What is a GP Federation Support Unit?

Each FSU is established as a Community Interest Company Limited by Guarantee in the not for profit sector, with any surplus created to be reinvested for the good of the community it serves locally or wider primary care. It is effectively a management company owned by Member Federations, with its core purpose to ensure that clinicians are:

“Free to focus on ensuring they provide the best clinical outcomes for their patients while improving the quality of care patients receive”

The FSU provides Member Federations with centralised management support, including planning expertise, accounting, contracting, communication both internal and external and human resources. 

Current projects/workstreams across Member Federations include:

  • Multidisciplinary Teams

  • General Practice Pharmacists

  • Advanced Nurse Practitioner trainee scheme

  • General Practice Nurse trainee scheme

  • Practice-based learning

  • GP Elective Care Services for Gynae / Vasectomy / Dermatology & Minor Surgery

Links to each FSU

https://www.westernfsu.com/

https://www.southernfsu.co.uk/

https://www.northernfsu.co.uk/

https://easternfsu.com/

GP Federations aim to provide better care, delivered in a more responsive way and, for patients registered on the lists of practices within the Federation. 

The focus is on working across the local health and social care community, in collaboration with a wide number of agencies, to design and implement innovative healthcare strategies and ways of delivering high-quality care. This can include developing services specifically to suit local needs which are more easily commissioned ‘at scale’ – i.e. across a number of towns/districts 

The Northern Ireland GP Federation Model includes an average size of circa 100,000 patients with 20 practices. Federation boundaries are in line with the current boundaries for Integrated Care Partnerships. Each Federation has been established as a Community Interest Company and is limited by Guarantee in the not-for-profit sector. https://easternfsu.com/

There are 17 Federations incorporated covering 1.8 million of a patient population.

If you are working in a particular region, then you can find out more about what your local Federation is doing by emailing them.