Pressure on all general practice staff is at an unprecedented high. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day as it is and then, out of the blue, a GP calls in to say they can’t make it into work today. What can you do to cover this absence?

First of all, as one practice manager told us, it’s worth remembering that GPs are human beings, just like the rest of the practice staff, which means they do get sick, have childcare issues, get called for jury service and so on. Therefore, when situations arise, empathy is the name of the game.

The obvious solution to GP cover is to pay for a locum. But with locum costs soaring and it being sometimes difficult to fill vacancies at short notice, it’s not always the answer. On the cost side, it could be worth insuring absence through locum insurance, which can help with the expense by protecting your practice against the cost of paying a locum or covering overtime within the practice. With locum costs averaging £250 a session, these costs can quickly mount up.

Aside from locums, what other practical solutions can practice managers use to cover GP absence? Here are a few suggestions:

Build in spare capacity

As with most aspects of practice management, having a plan in place to cover a GP for periods of time is important. For short-term absence of no more than a few days, can other doctors cover the appointments? Could you build in a little spare capacity into the appointment system, freeing up other staff to see patients? Just as reception staff would be expected to cover their colleagues, why not doctors?

Reduce pre-bookable appointments

The topic of last week’s blog post is relevant here. Should you consider decreasing the ratio of pre-bookable appointments offered to patients? That way you can cut the number of ‘on-the-day’ appointments you make available, easing pressure on those covering.

Let patients know

Have a system in place to let patients with appointments know. They need to know that they won’t be seeing their planned GP anyway and advanced communication could lead to patients cancelling appointments. At the very least, patients that are pre-warned of inevitable extra waiting times and disruption are less likely to kick up a fuss.

Share resources

Much has been said recently about GP networks – which go by many names: federations, networks, collaborations, joint ventures, alliances. Whether the desire to work more collaboratively or at greater scale is driven by the desire to share costs and resources (for instance, workforce or facilities) or as a vehicle to bid for enhanced services contracts, GP networks and federations are increasingly being viewed as a vital part of the future of general practice. One of the main benefits often mentioned is the ability to share GP resource, something that could be useful during times of absence.

Other staff

Advanced nurse practitioners (ANPs), nurse practitioners (NPs) and pharmacists are becoming more common in general practice, which could be handy if a doctor is off sick. ANPs can step in as emergency cover for on the day acute minor ailments.

Emergency triage

Following on from the above, one or two practices that we know introduce nurse-led emergency triage sessions when there is short notice GP absence, reducing the pressure on covering GPs. Of course, this is only doable if there’s capacity in the nurse’s day. Is it easier (and cheaper) to find nurse cover? There are a few questions to be answered!

Prevention is the best medicine

Finally, at a time when levels of stress are sky high, what can you do to safeguard the wellbeing of people in your practice? By reducing illness and stress-related absence you’ll be saving yourself a headache further down the line. This is a topic we’ll cover in a future blog.

How do you cover short-notice GP absence in your practice? What hints and tips can you share with your fellow practice managers? 

——————-

Trending topics in the forum:

Compassionate leave
General Practice Forward View: All on one page!
Safety alerts
Unpleasant behaviour of staff member towards other staff