Practices everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief on the 31st March, because the QOF rush is over for another year. The 31st of March is a bit like New Year's Eve in general practice. It’s a time to celebrate and reflect; time to stop waking up in a pool of QOF-induced sweat during the night.
Further spending is needed to improve or replace the General Practice Extraction Service (GPES) according to the findings of the National Audit Office’s investigation. The committee, who stand independently from the government, have released a report this morning .
Our local newspaper runs a regular column where it asks minor celebrities what they would now, with hindsight, tell their younger selves about the meaning of life and other big questions. It started me thinking about what I have learned during my recent three year stint as a Practice Manager...
Like many practice managers the first weekend in April (just after the end of the QOF year) you are able to breathe a sigh of relief and hope that everything has been reported on and claimed for in the correct manner. It has been an exhausting period...
In my previous life as a practice manager, I often found that this time of year almost runs away with you and everyone is worrying about grabbing those last few QOF points. In the words of Brucie; "points make prizes". Here are a couple of hints and tips of things I used to do to...
GPC Wales recently announced completion of negotiations with the Welsh Government on a revised GMS contract package for GP practices in Wales. Rather than amending details such as thresholds and withdrawing and replacing indicators, the changes announced appear to indicate...
A news item caught my eye this week and left me saddened. Doctors and nurses are to be charged and possibly imprisoned for not providing adequate care for patients. How that contrasts with one of my recent reads – The Element – How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything...
Remember that full stool sample in the plastic container that came in after the lab van left on a Friday? The receptionist left the ‘sample’ in the treatment room to be disposed of later. (Funnily enough she decided she wasn’t going to put it in the vaccine or the kitchen fridges.)...
You’ll have heard the mutterings in the staff room when some change is proposed or an unexpected situation arises.‘Dr W? – don’t bother asking him. He’s just a grumpy git. All he’ll do is moan. ’‘Oh, you can ask Dr X to do anything and she’ll always oblige...
Scottish QOF Guidance for 2013/14 was issued on 1 May 2013 and an electronic copy of the guidance is on the show website.Indicators across all domains have been renumbered.Indicators that apply to Scotland only, and differ from the rest of the UK have (S) after the indicator number...
There are a huge amount of pressures on practice managers at present – CQC, New QOF, loss of the PCT and all the support they gave and getting to grips with how the new CCGs will impact upon the practice. The ability to motivate, influence and get people on board with changes...
Northern Irish GP Practices were officially informed on 3rd April that an agreement had been reached between NIGPC and DHSSPSNI regarding the 2013/14 GP GMS contract. The key points of the GMS contract update are: 1.5% increase in pay and expenses...
First Practice Management (FPM) accompanied Diane Abbott MP, Shadow Minister for Public Health to visit member GP practices in Manchester on Thursday 14th February. This visit was a follow-up from FPM’s interview of Mr Andy Burnham (Shadow Health Secretary)...
First Practice Management exclusively interviewed Andy Burnham MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health, in London on 16th January 2013. FPM staff member and trained journalist Keerti Baker, asked Mr. Andy Burnham the "burning questions" put forward by our members...
General practice websites are a mixed bag, varying from a web presence updated only occasionally and when forced to go so by radical change, through to an on-line tool providing a portal for patients to interact with the practice, other patients, and the staff managed daily...