This report from the Primary Health Care Group of the King's Fund Centre explores the context of primary care planning and provides examples of how joint working may be successfully achieved. It outlines why FPCs and DHAs need to work together and argues that primary care planning has been neglected within each of these authorities. Four practical initiatives are detailed: proposals for a regional review of primary care in Mersey; contribution of community medicine to FPCs through creation of a community physician post in one FPC; development of a strategy for dental services in East London; and creation of a local forum for services for elderly people in Speke, a deprived area of Liverpool.