Causeway GP Federation Quarterly Newsletter April 2025
- Northern Federation Support Unit
- May 2
- 17 min read
Updated: Aug 4
A note from the Chair - Dr Johnny Burns
Colleagues
I hope this finds you well.
We have now received confirmation that our MDT rollout will be completed and funded in-year. This will be at a new ratio of Social Workers, so some remodelling is required — however, a plan exists for this which our leads are content with.
Regarding MDT, there will be changes to both Federation and Practice payments.
We are currently unsure of the exact impact, but we are aware this will result in a reduction of funding. This is being strongly resisted at Steering Group level, and we will keep you fully informed of any changes.
We continue to review our current resources — in particular our GPPs — and assess whether we are in a position to support further recruitment, with the aim of helping Practices through improved backfill and maternity cover.
Many thanks for your ongoing support.
Johnny
MDT - Senior Mental Health Practitioners
Joanne Hamilton - Deputy Mental Health Manager
🌟 A Warm Welcome to Our New SMHPs! 🌟
We are thrilled to extend a very warm welcome to our two new team members, Alanna O'Hanlon and Claire Murray!
They come to us with a wealth of experience:
Alanna joins us after working in both the Community Mental Health Team and the Children's Gateway Team.
Claire brings her expertise from the Community Addiction Service.
We are excited to have them on board and look forward to their contributions in enhancing our service.
Please join us in welcoming Alanna and Claire to our team! 🎉
🧠 SMHPs Begin Single-Session Therapy (SST) Training 🧠
The SMHPs are excited to announce the start of their Single-Session Therapy (SST) training!
This approach encourages practitioners to enter the first session with the mindset that it could be the patient’s last session—regardless of diagnosis, complexity, or severity of issues. The great thing about SST is that it highlights how everyone can benefit from a single encounter, no matter what challenges they’re facing.
Read more
The SMHPs will be equipped with the essential skills and knowledge to assist patients effectively in just one session, emphasising a client-centred and goal-oriented approach. The focus is on making the most out of this single encounter—whether it tackles a specific issue or acts as a stepping stone toward further therapy.
🎯 Outcome Goals of Single-Session Therapy:
Help patients get ‘unstuck’ and find a way forward
Empower clients to take meaningful steps that may allow them to continue without ongoing professional assistance
We’re here to support patients in discovering new possibilities for their mental health journey. 💬
💙 Promoting Staff Wellbeing at Ballymoney Health Centre 💙
Louise McKechnie, SMHP at Ballymoney Health Centre, is making remarkable strides in promoting staff wellbeing.
She has been working closely with the Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke.
Read more
(NICHS) team to implement the Work Well Live Well programme — a fantastic health and wellbeing support initiative.
Funded by the Public Health Agency (PHA), this programme is designed to enhance the mental health and overall wellbeing of staff.
It’s inspiring to see such dedicated collaboration focused on supporting the health of our healthcare community. Well done, Louise!
🧠 Practice-Based Learning: A Hit at Ballymoney Health Centre!
In March, our two SMHPs at Ballymoney Health Centre hosted a fantastic Practice-Based Learning session, centred around the HSC Take 5 Steps to Wellbeing [www.mindyourhead.info].
Louise McKechnie and Alanna O’Hanlon delivered an engaging session packed with educational insights, practical tips, and interactive games to encourage staff participation.
Read more
They explored the five key steps to wellbeing, with a focus on:
Connection
Keep Learning
Giving
Mindfulness was championed as a key way to Take Notice, and Adam Wilson (FCP) demonstrated effective stretching exercises, highlighting the value of regular movement to Be Active.
💬 Feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, with many describing the afternoon as “a hit”! Staff left feeling empowered and motivated to integrate these wellbeing strategies into their daily lives.
👏 It’s fantastic to see our Primary Care MDTs coming together to champion mental health and wellbeing. Here's to fostering a supportive and healthier environment in primary care!
Autism Café at the Joey Dunlop Leisure Centre 🌟
At the beginning of April, SMHP Alanna O’Hanlon and MDT SW Jolene Kean had the pleasure of representing the Primary Care MDTs at a fantastic Autism Café held at the Joey Dunlop Leisure Centre in Ballymoney.
Read more
This wonderful event was organised by the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership (CYPSP), with the goal of enhancing knowledge and understanding of Autism in children while also providing invaluable support for children, families, carers, and the professionals involved in their care.
During the event, Alanna and Jolene shared insights about the MDT services available at GP practices throughout the Causeway Area. They guided attendees—ranging from agencies, parents, carers, and professionals like teachers—on navigating the referral process for Autism assessments. Additionally, they highlighted resources and support services available to those waiting for diagnoses and to those with confirmed diagnoses, both locally and through online platforms.
👏 The Autism Café turned out to be a huge success!
MDT - First Contact Physiotherapists
Suzanne Kennedy - Consultant Physiotherapist
🏥At Long Last
After a long-awaited announcement, it looks like First Contact Physiotherapists (FCPs) will be rolling out — alongside Mental Health Practitioners — into the East Antrim Federation. Talks and preparations have taken place to ensure we can facilitate this when the funding is released.
Further interviews will be taking place next month, as we need over 15 whole-time equivalent FCPs for East Antrim over the next four years.
🧪 Research
First Contact Physiotherapists in Causeway are participating in a regional research study:
"Exploring Complexity of Patients Presenting to First Contact Physiotherapists in Primary Care in Northern Ireland."
🎓 Good Luck
Good luck to Ethan, Paula, and Vikki on the final part of their Non-Medical Prescribing course.
Thank you to the GPs who supported them on this journey—your time invested should be very beneficial to the practice.
💚 Health Promotion
The MDT has been promoting Take 5 Steps to Wellbeing for staff in Ballymoney Family Practice.
The Take 5 model is a generic set of actions that are both evidence-based and wide-ranging. The key messages focus on:
Social relationships
Physical activity
Awareness
Learning
Giving
The aim is to prompt people into thinking about these areas of their lives and how to incorporate them into their routines.
Adam Wilson, alongside MDT colleagues, delivered this message during a Practice-Based Learning Afternoon. He is also promoting physical activity by leading a walking group for all abilities every Wednesday lunchtime in the practice.
🦴 Osteoporosis Information Evening
Lyn Gordon had a great turnout at a local Women’s Institute Information Evening on osteoporosis. She informed attendees about bone health and led a chair exercise programme to encourage self-management.
📊 Staff Survey Results
The results of the MDT staff survey have been published, with a very high response from Causeway staff.
The regional report was largely positive, with the majority of MDT staff agreeing that MDTs have had a strong impact on themselves, their patients, Primary and Secondary Care, and the wider health care system. The findings will help shape future service planning and development of MDTs.
📈View survey highlights
86% (n=208) felt the MDT is an effective team that has brought about positive culture change within Primary Care
70% (n=172) would recommend an MDT role to a friend or colleague
92% (n=225) strongly agree/agree MDTs have improved the quality of patient care
91% (n=222) strongly agree/agree MDTs improved patient access
55% (n=120) felt the current staffing ratio was at the correct level for their job role
46% (n=109) have attended formal Practice Operational Team meetings
54% (n=129) attend MDT Clinical Team meetings
MDT - Social Work
Elizabeth Craig - Social Work Lead
🤝 Collaborative Working
There continues to be significant partnership working across all sectors.
Causeway GP Federation MDT Social Work used seed funding to develop dementia wristbands in collaboration with the PSNI and Age Concern. These wristbands feature a QR code that enables quick access to a person’s details if they go missing and are unable to communicate due to cognitive impairment. This invaluable tool is being actively promoted by all involved agencies. The initiative was highly commended in the Problem Solving category at the annual PSNI Awards.
👣 Community Engagement & Events
Unpaid Carers Take 5 Event
A group of unpaid carers from the Causeway area came together with CARUS, a Coleraine-based carers’ group, to enjoy a hot meal and a Take 5 session at Flowerfield Arts Centre.Some women expressed that they had never received any previous carer support and were delighted to build new, meaningful connections.Event facilitated by Causeway GP Federation MDT Social Work in collaboration with Causeway Loneliness Network.
🚆 Chatty Carriage (February 2025)
The fourth Chatty Carriage event was a huge success, with nearly 100 people taking part in the train trip from Coleraine to Derry/Londonderry.Organised by MDT Social Work and Causeway Loneliness Network, this event encourages smart pass holders (60+) to chat, connect, and reduce loneliness.Each journey is fully booked before advertising, with participants from a cross-section of practices.Attendees enjoyed music, conversation, and the opportunity to build social networks.
Evaluation highlights:
Improved social skills & emotional health
Enhanced social support
New social connections
👩💻 International Women’s Day Event
Held at West Bann Community Development Centre, in partnership with NI Rural Women’s Network, this event focused on reducing social isolation, anxiety and stress.PSNI Crime Prevention Officer Judith Lavery gave a talk on personal and digital safety, including scam awareness.
🧘♂️ Practice Highlights & Local Projects
Click here to view highlights and recent projects
Lodge Medical Centre – Ongoing Strength & Balance project with NHSCT to prevent falls in frail patients.
Dalriada & Ballycastle Practices – Walking group and Autism Spectrum Disorder group established to support families pre- and post-diagnosis (~20 participants).
Rasharkin Health Centre – Operating a successful Warm Hub and a new community group, with external funding to employ a community worker for intergenerational work around poverty and isolation.
Garvagh – Men’s and women’s groups progressing, including Forest Families. Plans for the men’s group to move into a vacant local school to engage in practical activities.
Ballymoney Family Practice – Supporting a walking group and running an exam stress programme for young people.
Portstewart/Portrush Practices – New bereavement group and upcoming collaboration with FCPs to introduce Tai Chi to reduce isolation and improve physical balance.
Mountsandel – Running ‘STRONG’: a strength-based therapeutic programme for peri-menopausal and menopausal women, addressing stamina, physical and mental wellness.
Further groups being developed include:
Positive mental health support in primary schools
Yoga for pre-diabetic or cardiovascular health patients
🌍 Supporting New Populations
A support network involving statutory, voluntary, and community organisations is addressing the needs of those seeking international protection.Thanks to proactive efforts, this group is largely staying out of primary and secondary care.
Clare McGrath, Ethnic Minority Lead (NHSCT), has recognised this work positively, with key support coming from Portstewart and Portrush practice staff.
📅 Upcoming Events
Click to see events
🧠 Dementia Awareness Week (19–25 May)
AC/DC dementia choir, a seed-funded project, will perform in local care homes.
💙 Carers Week (9–15 June)
Carers Information Fair in Coleraine in partnership with Trust Carer Hub
→ 60+ organisations & 200+ carers expected
🌼 Loneliness Week (9–15 June)
→ Chatty Carriage trip for up to 100 over-60s
→ Communities Connecting Summer Lunch (Tues 10 June) for up to 100 people
📝 Overview & Key Themes
Daily Social Work support continues across practices. Frocess Medical Practice and Liffock Surgery now have dedicated support from Emma Campbell and Naomi Critchley respectively. The hope is to soon have representation in every practice.
Notable trends across the Federation include:
Rising ASD/ADHD referrals (both adults & children)
Increased school avoidance, challenging behaviours, and parental stress
Persistent housing and social isolation issues
Going forward, we aim to work with communities and target seed funding to address these pressing needs.
Donna Campbell and Mary McBride - Lead General Practice Pharmacists
🏃♀️ Belfast City Marathon
Good luck to our GPPs (Mary McBride, Donna Campbell, Jenny Chartres, Karina Duffy & Susie Weir) who are representing Causeway Federation in the Belfast Marathon Relay on 4th May! The ‘Script Squad’ have already raised over £1500 for Dementia UK! 💜
If you would like to donate, please use the following link:
After much persuasion and the promise of lots of buns 🧁, the team had a trial run on 30th April when they participated in the Purple Ladies 5k in Ballymoney! 👟
❤️ Cardiopulmonary Risk Project
This is ongoing across the Federation. So far, Mary McBride and Emma Archibald have reviewed patients in 5 of the 11 practices that signed up for the project.
Patients with COPD and high cardiovascular risk factors have been identified and reviewed, with treatment optimised accordingly. ✅
🎓 Foundation Programme
Congratulations to Sarah Laverty and Sarah McBride who recently passed the Pharmacy Post Registration Foundation Programme 2! 🎉
Next step… Independent Prescribing starting in September. 💊
👶 New Baby
Huge congratulations to Hannah McCausland on the birth of baby Louis on 5th February. 🍼
Both mum and baby are doing really well! 💙
🎉 Retirement
Sharon Johnston retired on 31st March after 3 wonderful years at Garvagh Health Centre. She will be hugely missed by the GPP team.
We wish Sharon a long, happy and healthy retirement! 🌷☀️
Federation Education / PBL
See flyer for the suggested educational dates for 2025/2026.
GP Elective Care Services
Dr Conor Gorman - Deputy Clinical Director for Elective Care
Good News - Gynaecology Service.
We are pleased to let everyone know that our Women's Health (Gynaecology) Service has secured recurrent funding with capacity being brought back up to what it was before the funding cuts.
This will result in significantly shorter waiting times for patients to access the service after referral from GP. We would thus encourage all our colleagues in Primary Care to consider referring to this service again. Referral criteria remain the same. We will be promoting this regionally over the coming weeks, EA being first to know:)
We are continuing to lobby and negotiate for recurrent funding of our other services- MSK, Dermatology and Skin Surgery and will hopefully have news on these over next months.
We have also completed a proof of concept pilot for management of Low Risk BCC within primary care, operating on over a hundred patients with BCC. We are hoping that this will lead to a service being commissioned. Big thank you to the EA clinicians and admin team who worked with us on this.
Finally, we would like to thank all our Host Practice Admin Teams , EFSU and our clinicians for their continued efforts and support to sustain the services through the last few bleak years. As well as our appreciation of all our GP colleagues who have continued to refer into the services.
Conor
Northern GP Federation Support Unit Update (NFSU)
NFSU - Keeping you up to date with our team.
👶 New Arrival!
We’re delighted to share the wonderful news that Rachael, our Project Coordinator, has welcomed a beautiful baby girl — Lara! Both mum and baby are doing really well.
Congratulations to Rachael and her family on their new arrival! 💕
NFSU HR
Cathy Christie - HR Officer
Carol Shaw - HR Administrator
Federation Teams Take on the Belfast Marathon 🏃♀️
Our Federation areas are gearing up for the Belfast Marathon Relay on 4th May 2025, each team running in support of a chosen charity. Best of luck to all participants!
East Antrim Federation – Running for Stroke Association
Clare Gallagher, Michael Ervine, Pawel Ciunajtis, Ciara Briers & Mark Briers
Click to see more and donate
Causeway Federation – Running for Dementia UK
Mary McBride, Karina Duffy, Jenny Chartres, Susie Weir & Donna Campbell
Click to see more and donate
Mid Ulster Federation – Running for Charis Cancer Care
Niall O’Kane, Mark Donnelly, Mairead Quinn, Nichola Stewart & Anne-Marie Pickering
Click to see more and donate
Antrim Ballymena Federation – Running for Northern Ireland Chest, Heart & Stroke
Joanne Caldwell, Emma Kelly, Heather Totten, Emma Hughes & Lucie Gage
Click to see more and donate
Upcoming Webinars & Learning Opportunities 📢
Previous Event
Thank you to those who attended the recent Wellness Toolbox Webinar delivered by Action Mental Health on Wednesday 30th April 2025.
The presentation from this session will be uploaded in due course to our [HR Health & Wellbeing page], once made available to us. Keep an eye out if you were unable to attend or would like a refresher.
Upcoming Session
📅 Monday 3rd June 2025
Join us for an Information Session with Health Shield, our provider for the Cash Health Plan.
If you’d like more information or have any questions ahead of the session, feel free to contact hr@northernfsu.co.uk.
NFSU Project Update
Naomi Hutchinson
To put a face to our names and for the relevant contact details, click here -
💷 Economies of Scale – Cost Saving Information Now Live on Website!
Please take a moment to explore the cost-saving information we have researched and summarised, now available on our website:
We would encourage everyone to bookmark this page for easy access.
To do so, once you click on the link, simply save it to your favourites in your browser, as per the following:
We’ll be continuing to develop this project by reviewing and updating the information regularly — so feel free to visit frequently!oject by reviewing and updating the information regularly — so feel free to visit often!
Practice Index – Contract Funded by NFSU (Expires End of 2025)
The NFSU Executive Team approved a significant investment of over £70,000 for a 3-year Practice Index contract starting in early 2023 — fully funded for all member practices.
With the contract set to expire at the end of 2025, we’d like to share some usage statistics to date:
✅ 14% (9 practices) have completed 50 or more courses through Practice Index.
❌ 54% of practices (39 out of 72) have never completed a course.
📈 A total of 557 courses have been completed across 34 practices (52%).
If you’d like to access or make better use of Practice Index, now is the time — there are just 6 months remaining on the contract!
One of the offerings available through Practice Index is “Lunchtime Learning” – examples include:
Sharing Best Practice & Information
We appreciate several Practices already share best practice / useful information with one another. If you feel there is useful information etc that you would be happy to share with other Practices within Northern Federations, please feel free to share with us for our next quarterly newsletter - info@northernfsu.co.uk.
AccuRx Partnership -
All information regarding the Federation contract renewal has been confirmed with Accurx for the period May 2025 to April 2026, following two lunchtime webinars.
If you missed these — or if you're a practice migrating from Vision to EMIS in the near future — you can watch them back by clicking the following links:
Read more
How to create an Accurx account
Guide to Accurx toolbar How to send a message via Accurx
Our products and bundles
🔗 A Guide to Using Accurx (this goes into more detail)
An overview of Accurx products
Our bundles and costings
A guide to online consultation
Following the webinars, Accurx kindly offered a free trial of Bronze + Booking for the month of April. Nine of our practices registered their interest in this.
Did you know?
📊 70% of NI practices using Accurx have the “Bronze” bundle, and the “Booking” element is also becoming increasingly popular.
💡 Practices can try “Patient Triage” for three months for free! You can sign up for the trial [here].
We’ve received the question:
“We are a practice due to migrate to EMIS in summer 2025—will we be able to avail of the Federation’s 33% discount for Accurx?”
✅ The simple answer is yes. If this applies to your practice, please email us at info@northernfsu.co.uk when you're ready to join.
You will automatically have access to Accurx Lite, which you can begin using at any time, free of charge.
Helpful guides:
Other Useful Links
📄 The following PDF includes a collection of click-through guides, allowing you to explore the product without needing to download the toolbar first:
📬 Need support with an Accurx query?
Read more
💼 GP Modernisation Programme – Accounts Software Systems
Following conversations with our member Practices, we organised a lunchtime webinar with BSO in relation to the GP Modernisation Programme. If you were unable to attend and would like to find out more:
Read more
👉 Click here to view the recording.
Please see attached a copy of the presentation Louise referred to during the webinar, and the flyer that Lisa and Chloe from Bridge Accountants kindly compiled.
Vision to EMIS Migration Overview
Some of you may be interested in the following information when considering potential changes to your Practice payroll and/or accounts in light of the GP Modernisation Programme.
Having recently liaised with Paul & Nick from Iris this week, I am summarising information that may be useful to some of you.
Iris is an IT Management Company who can provide Cloud Hosted Software and industry-leading, business-critical software solutions and services to manage core business operations. The following are options that may be of interest to you:
💻 IRIS Hosting
Delivers all IRIS products, Microsoft software, and third-party desktop applications as a managed service over the internet for a single monthly fee.
Can be Payroll and/or Accounts
1–4 users can access on any device
Initial & Ongoing Costs:
Basic (1 application, 1 user) – £780 one-off | £62.74 monthly
– Cost per additional user – £48.79 monthly
Select (Multiple applications, 1 user) – £2,780 one-off | £77.50 monthly
– Cost per additional user – £107.34 monthly
🌐 IRIS Anywhere - A fully remote, flexible cloud-hosted desktop for businesses. From client files to Microsoft programs.
Can be Payroll and/or Accounts, and any other desktop applications
5 or more users can access on any device
Uses Microsoft Azure
Multi-factor authentication enabled
Potential for Practices to join together for cost-saving benefits (with individual user permissions)
Initial & Ongoing Costs:
Anywhere+ – £3,040 one-off | £99.97 per user/month (minimum 5 users)
Future practice additions – £770 (half-day consultancy, can add multiple Practices simultaneously)
💡 Additional Costing Resources:
🏫 Medical Admin Training Academy
We are delighted with how our first ever Medical Administrative Training Academy has gone over the past 5 weeks and look forward to the remaining few weeks with the participants.
All the trainers and NFSU staff have found it a pleasure welcoming, working with, and supporting the 9 participants to further develop their admin skills to ensure they are much better placed to apply for and succeed in medical administration opportunities on successful completion of the academy.
Each of the participants has fully committed to the training, with a 98% attendance rate, no financial contribution required to complete the academy, and 4 of them travelling as far as Carrickfergus to our NFSU offices twice a week to attend. We feel that this demonstrates their eagerness and commitment already at this early stage.
Given the feedback to date, we are hoping to be in a position to build upon this pilot initiative by duplicating similar academies in other Federations. It is paramount that our member practices collectively support these academies if we are to scale this model.
We would like to sincerely thank the member practices who have kindly supported this pilot academy.
🌟 Good News Stories
We know that our Federation staff and Practices carry out excellent work and quite often do not get the opportunity to share the “Good News Stories”.
NFSU would like to encourage each of you to share these with us as — we would encourage each of you to now use our standarised, easily accessed form to submit your stories to us.
👉 Please use the following link (through our website) to share your stories:
We would love to hear from all of you at some point throughout the year.
These stories will enable us to build up a bank of articles which can be used in:
Future Newsletters
Post-project evaluations
Highlight reports (a requirement from SPPG for funded projects)
Future business cases for funding
Promote the work we do via our social media channels
Launching our 2025-2030
5 Year Strategic Plan 📄
Following a strategic planning meeting in May 2024 involving our Federation Chairs, Non-Executive Directors, Member Directors, Practice Managers, and the NFSU, we have been developing a comprehensive five-year Strategic Action Plan.
We are now pleased to formally introduce this plan, which will focus our collective efforts and priorities over the coming five years.
To view the full document, please [click here].
💼 Personal Learning Account Fund – Upskill or Reskill with £500
The Personal Learning Account Fund offers up to £500 to Causeway Coast and Glens residents aged 16+ with the right to work in the UK. This fund supports accredited or industry-recognised training, including courses like HGV training, CSR cards, and Health and Social Care qualifications.
Eligibility Criteria:
Aged 16+
Resident in the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council area
Eligible to work in the UK
Applications are assessed regularly to ensure a quick turnaround. It's important to note that funding is allocated via a competitive process and is not guaranteed. Therefore, any costs incurred prior to the Assessment Panel Approval/Rejection are not the responsibility of the Council.
For more information or assistance with your application, contact the Labour Market Partnership team at LMP@causewaycoastandglens.gov.uk or call 028 7034 7034.
GP Practice Job Advertising - NFSU Website
Did you know we have a section on our website where we can signpost potential applicants to any current live vacancies our member Practices have?
We would encourage all practices to let us know as and when you have live opportunities.
You can view our careers page for practices here: www.northernfsu.co.uk/nonfederation-gppracticevacancies
Use the form below to promote jobs on our site:
Contact us
As always if you have any questions for the FSU, please do not hesitate to contact the Federation Support Unit on info@northernfsu.co.uk or 02896208333
Follow the Federation on:
Date of next newsletter - July 2025