'Primary Care Services' - Project Legacy

Sam Gargett became the Project Manager in June 2023 leading on multiple projects and stakeholder relationships across North Cumbria including scoping at scale working for multiple Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and practices. Sam also provided day to day management oversight of the other areas of the project including: Communications and Media, Widening Participation, Cancer Projects and the People Promise.

Sam ended her time with the initial two year project in April 2025 to become the Practice Manager at Brampton Medical Practice. Sam is now Business Manager for Brampton Medical Practice / PCN Operational Lead (Carlisle Rural)

Paul Day also joined in June 2023 as Project Manager for Communications & Media. Specialising in digital communications, multi-media / content creation, websites, social media and design he created and maintains all the various project channels. Paul previously worked as part of the Communications Team for NHS North Cumbria CCG and then the North East and North Cumbria ICB.

Paul continued his role in the project up to April 2026, helping to promote the wide range of opportunities and recruitment across primary care in North Cumbria, as well as supporting patient information/access, training, and wider health & wellbeing content.

Paul continues this work within Primary Care Collaborative North Cumbria and is Digital and Transformation Lead for Carlisle Healthcare Primary Care Network.

Kirsty Jay joined the project team in April 2024 to become the People Promise Manager. Kirsty led the People Promise project, working with Practice Managers and beyond to implement a broad range of targeted actions to help embed this national NHS People Promise initiative across all North Cumbrian GP Practices. Kirsty previously worked as Business Manager at Cumbria Health and has over 13 years of experience in the NHS, working in various administrative and managerial roles within public and private sectors.

In April 2025 Kirsty finished her one year role as the People Promise Manager but started work in as the Operational Project Manager across both the 'Primary Care Services North Cumbria' project and the developing collaborative 'Primary Care Collaborative North Cumbria'. This continues as the Collaborative develops.

Joel Vilchez joined the Primary Care Services North Cumbria project team in January 2024 as PCN Cancer Engagement Lead North Cumbria. Leading the work on Cancer Engagement, Joel collaborated with GP practices, Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and worked closely with the Northern Cancer Alliance.

Joel also previously worked as an Operational Lead for Health Records and Physical Health Psychology at North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust. Joel left the project in June 2025 to go and work at Brampton Medical Practice as their Digital and Transformation Lead, continuing with some support until April 2026. He is now in the role of Practice Manager at Brampton.

Sally Thoburn joined the team in November 2025 taking over from Joel as the PCN Cancer Engagement Lead for North Cumbria, and leads on cancer engagement work.

She brings with her a wealth of experience across the NHS. Her background spans clinical, administrative and managerial roles, giving her a well rounded understanding of healthcare delivery.

More recently she served as Manager of Healthwatch Cumberland, an independent organisation where she championed patient voice and community engagement.

Julie Crellin joined the project team in October 2024 as a Community Cancer Awareness Worker leading the work on cancer awareness in the local community, primarily in West Cumbria.

Working closely with the Northern Cancer Alliance her role aims to increase early diagnosis by sharing key information with community members. Julie previously worked as a Cancer Champion Project Coordinator and Communications Worker at Carer Support West Cumbria.

Natalie Thomson is a Learning Facilitator who was part of the first year of the project and supported the team with the recruitment aspects of work, in particular supporting with various career events and connections. Natalie worked for both the primary care project and North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Natalie completed her role within the project and continues her role in the Foundation Trust.

Dr Robert Westgate provides strategic support and oversight for the project. Robert has held a number of wider roles across the North Cumbria Health and Care System.

Originally from Redcar, Robert is also a GP, having trained in North Cumbria in the 1990s and is Clinical Director of Carlisle Healthcare Primary Care Network. He also works freelance out of hours for Cumbria Health and is a trustee of “ICan Wellbeing Group”, a third sector charitable organisation.

Dr Amit Paik is Clinical Lead of North Cumbria Primary Care Training Hub, which was previously part of Health Education England and now sits within NHS England. Within this role he provides strategic leadership around all things connected to primary care  clinical workforce. He has helped to developed various Fellowship programmes within North Cumbria.

Amit is also a GP Partner with Carlisle Healthcare as well as working with Cumbria Health out of hours and supporting “BASICS” – emergency medical responders in North Cumbria. He is also developing a new North Cumbria Clinical Podcast as part of the Primary Care Services North Cumbria Project.

Dr Paik also worked with the team on the development and is the host of the '20 Minute Clinic' Podcast.

What is 'Primary Care Services North Cumbria'?

“The front door of our NHS in North Cumbria”.

Primary Care Services North Cumbria is a collaboration of NHS Primary Care Networks and Partner Organisations working together to build resilience and improve patient outcomes.

It is supported by the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board at Place.

This collaboration has grown from long established working relationships across and between NHS general practices in North Cumbria, which have been strengthened following the formation of Primary Care Networks.

We serve a population of approximately 320,000 people across our eight Primary Care Networks. Work is ongoing with our health and care partners in community pharmacy, general ophthalmic, and dental services to bring all of our primary care together under the single umbrella of Primary Care Services North Cumbria  -  to facilitate better conversations between professionals and more joined up care for patients.

Primary Care Services North Cumbria is an emerging collaboration and aims to support resilience across primary care by being a platform to aid recruitment, service development, support, training and wellbeing for our primary care organisations.