It was a busy month with incoming changes in employment law, the National Living Wage on the horizon, and a controversial contract proposition. Catch up here…

Best of our blogs

I predict a riot… who’s with me? – By Paula the PM – The long-awaited GP Contract letter 2024/25 has been published. I’d like to say that I was shocked, except I’m not. What wonderful suggestions do they have for us this year? Read now

Flexible working changes are in the air – are you ready? – Psst! You may not be aware of it, but this coming year, the UK Government is tinkering aplenty with various employment rights. Unsure what changes are on thw way? Don’t worry, this blog will take you through what you need to know. Read now

The 2024/25 GP contract – By Ben Gowland – NHS England recently published a letter outlining details of the 2024/25 GP contract. Not many of us were expecting a huge windfall for practices this year, but even so, it was still a shock to find out just how little is being invested in general practice in the coming year. Read now

The updated Practice Manager’s Handbook 2024 – Fully revised throughout, the updated Practice Manager’s Handbook 2024 [PLUS] is now available to download. Packed with over 300 informative pages, this is the definitive guide to practice management. Download now

Is the National Living Wage affordable? – As April looms, practices are facing yet another squeeze on their finances; the National Living Wage (NLW) hike will come into effect soon. The 9.8% rise from £10.42 to £11.44 per hour, for anyone aged 21 and over, may not sound a lot, but as an ongoing extra cost, managers are sure to feel the increase. Read now

Get ahead for the new annual leave year – Unbelievably, April is just around the corner – and, for many of us, this means planning a new year of annual leave for our teams. Good news, we can help! Read now

The updated CQC Handbook 2024– Updated in line with the roll out of the single assessment framework, the 2024 CQC Handbook [PLUS] is now available to download. Download now

March’s podcast

• The Practice Index Podcast: Episode 40 – Dissecting the new GP Contract

Popular new and updated resources [PLUS]

• Letter about changes to the NHS Pension scheme contributions
• Information governance breach reporting policy (Wales)
• Referrals policy (Wales)
• CQC Handbook (MS Word version)
• CQC Handbook (PDF version)
• Duty of candour policy
• Prescribing policy
• Locum policy
• Caldicott and confidentiality policy
• Practice Manager’s Handbook (PDF version)
• Practice Manager’s Handbook (MS Word version)
• Data Security and Protection Toolkit Handbook (MS Word version)
• Data Security and Protection Toolkit Handbook (PDF version)
• Redundancy policy
• Shared parental leave and pay policy and procedure
• Dealing with unreasonable, violent and abusive patients policy
• Patient immunisation guidance document

Popular forum threads

• Three weeks off…is it worth it?
• Staff overuse of office supplies
• Just tidying up
• How often should we be completing an Infection Control Audit?
• How many emails do you get per week?
• Blocking a patient from emailing?
• Anyone else sick to death of complaints?
• New patient registration & revenue for practice

New Practice Index Training courses

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: Race
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: Disability
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: Sexual Orientation

You can see a full list of training courses here.

Practice Index Learning Package

Updated Mandatory and More:

• Legionella Awareness
• Fire Warden: Role and Responsibilities
• Mental Health in the Workplace
• Managing Yourself
• Managing Others
• CQC for All Staff
• CQC Quiz for All Staff
• Display Screen Equipment (DSE)
• Fraud Awareness
• Information Governance (IG) and Data Security
• Mental Capacity Act and DoLS

You can find out more information about our Learning Package here.

New features in the HUB

• Checks Manager  –  You can now set when users are notified about new check actions
• Safety Alerts – Visibility & Owners have now been added to safety alerts
• CQC Manager –  Assign actions to staff members/job roles and new evidence type for HR Alerts
• File upload –  Bulk upload files into a file uploader
• Notices – Options to pin and schedule notices for future dates
• Staff profiles –  Now shows courses which are due in next 30 days or are overdue
• Contacts –  The contacts importer now includes search tags

HUB support videos 

• Compliments Manager – A quick overview
• Risk Manager – A quick overview
• Checks Manger – Recording vaccine fridge temperature checks
• Learning Events Manager – A quick overview
• Criticisms Manager – A quick overview
• How to add a template check to Checks Manager within the Compliance Package
• Add your own Safety Alert
• How to clone a check in Checks Manager
• Compliance Package – A full overview

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.

Further updates can be found here.

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