East Antrim GP Federation Quarterly Newsletter - Spring 2026
- Northern Federation Support Unit
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
A Note From the Chair - Dr Ian Lalsingh
Dear Colleagues,
We are at the start of another contract year.
Thanks to everyone that was able to attend our members event on 31st March. We covered a lot on the day, including the structure of our Federation and the Northern Federation Support Unit, our current MDT footprint and plans for the forthcoming year. As this unfolds we will ascertain if there is flexibility within the system to divert funds to other disciplines such as First Contact Physiotherapy or Senior Mental Health Worker if Social Work recruitment is delayed.
Many thanks to Suzanne Kennedy who spoke on FCP in East Antrim. We will be sharing Expressions of Interest for GP lead posts for FCP, SMHW and GPP.
We unanimously agreed that the Federation should not and will not be responsible for providing GP cover for PBL events covered by DUC. It was expressed that the monies used to fund DUC infrastructure for PBL would be better redirected back to funding for Hot Topics.
It was unanimously agreed that members did not wish to avail of the Medical Academy but rather wished to have support with their own inhouse training for new employees. It was discussed that this could be a potential PBL style training event for practice staff.
It was raised that sharing of Federation HR policies would be helpful for practices. Anne Witherow is our Governance lead for the northern Federations and spoke to implementing this important work – starting with Memorandum of Understanding documents, incident policy/flowchart, and risk register. She will seek volunteers to form a review group.
We discussed the Neighbourhood model, there may be opportunity for general practice; however there is very little detail on what is to be delivered, how the structures will work and what budget will be attached.
We are in the process of arranging the next members meeting for 23rd June 2026, see below save the date.
Thanks,
Ian
Federation Education
Dr Richard McClean - Federation Education Lead
It feels too early to be releasing our Spring/Summer Federation newsletter but as the days stretch and our thoughts turn towards the summer there’s still plenty of content to come from the FedED team this year.
Since my last update we've had our February PBL sessions from Alison Livingstone and Chris Faraday. Both sessions are available on the NFSU website along with the speaker’s presentations. The admin team at NFSU have recently been updating the website and the links to previous teaching and materials are available for your reference.
Our next Small Group Learning session is on 22nd April in Notting Hill Medical Practice. Dr. Amy Carson will be facilitating a session relating to “Mental Health Issues in Primary Care.” We’ve had a very encouraging response to the session, with GPs, GP trainees and mental health worker’s planning to attend. The Small Group Sessions provide a more informal format for learning and allow for greater interactivity and reflection on our practice. As a GP trainer, I've found that inviting my ST1 trainees along to these sessions is a useful way of engaging them with their Primary Care colleagues and also allow me to catchup with them and get an update regarding their progress during their Secondary Care placements.
The next PBL on 20th May will include clinical session by Dr.Ronan Donnelly, a respiratory consultant at Antrim Area Hospital and Dr.Jan Ritchie from the Hospital at Home team who will be speaking on “Delirium and Poly-pharmacy.”
I always like to finish my updates by thanking everyone who has engaged with our FedED content to date and to the colleagues who have facilitated both the PBL sessions and the Small Group Teaching.
As we navigate the choppy waters of Primary Care, the importance of targeted, accessible and relevant CPD cannot be overstated.
Practice Managers & Admin Update 🗂️
Shauna McKinley & Janice Russell - Practice Manager Education Leads
Plan for The Year:
➡️ For AHPs we are scheduling COPD/Spirometry updates. Asthma Updates, Lipid Management and Safeguarding.
➡️ For our admin teams we are looking at Care Navigation update, Telephone handling skills, Minor Ailment/Pharmacy First education, Prescribing, safe guarding, fraud awareness & money management.
➡️ For our managers we will complete H&S, EMIS Bitesize, QI Training, Social Meeting workshop, Safeguarding, fraud awareness & money management. This years Practice Conference is 22 & 23 September in the Glenavon Hotel Cookstown.
🚨Practice Manager's should watch their in box for PBL agenda landing soon.
Northern GP Federation Support Unit Update (NFSU)
Keeping you up to date with our team.
Feel free to reach out to any of the NFSU team supporting the four Northern GP Federations (Antrim Ballymena, Causeway, East Antrim, and Mid Ulster).
➡️ Check our our NEW Bios to put faces to names and see who does what:
Got a question or want to know more about our work? Please get in touch. We have recently updated our bios following a couple of recent additions to our team.
NFSU Project Update
Rachael Elliott & Hannah Wilson - Project Coordinators
❤️ CPR Training/Financial Support
We are pleased to share some exciting news for all our GP practices. Your Federation will be providing some financial support for CPR Training for the next year. Further details regarding this will be circulated very shortly via email, so please keep an eye out for this communication. Thank you to those who responded to the Member Practice survey in January as this allowed us to gather our research in this area.
Economies of Scale Project
We continue to listen to feedback from Practices and work closely with local suppliers, strengthening our partnerships to support cost savings wherever possible.
Accurx Update
We recently contacted all Northern practices enrolled in the AccuRx Federation contract regarding upcoming renewals, due at the start of May 2026. Our Federation contract will generate almost £60k in savings for Northern Practices for 2026/2027 alone.
In the Northern area, over 85% EMIS practices are currently signed up and finding AccuRx extremely useful in their Practice. We are also mindful of the few remaining upcoming Vision to EMIS migrations. If your practice is considering joining AccuRx or if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to: Rachael.elliott@northernfsu.co.uk
Click Here for previous Webinar
Previous webinar held on 4th March 2026 can still be watched here – (products, package, pricing, upcoming developments) The session includes a Q& A and will be ideal for Practices who is/has migrated from Vison to Emis. Economies of Scale | Northern Federation
Click Here for Approx. Current Pricing (subject to change depending on patient list size)
Modules | AccuRx Pricing +Vat Per patient | Federation Pricing +Vat Per patient |
Bronze (Sms plus, Batch messaging and appointment reminders, florey questionnaires) | 43p | 24p |
Booking | 29p | 26p |
Patient Triage | 25p | 19p |
The Regional NI contract can save practices up to 44% on modules.
Take a look at the discounts available to you on our website through our supplier partnerships
CLICK HERE ➡️Economies of Scale | Northern Federation
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 028 9620 8333
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