Guiding Principles Of GP Networks
There is much discussion within the current health policy landscape about how general practice can be delivered ‘at scale’ through a GP network. At its most basic, a GP network is defined as a number of GP practices who have entered into some kind of collaborative
arrangement with each other. GP networks go by many names: federations, collaborations, joint ventures, alliances or clusters.Some practices are embracing or considering GP networks as a means to alleviate workload pressures, or to share costs and resources (for instance, workforce or facilities). Some practices are using these new collaborative arrangements as a way to bid for enhanced services contracts. Government health policy, for instance, as a part of NHS England’s Five Year Forward View, is also increasingly compelling practices to consider new models of care
and the delivery of general practice at scale.
This paper has been produced by the General Practitioners Committee for those practices actively establishing, or joining, a GP network, or those who are considering it. The paper should be regarded as headline ‘best practice’ principles that established or emerging GP networks should use to guide their setup and operational activity.
