Dr Clare Gerada Vice Chair

1
RCGP Federated Practices

• Dr Clare Gerada Vice Chair

2
Primary Care Federation.....putting patients first

• Launched June 2008
• Explored the concept of general practice and
  primary care teams
• working together
• Sharing responsibility
• Developing high quality services to local
  communities

3
What are they?

• Pre-dated Darzi
• Alternative to single site poly clinic
• Shared resources, overarching structures
• Better access to diagnostics
• Joint working between practices
• Potential for integration of care with secondary
  care

4
Need to maintain the best

• such that care for individuals and local
  communities, over generations, unfettered by
  tiers of management
• DDA 2008

5
But.....

• Could add
• complex, cumbersome and un-necessary bureaucracy
  to the management of practices and provision of
  primary care services
• BMA 2008

6
Rural practices

• ........Federations may allow traditional
  general practice to survive in an age when
  private corporate enterprise is looking to get
  hold of primary care
• RCGP Rural Practice Standing Group

7
Providers vs Commissioners

• there are potential conflicts of interest in
  being involved on both sides....but with good
  governance and good management the difficulties
  should be overcome

8
PBC vs Federations

• Key difference is that high calibre management
  that can develop collective delivery of certain
  back office functions
• PBC clusters and Federations can coexist

9

• GPs are good at adapting to change and seizing
  opportunities for improvement. We can achieve
  more through GP practices working together than
  by individual practices working in isolation
• Prof Steven Field
• Chair RCGP June 2008