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 a surgery fully staffed. You think today might be the day the receptionist doesn’t look at you like she wishes you’d get your hair caught in the shredder. You think that today might be the day that the health care assistants put their differences aside and stop hiding the INR machine from each other. You think that today is the day that you actually have enough appointments. Ha ha ha! That last one was of course a joke.
On top of the unscripted events of a normal day managing a practice of thousands of patients I find myself facing a health and safety visit.
That’s all I need.
She arrives. She looks… like a health and safety inspector. She sits in her grey suit and peers at me over her brown square glasses. Her pen doesn’t leave her hand and of course she has a clip board. On that clip board are questions. Lots of questions.
I’ve landed in risk assessment hell.
I don’t score too badly as it happens but of course there are a few issues. The main one being our windows. They open. Windows shouldn’t open. Apparently. Well, they can open. They shouldn’t open to allow any actual breeze or fresh air in. No, this is bad. Apparently people can fall out of windows. I tell her that all of our doors are locked so nobody could get into the room to get out of the window. She shakes her head. That’s not good enough. I tell her that no matter how many times the GPs try to jump out of the window that I’m there to talk them out of it.
She almost raised a smile.
Surprisingly she then tells me a story about windows. A company put window restrictors on all of their windows because of this terrible risk that someone may climb on to the window sill and accidentally fall out. Turns out that all of the staff couldn’t function in their offices because of the lack of air and heat. They all complained and guess what they were told to do? To fill in a risk assessment to see if they could take them off?!
With that she walks away in her grey suit, tightly holding on to the clip board. I swivel in my chair and look out of my window and wonder if I should make my escape now, before the restrictors are put on!
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June 24, 2016 at 8:16 am
well put…this is just the norm these days. Thanks for making me smile today 🙂
June 24, 2016 at 2:03 pm
🙂
June 24, 2016 at 3:07 pm
I liked that – well worth reading. Left me with a big smile.
June 27, 2016 at 10:55 am
I think the difficulty you face is one of many Practice Managers who are high on the DI scale of the DISC Psychological Profile. Stay with me here. The DISC profile is useful at identifying your states and traits.
Many people in the H&S field and other areas where to complete the forms exactly, cross all t’s and dot all i’s and without an apparent sense of humour are high on the SC scale.
Therefore these people will not see the world as you do and visa versa.
If you are in a job that requires one style and yet you are high on the other you will have difficulty in fulfilling your role with happiness. As a Practice Manager you have to be well versed in both DI and SC this is what makes you and other Practice Managers so unique and invaluable.
The story she relayed about the window would have been her attempt at humour as people high on the SC scale don’t have one but think they do. Best wishes from a Practice Manager who scored 98% on the I when taking the DISC profile test.