Modern practice buildings have failed to allay patient concerns about privacy, according to a new study. The majority of patients report there not being enough space at their local practice to allow “reasonable” privacy, according to the survey by the Patients Association. Concerns centred on the reception area but some patients talked about having to…

GP leaders welcomed the NHS Plan published yesterday – but practices are set to find themselves facing some challenges. The plan proposes to allow patients to switch to “digital only” practices, apparently endorsing the controversial Babylon Health model that has been opposed by NHS England and senior GPs but backed by health secretary Matt Hancock,…

It’s vitally important within GP practices that practice staff work well together. Given the pressures of the job, all of those HR buzzwords such as collaboration, teamwork, support and harmony are of paramount importance. One way to drive enhanced teamwork and hopefully deliver a more harmonious workforce is to set up a buddy system. Defined…

Earlier this week, the Prime Minister launched the UK Government’s first Loneliness Strategy, designed to tackle what Theresa May described as one of the greatest public health challenges of our time. The headline news from the Strategy is that all GPs in England will be able to refer patients experiencing loneliness to community activities and…

By PM Polly That document that we have to write in a hurry. Once it’s done we spend a ‘bit’ of time refreshing it and we spend a ‘lot’ of time hoping that it’ll never need to leave the safety of the ‘business continuity’ file. How your BC plan?! In 2012 my previous practice flooded,…

“No man is an island” said John Donne. As people, we depend on one another and the same can be said in general practice, where we rely on the team effort to ensure the needs of our patients are met. With the pressures faced by general practices today, the need for managers to delegate effectively…

A Last Post I constantly read about the daily traumas experienced by our practice managers, so I thought I’d look down memory lane at my own career as a practice manager and let all those memories merge into one day. I well understand recent threads on the Practice Index forum about moving goalposts and being…