Wellbeing, Pride and lots more! Catch up now on anything you missed out on during June.

Happy Pride Month – By Aimee Linfield from LGBT Foundation Pride in Practice – As professionals working in healthcare, we all have a role in making sure our LGBTQ+ patients know that they are accepted and supported by ourselves and our services. Here are some steps you can take to make sure your celebration of Pride Month is meaningful. Read more

Making a Difference – By Kay Keane – When you think back to the reason why you started working in general practice, was it because it was well paid? You loved the hours? Was it convenient geographically? Perhaps those suggestions are part of the answer, but I bet most of you wanted to make a difference. It’s what drives so many of us – having an impact on our patients, working in a place we love, and striving to do things better. Read more

Disability in the workplace – How can Practice Managers best support disabled employees, and manage tricky situations involving absence or performance? In this blog, I run through the most important aspects of disability discrimination law, and how these requirements might be interpreted within the real-life context of GP workplaces. Read more

Join the Practice Index parkrun pledge! – Whether you want to walk, run, volunteer or cheer on your friends and family, parkrun is a great way to do regular exercise, get you out the house, build a healthy routine and give your mental health a boost. As passionate supporters of primary care, and the NHS, the team here at Practice Index are pledging to do their local parkrun and encourage you to join them! Read more

The Ultimate Social Media Planner 2023 (July to December) – With general practice as busy as ever, planning social media posts is not always going to be top of your to-do list. Don’t worry, help is at hand with part two of our social media planner, which you can download now for free! Packed with all the important health-related events and celebrations, this essential document will help you get ahead and plan your social media content for the rest of the year. Download now

How to beat the 8am rush – Practice Index recently hosted an incredibly popular podcast to discuss the success of the new triage system at St Lawrence Surgery in Sussex, which has revolutionised patient access and reduced GP workload. This positive feedback prompted David to develop an online course which can help other practices develop their own clinician-led triage system and unlock their hidden effective capacity. Read more

June’s podcast: The Practice Index Podcast: Episode 32 -Same Day Primary Care

Best new and updated resources [PLUS]

• Occupational health referral questions guidance for managers
• The Ultimate Social Media Planner 2023 (July to December)  (July to December) [Free]
• Join the parkrun pledge poster [Free]
• The Safeguarding Handbook
• IR35 policy (Northern Ireland)
• Notification of paternity leave and pay
• Time off in lieu and overtime policy (Updated)
• Staff immunisation policy (Updated)
• DBS policy (Updated)
• Access to medical records policy (Updated)
• Appointment punctuality policy
• Retire and re-join guidance document (Scotland)

Popular threads

• EMIS Web/X vs SystmOne
• Call recording – Breach of confidentiality?
• What’s your biggest time saver?
• Patients going private
• Cost of living and pay
• I’ve got a juicy one for you all…
• When to say “enough is enough”?!
• Booking appointments at reception – Can we stop doing it?

HUB updates

New:
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 it can offer.

Updated: 

Holiday Manager updates:

• Notes from staff members about the reasons for leave requests are now visible in the Holiday Manager overview page
• Calendar hover-over now shows times for part-day absences
• Weekend days are now differentiated in the calendar

Learning Manager updates:

• New layout with top filtering options including new “Enrolment Status” filter options
• New policy reports layout with top filtering options

Group HUB updates:

• Group HUB learning reports – run reports based on “This Group HUB” or “Practices within this Group HUB
• Group HUB policy reports –  run reports based on “This Group HUB” or “Practices within this Group HUB”
• A Group HUB can now share safety alerts with practice HUBs
• Group HUBs: New CQC Reports page listing current CQC rating and CQC Manager summary

CQC Manager updates:

• Progress bar at the top

General updates:

• Notices on noticeboard – You can now set visibility and ownership for notices. Also set an “Active Until” date. See reports on notices including who has viewed them
• Data from the CQC can now appear on your dashboard

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