Before we had Armed Forces Day, we had Veteran’s Day, which was first observed in 2006. In 2009, the official event became Armed Forces Day and now takes place on the last Saturday of June. The day encompasses serving personnel, their families, veterans and cadets, and marks a week of celebrations during which the public…

The expansion of clinical and non-clinical teams through the introduction of the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) was aimed at reducing the ever-increasing pressure on general practice and to improve access. Of course, there are benefits associated with these roles, but there are also some challenges. Role clarity is perhaps one of the most significant…

When anyone mentions reasonable adjustments, I immediately think of practical adjustments or changes that can be made to reduce any disability-related disadvantages. From an employer’s perspective, such adjustments are specific to individual members of the team, and perhaps knowing your team makes these adjustments easier to facilitate. But what about our patients? What are we…

Caldicott, confidentiality and the UK GDPR are probably terms you’ve heard of. You likely associate them with your day-to-day work (there’s a very good reason for that), and all three are intrinsically linked. Our patients entrust us to maintain their confidentiality and if that trust is breached, the damage can be wide-reaching reputationally for the…

To me, CQC is a process where everything is connected – from registration, to monitoring quality and performance, to scoring and rating (and a whole host of stuff in between!). In some respects, it’s like rugby; your kicking game, your defence, your set piece and attack are all linked. But there’s another likeness, one that…

What is inclusivity and what does it mean to be truly inclusive? Whilst the terms equality, diversity and inclusion are intrinsically linked, are they well understood? You might be wondering why I’m asking… well, this week is National Inclusion Week (NIW), which runs from 25th September until 1st October 2023. The theme of NIW 2023…

Scores, aggregates, and ratings. Three words that many of us associate with sport; I could be writing about rugby but alas, that isn’t the feature of this blog. As Brian O’Driscoll once said, “rugby takes its toll”, and the same can be said for the CQC. How many changes are we going to have to…