What is a GP Federation?
Definition: A federation is a group of general practices or surgeries forming an organisational entity and working together within the local health economy.
A GP federation is responsible for delivering high quality, at-scale, patient-focused services for its communities.
Federations submit bids to deliver services, which are already part of primary care services, or that could be delivered in the future. GP federations improve service integration between practices and providers which improves the quality and safety of services.
This model, supported in NHS England’s Five Year Forward View, provides opportunities for economies of scale. This includes minimising duplication of effort on areas practices currently deal with individually; such as back-office functions and the procurement of practice services. It will also enable the development of centralised training and education.
All about the Northampton General Practice Alliance
General Practice Alliance Limited (GPA) is a GP federation based in Northampton. The organisation's membership is a collective of 21 GP practices based in the locality and covers a patient population of approximately 210,000.
Members remain independent organisations, whilst collaborating in the further development of local primary care.
General Practice Alliance is the collaboration and linking of GP's in Northampton to preserve, sustain and develop the local health economy.
We currently employ 70 staff and will be looking to grow in the coming years.
GPA was formed to overcome the challenges facing Primary Care with a large number of small providers. The alliance facilitates and supports practices working together to jointly address issues which cannot easily be resolved individually, for example, improving services for patients, bidding for contracts and sharing best practice.
We were formed to:
- Help with sustaining General Practice and think of new and innovative ways to generate income.
- Facilitate practices working together in an open, democratic and transparent way.
We are currently doing:
- Supporting practices to implement pathways to increase same-day appointment availability.
- Aligning workforce to allow delivery of new models of care.
- Using innovation to place the right clinician in the right place, to deliver the right care, at the right time.
We aim to:
- Address issues facing the local health economy by working in collaboration.
- Use local intelligence and data to proactively design and implement service transformation within a primary care setting.
GPA is Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered and provides health and social care training and education, medical research, Northampton GP Extended Access service, GP services at Kings Heath Practice and manages complex care through the Collaborative Care Team (CCT) and a newly contracted care home service.
We recognise the need for service transformation, organisational development and remain focused on ensuring the right leadership structure is in place to support the delivery of the 'GP 5-Year Forward View' (GP5YFW) and develop sustainability in local Primary Care.
OUR MISSION, VALUES AND VISION
To drive quality in Primary Care, enable
collaborative working and deliver responsive,
safe services equitably and effectively.
OUR BOARD
Our board consists of seven directors; four clinical,
two managerial and Chief Executive Officer.
OUR MEMBERS
We have 21 Northampton based GP practices,
who are shareholders in the federation.
OUR PARTNERS
We believe in local collaborative working to
improve patient outcomes in Northampton.