Continuity of Care special interest group

Bringing together GPs, health professionals and researchers to promote continuity in UK general practice.

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About the group

The Continuity of Care Special Interest Group (SIG) brings together GPs at all career stages including GP Registrars, providing a dedicated space to promote, protect, and advance continuity of care across the NHS and within the RCGP. It links across to a wider group which includes allied health professionals, academics, and researchers who are committed to strengthening and promoting continuity as a defining feature of UK general practice.

Continuity of care is linked to improved patient outcomes, reduced hospital admissions, higher patient satisfaction, and better clinician wellbeing. It reduces both morbidity and mortality. Yet modern pressures workforce shortages, rising demand, and new service models have made relational continuity with a GP harder to deliver.

The group exists to:

  • Champion continuity as a core professional value within the RCGP and wider NHS
  • Share best practice through case studies, webinars, and collaborative learning
  • Support research and evidence generation on continuity and its outcomes
  • Strengthen education for trainees and established clinicians
  • Build a community of professionals committed to relational continuity


External Stakeholders

The group collaborates with:

  • Academic and research partners
  • Clinicians and educators working on continuity‑focused initiatives
  • Allied health professionals involved in primary care continuity


Group Members

Dr-Mark-Rickenbach

Dr Mark Rickenbach

Mark has been a general practitioner, educator and research lead for thirty years in the Hampshire area, near Southampton. He is the RCGP Clinical Policy Representative for Continuity of Care. His PhD led to the General Medical Council national training survey and his sixty publications include contributions to anthologies and a book of poetry and prose "Hospital Heroes: From illness to recovery". Mark has been an Associate Dean and a Visiting Professor of healthcare. He trained in East London, worked in Portsmouth and Australia, and was an Olympic gamesmaker. His website gives three point tips on education, healthcare consultations, and appraisal.

Dr-Molly-Dineen

Dr Molly Dinnen

Molly is a GP Registrar and Academic Clinical Fellow based at the University of Bristol. Molly has an academic interest in continuity of care and she is working on research projects both nationally and internationally to try and better understand how we can deliver continuity of care to our patients. Molly is particularly interested in how we can deliver continuity of care to disadvantaged patients in underserved populations and works closely with the GPs at the Deep End Network on this.

Dr-Serge-Exeter

Dr Serge Engamba

Dr Serge Engamba is a GP in Norwich and an NIHR School for Primary Care Research (SPCR) GP Research Fellow at the University of Exeter. His work focuses on strengthening primary care research capacity, advancing industry-sponsored research in general practice, and creating pathways for frontline clinicians to engage in high-quality research. Serge is national Chair of the Primary Care Academic Collaborative (PACT), and RCGP Research SIG. As a national council member of both the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) and the Society for Academic Primary Care (SAPC), he plays an active role in national efforts to increase GP leadership in research design and conduct.

How to get involved

Use the RCGP SIG joining form to be a part of a dedicated space that promotes, protects, and advances continuity of care across the NHS and within the RCGP.

Fill in this form to join
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Resources

The NHS Futures platform provides links for the wider continuity of care group. It is open to those who are not members of the RCGP including those with NHS email addresses and, by application, those outside the NHS. 

Go to the NHS's Futures collaboration platform, then register or apply. Then Search for "Continuity of Care in General Practice" and ensure the drop down includes "entire website".

Contact us

If you are interested in joining the Continuity of Care special interest group or would like more information, please contact us and we will connect you with the appropriate person.