The NHS mantra should be: “Every patient needs a barcode”. That was the thought outlined by Tim Kelsey, NHS England’s National Director for Patients and Information and Chair of the National Information Board, as he opened last week’s Health and Care Innovation Expo 2015 conference in Manchester. He told delegates: “Hospitals across the country are…

It’s scary how time passes so quickly when you’re a Practice Manager. The hours zoom by, as do the days and months. I’ve been in post for a full year now and surprisingly I still don’t feel any suicidal tendencies! I have to say I’m very lucky to be in my job because it’s a…

A round up of the latest HR and Employment Law updates and related stories.   GP PRACTICES ARE FORCED TO CLOSE It is clear that the role of practice manager is crucial in ensuring that practices are run effectively but there may be very difficult times ahead for all practice managers. As lawyers experienced with legal…

A well-publicised research report published by the Institute of Healthcare Management (IHM) this week revealed that over half of current practice managers have applied for new jobs and the majority of those are aiming to get out of practice management altogether. While the survey only spoke to a relatively small number of PMs, it does…

A much talked about news story this week has been the significant drop in the number of Friends and Family Test (FFT) results submitted by GP practices. Despite warnings about contracts being breached if there’s a failure to submit data, the response rate for the FFT from London practices fell to 57% in May, a…

The NHS especially like to have an acronym for everything! A practice manager has a lot of abbreviations and acronyms to remember in his/her day to day running of the practice, especially when talking to GPs. Please feel free to add to the list. A ACAS – Advisory, Conciliation and Advisory Service:  organisation devoted to preventing and…

By Robert Campbell  I prepared this handbook over the last five years, in which time it has been amended continually. I retired in 2010 and prepared the original document for my successor but I never knew whether it was ‘read’! I then went to work in two practices for slightly over two years where there was very…