About Heartbeat Primary Care CIC
Heartbeat Primary Care is a community interest company owned by the GP practices of Hambleton and Richmondshire. We exist to help GP practices work collaboratively for the benefit of patients and staff.
Formed in 2014, Heartbeat and organisations like ours help General Practice respond to the changing needs of the health system. The changes in our health system require us to work more at scale across our neighbourhoods.
We aim to become indispensable to General Practice by helping to shoulder the burden of provision of care and release some of the pressure that is currently being put on practice teams.
We support our local primary care networks (groups of GP practices serving each neighbourhood) to deliver some of their services in a way that is integrated so that any inequalities can be ironed out and every patient can benefit from the very best proactive treatment and care.
Building on the strong track record of delivering safe, quality services to patients with a high level of patient satisfaction, Heartbeat has created partnerships to provide patients with healthcare solutions that meet the needs of our unique rural demographics.
Our focus directly supports Heartbeat’s mission to; improve health and meet health and care needs by supporting our North Yorkshire communities with innovative and quality services. We are placing values at the centre of the organisation and being the glue that brings a community of North Yorkshire healthcare organisations together.
Collaboration and innovation are key as we work with our network to bring new ideas to improve healthcare services and help articulate a shared view across multiple practices.
We are governed by a Board of Directors, made up of GPs, and expert non-executive directors who all bring a wealth of experience. The Board also considers it essential that the views of service users are built into any service changes, and there are a range of ways in which patients can make their views heard such as the Patient Participation Group in our Harewood Medical Practice or via our comments feedback form or feedback survey links.
What We Do
Heartbeat delivers core General Practice services from our Harewood Medical Practice to just around 8,500 patients within the Catterick Garrison.
The Better Access Service delivers additional appointments, at times that are convenient to patients outside of normal working hours in convenient locations across the Hambleton and Richmondshire localities. GP’s and ANP’s provide both same-day and routine appointments, including specialist menopause appointments, nurse’s and pharmacist’s offer chronic disease management and smears and health care assistant’s offer health checks and blood tests.
Our respiratory diagnostics service is delivered via a sub contract from our GP practices. This service involves the completion of spirometry and FeNO testing to rule out or enable a diagnosis of asthma or COPD. This service is delivered in hub locations across the localities.
We will be launching a community respiratory service in autumn 2026 staffed by expert GPs working alongside hospital specialists to provide integrated, patient-centred care for people with respiratory conditions closer to home.
The service will assess, diagnose, treat, and monitor respiratory conditions in the community, reducing unnecessary hospital visits while ensuring patients still benefit from specialist expertise. Expert GPs with advanced respiratory skills work collaboratively with hospital consultants to deliver high-quality, consistent care across settings.
Key functions include:
- Early diagnosis and assessment of conditions such as asthma, COPD, and other lung diseases
- Ongoing management and optimisation of treatment plans, including medication reviews and inhaler technique
- Rapid access clinics to prevent hospital admissions during exacerbations
- Post-hospital discharge follow-up to support recovery and reduce readmissions
- Access to specialist advice and joint clinics with hospital respiratory teams
- Patient education and self-management support to improve long-term outcomes
- Coordination of care across primary, community, and secondary services.
Overall, the service aims to improve patient outcomes, enhance access to specialist care, and reduce pressure on hospitals by delivering expert respiratory care in a more accessible community setting.
Also in autumn 2026 we will be launching a travel health vaccination service delivering both NHS and private travel vaccines at convenient locations. This will support access to travellers who currently need to travel to multiple locations to access all their travel healthcare needs.
Working with our local Primary Care Networks (PCN’s) we host some of the additional roles the PCN’s need to deliver their services, these include pharmacists who support medicines issues in practices and social prescribing roles who support patients across our area with non medical needs to improve their wellbeing and reduce health inequalities.
We are developing a range of “left shift” healthcare services, designed to move appropriate care out of hospital settings and into accessible community-based provision. In particular, we are expanding services in women’s health, focusing on areas such as menopause care, menstrual health, contraception, and early assessment of gynaecological concerns.
These services bring together expert primary care clinicians with specialist input to provide timely, holistic care closer to home, improving access, reducing waiting times, and ensuring women receive the right support earlier—while helping to relieve pressure on secondary care services.