The summer seemed to fly past again, and it’s back to the nights drawing in! We continued to bring you lots of fantastic content and updates over the rainy days of August, take a look back here!

Homeless healthcare mythbusters – By Kay Keane – Since I’ve been working at Urban Village Medical Practice, with a specialist Homeless Healthcare service for Manchester’s homeless population, I’ve been amazed at the number of patients who come to us from outside the city looking for help because they’ve been refused access to their local practice… It set me thinking about the myths about homeless healthcare and providing good services to our communities.

I think I may not sign up to do the flu; anyone else with me? – By PM Paula – I’m used to reading NHSE documents, and I know that sometimes you have to read between the lines. That doesn’t appear to be the case this time around. I feel terrible that I’m so suspicious, but the release of documents late on a Friday, with big changes compared to almost every other year’s documents, made me raise an eyebrow – and there does seem to be some form of “hiding things in plain sight” going on and hoping you won’t notice.

“I’m not sick, but I can’t come into work today” – Navigating family emergencies in practice – GP practices usually have standard processes to follow when an employee phones in sick. However, in my HR experience, managers can be a bit less certain about managing absence when it’s caused by childcare or other family emergencies. Today’s blog will discuss employee rights on this topic, consider things from a workplace wellbeing perspective, and give practical tips for managers along the way.

Is it time for a battle? – By Nicola Davies – This isn’t a new problem, but I think it’s time we launched a challenge relating to Vaccination and Immunisation payments, CQRS and the ‘business rules’…

Dealing with abusive patients – By Ben Gowland – The number of incidents of staff receiving abuse from patients or their relatives has risen in the last couple of years. This is the issue that Manchester Practice Manager and IGPM Representative Mike Neville talks to me about in this month’s episode of the podcast.

August’s podcast: The Practice Index Podcast: Episode 34 – Abusive patients

Best new and updated resources [PLUS]

• Contract of employment – Salaried GP (Scotland)
• Mental capacity act policy
• Flu vaccination invitation letter
• Flu vaccine eligibility poster
• Injections for treatment guidance document
• Bullying and harassment policy (Northern Ireland)
• Bullying and harassment policy (England)
• Record retention schedule 
• National flu campaign 2023

Popular threads

• COVID Vaccine ES – Reduced vaccine payment
• 6% practice wide funding for staff; what is actually going on?
• Disappearing loo rolls – any ideas?
• Recruitment agencies emailing all the time…
• New premises (Where do I begin??)
• Who’s responsible… LL or tenant?
• Remote working
• HCA speeding fine
• At my wits end…

New to Practice Index Training

GP Training Bundle

New features in the HUB

Training Passport – Move completed training records from one practice to another including a consent process for the staff member.

Criticisms Manager – Report, manage and assign criticisms. Display past criticisms and their outcomes to help find potential trends and themes (part of the Compliance Package).

Updated:

Safety Alerts Manager – New settings page to allow you to manage applicable primary care alert feeds as required.

Policy Manager and Groups Manager

• If you have a Group HUB you can now push down policies directly into Practice HUB Practice Policies sections
• Practice HUBs with a Group HUB can report on learning across the HUBs. For example, if a learner has completed courses at other practices this is clearly shown in their learning history

Help Centre – A compilation of FAQS, useful videos, and information on our HUB products.
HUB weekly support sessions – Join one of our weekly sessions to discover more about the HUB and what if can offer.

If you’d like to know more about Practice Index PLUS and any products in the HUB, you can book a demo here.