By Robert Campbell The ‘heyday’ of purpose-built surgeries One of my first jobs was visiting and plotting on a map every surgery in Inner London, and later supporting doctors to bring their premises in Dudley, Wakefield, and Leeds up to standard. The premises varied from old church halls to enormous new buildings. This was when the…

There’s never a dull second in practice management. Walking through the door is like walking into the cinema to watch a film; but you realise you’re watching a horror and not the rom com you had hoped for. That’s like being a practice manager walking into work. You think (or you hope!) you might walk into…

The very nature of a general practice in the UK is being challenged by ‘progress’; progress in new technology, personnel, and health and safety legislation.  Major changes are taking place in the way GP Practices are expected to provide services, how theses services are funded and managed, and how standards are monitored and measured. Working…

Pressure on all general practice staff is at an unprecedented high. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day as it is and then, out of the blue, a GP calls in to say they can’t make it into work today. What can you do to cover this absence? First of all, as one practice…

Today wasn’t so much about fire fighting.  It was like wrestling a fire-breathing 40ft dragon to the ground while juggling four broken printers in the air. Another Monday in general practice. I drive in, I try to dig out the optimism that is at the bottom of my my new calf-length brown Boden boots.  I edge…

The latest round of CQC inspection results has been released. Overall the performance of GP practices has been positive, with 85 practices out of the 109 inspected rated good. Two practices received outstanding ratings while, more worryingly, eight were rated inadequate. From the most recent inspections, what did the inspectors love and what did they…

This week, a new £15m three-year scheme to fund, recruit and employ clinical pharmacists in GP surgeries was launched by NHS England. The initiative will see NHS England fund 60% of the cost of pharmacists to the practices for the first 12 months of employment, which will decrease to 40% for the second year and…