Across the pages of the Practice Index blog, one of the common themes that keeps cropping up is the need – and attempts made – to free up resources. Whether it’s a push to save time and free up appointments, cut wastage, reduce drug over-prescribing or an automation of tasks, plenty of schemes have been…

In the driving seat Having spent some time back in the driving seat recently in a busy practice, after a few years of being at home on the ranch, I realised that whilst the workload is changing all the time, I suspect that the employers’ attitude to their staff and their practice managers hasn’t changed…

Given the pressures faced by practice managers in today’s primary care environment, any help in driving practice performance in the right direction is welcome. That could explain why plenty of practices are turning to (or are already utilising) practice champions. Practice champions can be really valuable in supporting service improvement, running groups for patients and…

Document process management frees up GP time It’s well documented that general practice faces unprecedented challenges. As a result, probably more than at any other time in recent history, big changes are having to be made, causing plenty of headaches for clinicians and practice managers. Throw into the mix an evermore transparent world of reviews,…

Supporting people to play a greater role in their own health and care clearly has benefits for GP practices – not least because it frees up time – which is why the NHS detailed Self Care and Management as the ninth action in its Releasing Capacity in General Practice initiative. For practices, this idea is…

One thing the health sector in the UK loves is a good survey and project pilot. There seems to be an endless stream of studies highlighting the good and bad of the NHS and healthcare delivery – and one common topic for these is the use of telephone consultations. It’s also a topic being discussed…

As GP practices battle to provide an adequate number of face-to-face appointments, I was wondering if other forms of consultation are on the increase. I spotted recently a notice in my local surgery which declared that almost one third of consultations in July had been carried out on the telephone. This amounted to a remarkable…