Care Coordinator

Overview of the role

Care Coordination enriches the skill mix of primary care teams. Care coordinators will play an important role within a PCN to proactively identify and work with people, including the frail/elderly and those with multiple long-term physical and mental health conditions, to provide coordination and navigation of care and support across health and care services and/or through primary care and secondary care.

The care coordinator role will ensure patient health and care planning is timely, efficient, and patient-centred. This is achieved by bringing together all the information about a person’s identified care and support needs and exploring options to meet these.

• The care coordinator will work with people individually, building trusting relationships, listening closely and working with them to develop a personalised care and support plan, based on what matters to the person.
• They will review people’s identified needs and help to connect them to the services and support they require, whether within the practice or elsewhere – for example, community and hospital-based services.
• They may support people in preparing for or following up clinical conversations they have with healthcare professionals, to enable them to be actively involved in managing their care and supported to make choices that are right for them.

Care co-ordinators are effective in bringing together multidisciplinary teams to support people’s complex health and care needs and support a joined-up way of working. They can facilitate referrals and conversations to ensure timely care and access to specialists, GPs, community services etc. In many cases they play a role in the initial set up of an MDT and championing a proactive approach to people’s care. As care co-ordinators act as a single point of contact for people they are a crucial link for teams, including staff in care homes, primary care, community care and secondary care.

NHS England DES Contract Specification 2025/2026 – PCN Requirements and entitlements

Training and Development

The Workforce development framework for care co-ordinators provides guidance for care co-ordinators in the NHS and those employing them. It sets out professional standards and competencies, gives guidance on supervision, training, and continuous professional development. However, employers should recognise that care co-ordinators working in specific settings or with specific groups (for example, care homes, end of life care, perioperative services, anticipatory care) will need additional knowledge, skills and training.

Employers should support care co-ordinators in their CPD by giving them dedicated time, and where necessary funding, for training and CPD.

Care co-ordinators come to the role with a wide variety of transferable skills and experiences. However, a basic level of training is needed before care co-ordinators should take referrals. This is important for all care co-ordinators to work safely and effectively, but particularly for those who have never worked in the NHS before.

Mandatory as per the PCN DES contract:

• Personalised Care accredited 2-day Care Co-ordination course (varying delivery depending on chosen training provider – in-person / virtual) – Fee paying
• Personalised Care and Support Planning (PCSP) (e-learning) – Free
• Shared Decision Making (e-learning) – Free

Where a PCN employs or engages a Care Coordinator under the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, the PCN must ensure that the Care Coordinator is enrolled in, undertaking or qualified from appropriate training as set out by the Personalised Care Institute as set out in the Workforce Development Framework for Care Co-ordinators, including training, or apprenticeships to obtain a level three standard

Additional free training and support:

The Personalised Care Institute allows you to choose from short 30 min modules designed to introduce you to a range of personalised care curriculum topics and some deeper dive courses containing several modules.

There is also a variety of e-learning sessions that can be found on E-Learning for Health.

Additional training that could support the role provided by the Training Hub:

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Training Hub allows you to choose from a variety of funded or subsidised training sessions as well as signposting to external training offered and can be found in our training and events calendar.

Care co-ordinators who are new to working in health and care may also benefit from completing the Care Certificate as part of their induction to ensure they can provide a compassionate and caring service

Apprenticeships:

The Community Health and Wellbeing Worker (Level 3) is the official national standard used for personalised care roles and matches the core functions of a Care Co-ordinator – Supporting personalised care, navigating people through systems, connecting people to services and addressing health inequalities. It is recognised by NHS England and PCI as a valid training pathway for care coordinator development.

The Community Health and Wellbeing Worker apprenticeship can be found through the personalised care institute recognised training providers or you can search for your own training provider

There are many other apprenticeships that can support the care coordinator role too, depending on your development needs including Business Administration (Level 3), Coaching and Mentoring (Level 5), Team Leader (Level 2) etc…

To find out more about what an apprenticeship is and the process to get started please click here: Apprenticeships in Primary Care – Training Hub or contact the training hub to get started.

Additional support for the role:

CPD for further training, accredited training or qualification – The Training Hub has limited funding to support your personal development with a 75% contribution (capped at £250) towards training or qualifications.

Mentoring for Personalised Care Roles – The Training Hub also offer mentoring for personalised care roles. Coaching is a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires individuals to maximise their personal and professional potential. It helps to boost morale, increase motivation, engage enthusiasm, reduce levels of stress, improve self-confidence and performance and encourage a more proactive approach to addressing issues and making decisions.

Digital Support– The Training Hub offers digital training to support Practice and PCN staff in developing competencies and proficiency in digital tools, including clinical reporting, data use, and wider digital transformation and integration.

Supporting resources:

Resources Archive – Training Hub

NHS Futures Platform

Supervision and Mentoring

Good supervision arrangements for care co-ordinators are crucial to ensure they practice safely and effectively. Supervisors should have a good understanding of the role of a care co-ordinator and be trained in providing supervision. Care co-ordinators should be able to discuss patient related concerns, with a member of staff who can follow up on arising issues and be supported to follow appropriate safeguarding procedures.

Supervision Requirements (Defined in the PCN DES)

• A PCN’s Core Network Practices must identify a first point of contact for general advice and support and (if different) a member of staff with relevant competencies, as described in the Workforce Development Framework to provide supervision. This could be provided by one or more named individuals within the PCN.
• A PCN will ensure the PCN’s Care Coordinator(s) can discuss patient related concerns and be supported to follow appropriate safeguarding procedures (e.g. abuse, domestic violence and support with mental health) with a relevant GP
• A PCN must ensure that all staff working in practices that are members of the PCN are aware of the identity of the PCN’s Care Coordinator(s).

The Workforce Development Framework notes that supervisors should be experienced members of staff with a good understanding of the role of a care co-ordinator and ideally an understanding of advanced communication skills. It is recommended that supervision should take place on a minimum of a monthly basis (for full time staff) and this could be provided by one or more named individuals. New, less experienced care co-ordinators may need more frequent supervision in the first six months as they learn about the role and the setting they are working in

Care co-ordinators should be able to discuss patient related concerns (for example, abuse, domestic violence and support with mental health) with a senior member of staff and be supported to follow appropriate safeguarding procedures. Regardless of the setting the care co-ordinator works in, it should be clear who they need to speak to in the first instance about any patient-related concerns.