair and James Leyland has been re-appointed as Director of HR. Together, this leadership team brings deep experience and shared passion for high-quality, community-based healthcare. Castleman Healthcare has just celebrated 10 years of supporting general practice across Dorset. Formed by its 12 member practices, Castleman has grown into a trusted and forward-thinking organisation that helps surgeries work together, improve care, and ease pressure on healthcare services. Castleman supports GP practices in Crane Valley, Poole North, and Wimborne and Ferndown. It has helped to bring care closer to home by running specialist diabetes clinics, supporting older people with frailty, and providing training and coaching for healthcare staff. Castleman also plays a key role in wider NHS partnerships, delivering services on behalf of the Dorset General Practice Alliance and working on projects that promote staff wellbeing, innovation and system-wide collaboration. Fiona Cleary, CEO, said, “We’re proud to have such a strong, committed leadership team. With David, Christina and James on the board, we’re well placed to build on our success so far. “Castleman has always stood for fairness, partnership and making things better for both patients and staff. With this team in place, we’re ready to take on the next decade of care.” Find out more about Castleman Healthcare at www.castlemanhealthcare.co.uk Watch Dr Hogan in a short video celebrating 10 years of Castleman Healthcare: A Decade of Difference | Castleman Healthcare

That's 10 years of care, connection and community Watch our video celebrating a decade of impact and looking ahead to a bright future! . A Decade of Difference | Castleman Healthcare

We are delighted to share that our incredible Director of HR, James Leyland, and our CEO, Fiona Cleary, have successfully completed the Cambridge Online Business Coaching Programme. This programme is accredited to Award level by the Association for Coaching, and it’s a fantastic achievement for both of them! But wait, there’s more! Stay tuned for some electrifying announcements coming your way about our brand-new coaching business offer. This is just the beginning, and we can't wait to share all the details soon!

Fantastic day at the Dorset General Practice Alliance Spring Membership Event 2025 and it was great for Castleman to support the Alliance again with managing another great event! Around 100 primary care professionals came together to share ideas, collaborate, and explore new ways to strengthen general practice in Dorset. From improving patient access, to green initiatives, to patient safety - discussions were all about finding practical solutions that will make a real difference to both patients and practices. The energy, engagement and shared commitment to delivering the best possible care was truly inspiring. Now, when's the next one?!? Check out their website! News — Dorset General Practice Alliance

Castleman is supporting our PCNs and Practices to shape and develop Integrated Neighbourhood Teams. We are doing this by working collaboratively with all stakeholders and Dorset Healthcare and our initial focus is on developing integrated community nursing teams. INTs offer us all a great opportunity to work more closely together to improve the services and healthcare we provide our local population and to do this in a way that really matters. We are bringing together clinical and non clinical teams on the 13th March in a f2f workshop and together we are going to set in motion a plan to improve the way we deliver community nursing together. Wish us luck!

Castleman, working with Dorset Healthcare, facilitated the first INT workshop today March 13th with our focus on practice and community nursing teams. Great to get to meet so many people from Dorset Healthcare and the practices and find out what everyone does each day, what works really well and what things we can change to make a difference in patient care and our workload! Lots of great ideas and actions were suggested and a commitment by all to go away and make some small things happen. We’re looking forward to our next workshop & hearing how everyone got on!

Castleman is pleased to provide training for staff in Dorset with a leadership coach Emma Hackett on behalf of our practices and The Dorset General Practice Alliance. Our bespoke training course has been developed by a leadership coach Emma Hackett and over 3 hours participants learn strategies and gain advice on how to manage difficult situations at work and how to use these to support them both within and outside the workplace. Castleman knows the benefits of leadership coaching and has invested in this support for our practice staff since 2023 and are now happy to spread the training across Dorset.

Great work by Poole North for their innovative event supporting those local pensioners who may be struggling this winter. With support from: ✅ Citizens Advice and Age UK for advice ✅ Dorset Mind to help with loneliness ✅ Health Coaches and Social Prescribers ✅ Carer Leads for extra support https://www.linkedin.com/posts/dorset-general-practice-alliance_pcnsinaction-activity-7290373875878555648-xyh8?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAADeLvMB2snHqa014C3Z4BlRFZw-PH4p8M4