Back in April, the NHS announced details of its General Practice Forward View, an outline of how it would like the country’s practices to develop. Included within that was a promise to deliver £6 million on the development of practice managers. The question of what that money should be spent on came to the fore…

The controversial system of inspecting practices is “driving improvements,” according to the man in charge. More than 6,000 practices in England have now undergone inspection at the hands of the Care Quality Commission, leaving fewer than 2,000 to be inspected. Out of these some 165 have been rated outstanding. In the latest round of inspections…

In the past week, the CQC has published a further 81 reports on the quality of care provided by GP practices that have been inspected. Another two practices were found to be outstanding, 61 practices were rated good, nine require improvement and, worryingly, five received inadequate ratings. Outstanding performance Leading the way with an outstanding…

Closures of GP surgeries are at a record level, a conference heard yesterday. In total some 201 surgeries closed last year, Dr Chaand Nagpaul told the conference of the British Medical Association in Belfast. Dr Nagpaul, chair of the BMA’s GP committee, said pressures on general practice had “sunk to new depths.” He warned of…

There’s never a dull second in practice management. Walking through the door is like walking into the cinema to watch a film; but you realise you’re watching a horror and not the rom com you had hoped for. That’s like being a practice manager walking into work. You think (or you hope!) you might walk into…

Practices have rebelled against a plan for their local clinical commissioning group to take full responsibility for primary care, it has been reported. Members of the Croydon Clinical Commissioning Group have voted to reject the advice of their governing body that it was ready to take on the responsibility. The CCG already has joint responsibility…

The shortage of GPs in Scotland may be worsening, according to a new survey. Some 28.5% of practices reported having a vacancy at the beginning of this month, according to a survey of 500 practices. Last week official statistics showed that 20% of practices had vacancies in August last year – and half the vacancies…