Fresh Scare and Exorcise: Tips for Surviving Halloween

By First Practice Management
In
Posted Wednesday October 25, 2023

Fresh Scare and Exorcise: Tips for Surviving Halloween

Halloween was celebrated this week - but things have been pretty scary already this year in the primary care sector... with constantly shifting regulations, guidelines, new vaccinations and boosters to deal with.

We hope you are nearing the end of the calendar year with your sanity (and good humour) intact. A sense of humour can be one of the most powerful tools in our arsenal when it comes to dis-spell-ing (excuse the pun) bad feelings and low mood. Taking some time to switch off from these everyday pressures and get into the Halloween spirit could be more important than ever.

Make sure you’re well ahead of the carve when it comes to pumpkins, make yourself simply eerie-sistible in your Halloween costume, and have a read through our list of things to remember below for making this Halloween as fright-free as possible in your practice:

Avoid taking risks to get things done: when we’re all so pushed to our limits, we often take it upon ourselves to try to help everyone, despite the risks that may pose. Whether it’s taking patients to hospital ourselves, or saying yes to that extra bit of overtime we really can’t manage, be careful not to “do the wrong thing for the right reasons”. Staying safe and sticking to guidelines might be hard but it helps everyone in the long run.
Remember to try and be emotionally intelligent: at the moment, the pressure everyone is experiencing is intense, (not that we’re ever not under pressure!) and it’s easy for minor disagreements or behavioural issues to explode into major problems. If we all take a few seconds to think before we speak, and to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes, it can help dial things down and promote a calmer, more productive environment.
Make sure you have clear policies in place: especially important for topical issues like abusive behaviour and the complaints procedure in your practice. Policies are not everyone’s favourite area of the job and it often seems like there are policies for every small thing, but in many areas of practice life they keep us safe, especially when something goes wrong. The FPM Policy library and our new compliance software FPM Core has hundreds of policies accessible to members and is constantly being updated.
Keep up to date with what’s going on: the FPM weekly bulletin is a great place to hear news about funding and legislation, as well as our surveys, HR case studies, and of course our free webinars, like the one on the new CQC Single Assessment Framework, which will be held on November 8th at 1230 (access the sign up link here).
Planning 2024's training so you feel ahead of the game: Thornfields have a range of new and exciting courses to make life easier for you and your staff, like our new Apprenticeships, as well as our Aspiring Practice Managers workshops, and our ILM qualifications.

As this year draws to a close, it’s scary to think that 2022 will be here soon, bringing its own challenges but also many new opportunities. Maybe next year things will ease up a little, but then again, maybe that’s just witch-ful thinking.

If you need something to ward off the evil spirits—a policy from the FPM policy library or advice from our knowledgeable HR advisor for members—then email us at mail@firstpracticemanagement.co.uk or call 0333 240 4010. From all of us at FPM Group, happy Halloween!