Hi, chaps! Long time no speak… probably because I’ve been chasing my tail as usual. I can’t believe we’re already in mid-August (if anyone dares to say there are only 18 weeks until Christmas, I’ll poke them in the eye!).

About 18 months ago, I had a major operation on my foot. Whilst I was supposed to be off sick – though obviously still doing some work from home – I started to think that I really couldn’t carry on the way I’d been going; work seems to take over my life. Although I have a mortgage to pay, I do have a heart to protect.

Coincidentally, my co-directors at the Institute of General Practice Management (IGPM) and I were talking about training and development for future Practice Managers. I started to consider what an ‘apprenticeship in practice management’ might look like. What did we need to do to make it work? How would it work? Who might be interested in such a training programme?

Now, education and development are a real passion of mine and I have a gazillion years of experience to pass on. Actually, I do feel it’s my duty to do just that. I also feel we have a responsibility to our practice and our partners to ensure that our replacements are good ones. For most of us, practice management isn’t ‘just a job’; we give our all to our practice and our teams – often to the detriment of everything else. I have to say, we’re reinforcing the wellbeing message and we’re getting better. I’m also getting better at not checking my emails when I’m not in work, but it doesn’t stop me worrying about the number of emails that land in my inbox when I’m off duty.

Anyway, I put a plan together to ascertain how my partners felt. I am (as many of you will know) a million years old and will be ready to hang up my boots soon – but I was really keen that my successor would be capable. They would be trained to do all the facets of the job before any handover; I didn’t just want someone who was good with money but rubbish with personnel, or vice versa! Our job is so challenging, and training can’t happen properly in the weeks leading up to you leaving your post. An apprenticeship sounded like it could work.

I was at a point where I felt I had three options: give up and hand over with three months’ notice, job-share with someone else, or get an apprentice and train them up over a number of months. The last option was my preference and my partners were, thankfully, supportive. It would mean, ultimately, dropping some hours to help pay for the trainee, but it would also mean that training would be manageable – not just a few rushed sessions where your replacement writes copious notes and you hope to goodness they’ve understood what you’re saying.

Once I’d got the go-ahead, I chatted the idea through with my IGPM colleagues. This was definitely doable and with the support of my training hub (massive thanks specifically to Liz Symons at Kernow Health CIC for her trust and support), we put together a suitable training programme.

We couldn’t get the apprenticeship programme to align with the one college we have in the county that didn’t deter us. Our training course, which was the first of its kind in the country, rolled out in September 2023, having been advertised via the training hub for people already working in general practice with aspirations of taking on a management role.

It’s one day a fortnight, with training sessions specifically linked to our jobs, with actual practical training… Let’s face it, would you know one end of a GMS statement from the other if you hadn’t been shown one?! We have guest speakers (experts in their field) and we share venues for sessions with suitable surgeries in the county (huge thanks to my local colleagues for giving us their meeting rooms). This is also a chance for the trainees to see different practices; we all work to the same ends, but we all work in different ways.

We study the obvious – HR, finance, PCSE, pensions, complaints and so on – but we have real-time examples so it actually means something. We also run a Leadership and Development Level 5 course in parallel, so the trainees have this diploma to achieve as well as their Foundation in Management Training. We’ve aligned the course content to the IGPM Accreditation process. Whilst they won’t be able to apply for a couple of years, they’re already starting to collate evidence towards their application and it makes them think about what they might need to do before they apply. My trainees are due to ‘graduate’ in January 2025, and I have another cohort ready to rock and roll in September this year.

What this has done for me is to reignite my passion for training. It’s given me light at the end of the tunnel and the knowledge that my trainee absolutely will be able to do my job when I’m ready to hand over. The trainees have formed a fantastic bond and they’ll be each other’s support as they move through their management careers.

We know you can’t assume you’ll get someone with experience applying for your job. We know you can’t do a proper handover in less than three months – and who needs that kind of stress on top of the day job, especially when you’re trying to wind down?

So, if you’re thinking that sometime in the next couple of years or so, you might be moving on/retiring, and you might have someone interested in your role – but they need good training – then why not think about a trainee/apprenticeship programme?

If your ICB/training hub isn’t considering this, they need to. The IGPM would be more than happy to have the appropriate conversations with whomsoever you think would be the best person to get this off the ground. The IGPM is NOT a training provider (if you’re looking for a great one, you’re on Practice Index now!), but we know the future of practice management means training the next generation properly – and only a Practice Manager knows what needs to be done!