Collaboration in general practice: Surveys of GP practices and CCGs

Collaboration in general practice: Surveys of GP practices and clinical commissioning groups
Nuffield Trust October 2017

• A survey conducted as part of the RCGP and Nuffield Trust’s ‘General Practice at Scale’ programme.
• Responses from - GP practice staff- 565 complete responses; CCG staff: 51 complete responses, representing one-quarter of the 207 CCGs.
• Key findings

1. The trend towards collaboration has continued in recent years with 81% of GP practice-based respondents reporting they were part of a formal or informal collaboration in 2017. In 2015, this figure was 73%.
2. Almost half of GP staff said their collaborations were federations (45%) and had formed more than two years ago (46%). Around half (53%) reported having more than 100,000 registered patients.
3. Mapping collaborations is not straightforward. Practices are often part of multiple collaborations of different sizes, operating at both locality and CCG levels, and each with differing aims and expectations.
4. Over half of GP staff and one-third of CCG staff felt practices and collaborations had not been at all influential in shaping the local sustainability and transformation partnership. Only one-fifth of GPs thought STPs would deliver change in primary care, but CCGs were more optimistic with 61% reporting that meaningful change was probable.
5. GPs expressed enthusiasm for holding contracts for community services and selected hospital services. CCGs suggested they were optimistic about collaborations being ready to do so by April 2019.