In 2011 the compulsory retirement age of 65 was abolished in the UK, following the implementation of the Equality Act 2010. Age is listed as one of the ‘protected characteristics’ and it was deemed to be discriminatory to force a person to retire purely because they’d reached the age of 65. Nowadays employees can continue

Recruiting new practice managers and keeping the good ones is a major problem for GP practices as the demands of the job continue to develop and change, and the attraction of better-paid jobs looms. I attribute my survival in the post from 1992 to 2010 to an ability to smile in adversity, a positive attitude,

In the previous two blogs we’ve covered induction, handovers, terminology, collaborative working and working at scale. Now you’re settling into the role, you know your organisation, you know the team and you’ve got a good understanding of your role. But what about contracts? Do you know enough about contracts? Would you like to know more?

We’re nearly two years on from the changes in the GMS contract which announced extra help to practices in the event of GP sickness absence. So, how’s it going? For some practices it’s working as intended.  Dr X is off sick for more than two weeks and, instead of the practice having to fund cover

So you’ve landed your dream job and you’re now the Practice Manager! But if it’s your first time in the industry, are you ready for the challenges that lie ahead? Primary care is unlike any other industry and no two practices are the same. That’s the reality of working in general practice. Maybe in a

Personal productivity: every little helps Frankly, we’re just not pulling our weight. According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, British productivity used to grow at a solid 2% a year, but in the last decade it’s hardly grown at all. Productivity is now lagging behind the majority of Western Europe – and it’s a problem

There have been a few forum threads recently about staff not getting on, ‘he-said-she-said’, treating each other unprofessionally and so on. As managers, how do we deal effectively with these situations, and is there anything we can do to prevent them from happening? So let’s get reactive before we get proactive… Sadly, you can’t sit