A lot has changed in regard to the CQC over recent months, and it would appear that the CQC are far from reaching a state of #newnormal2020 (other hashtags are available). We’ve been kept abreast of changes to the CQC’s regulatory approach, which saw them pause routine inspections and only inspect those organisations that were…

Cast your mind back to 2018; there was a lot of talk about regulations, particularly the GDPR (the thought of that makes me shudder!), which came into force in May 2018 and was given much publicity. From me in particular there were policies, e-learning packages, blogs, vlogs and a podcast too! Little did I realise…

Another change is coming, another testing time for general practice. By April 2020, patients are to be given online access to their complete health care records – that’s seven months from now! Whilst in the first instance this will undoubtedly increase the pressure across the sector and create additional workload for practice teams, could it…

If you were to ask ‘what is team development’, I wonder what responses you’d get? Would people focus on personal development, learning new skills or would they think of it as team-building and conjure up images of themselves on an obstacle course? What we’re really trying to achieve is the development of the team with…

Appraisals are an essential part of your role, and are vital for the development of your team. The NHS constitution requires organisations to provide staff with clear roles and responsibilities, opportunities for personal development and line management, to support them to succeed.[1] Integral to this requirement is the need for appraisals or what some people may…

When we discuss networking, we’re often talking about networking as individuals, building relationships and sharing experiences, expertise and contacts. So what approach is being taken towards Primary Care Networks (PCNs), and how are you going to ensure your network’s going to succeed? The approach should be very similar. If it’s going to succeed, member practices…

Imagine you work at a practice where you only ever receive comments, compliments or suggestions to improve your working practices. Your patients only want to see you to tell you how good your team is; they send thank-you cards and bring gifts as a way of showing their appreciation for the service they receive. Okay,…