I imagine it will be rare to find an annual report written about activities covering any 12-month period during the years 2020 to 2021 that does not start with some kind of reference to what an incredibly challenging year it was, the Covid-19 pandemic has after all affected everyone and every business in the whole country.

Some small businesses may have been able to exploit the opportunities that the pandemic presented whilst some have really struggled, and many may well have closed without the government investment offered.

Conexus saw an increase in income and activity and improved outcomes and achievements in 2020/21, our work in previous years having positioned us well to step up and support General Practice in the Wakefield District. To say we were ready for anything would be a gross exaggeration, however the agility we had built into our ways of working and the relationships and reputation we had been developing in previous years were a strong foundation for the year we’ve just been through.

Conexus responded to the pandemic immediately, securing the safety of our staff, ensuring continuity of our clinical service activity and providing free support and training to practices to remain as resilient as possible and continue to provide services to their patients. 

Much of the growth detailed in this report was rooted in our Covid responses. Our clinical services team rapidly set up a new site and more than doubled the amount of clinical appointment time available for direct booking by practices. 

We mobilised a Covid-19 testing service for the public and a vaccine workforce inside 6 weeks and our training team shifted all training activity online and despite a challenging start, ended the year having delivered more training than ever before. 

The evidence from this year clearly shows our success is directly linked to our drive and determination to be reliable, dependable and creative collaborators, committed supporters of our local practices and PCNs and, on their behalf, as valued partners in the local health and care system.

Conexus is a Latin word meaning ‘connection; joining together; in combination’. Our work this year stretched us into new connections, deeper and more meaningful partnerships and work to increase the connections between people in the District and better health and wellbeing whether through our services directly or by connecting practice staff to more training and support to enable them to deliver better services. 

I have taken great pride this last year in the way in which our staff have remained connected to each other even whilst we mainly worked from home and connected to the people we serve; the staff in practices and PCNs and the patients in the District. It is only as a direct result of their commitment, skills, adaptability and flexible ways of working that Conexus has managed to achieve so much in such a challenging environment.

I hope you enjoy reading about some of their achievements in this report. Thank you for your interest.

Antony Nelson 
Managing Director