Primary Care Management Programme

• Definition of a Practice Manager role and its significance.
• Identify and discuss current work patterns/duties/policies and processes, including QoF, ES, Contract targets
• Identify risks, obstacles and barriers to doing job role

• Test results
• Document processing
• Recording information
• Tasks
• Prescriptions
• Registrations and deductions
• Summary care records
• Appointments
• Clinics

• QOF
• Enhanced service delivery
  • Health checks
  • LD health checks
  • Child immunisations
  • Alerts

• Identification and discussion of common challenges faced by Practice Managers, such as funding constraints, staffing issues, regulatory compliance, and technological advancements.
• Exploration of opportunities for Practice Managers to drive positive change and innovation within their practices.

• Making it part of your daily work – things to check
• Logging performance
• Carrying out audits on clinical system

• How to hold staff accountable
• Discussing issues at clinical / practice meetings – how best to facilitate /using evidence
• How to conjure up solutions for improvement and implementing change
• Drawing up or revising policies and protocols as required
• How to deal with a red flag issue

• Types of contracts
• Performer’s List
• Partnership agreement
• Premises agreement
• Revalidation for Clinicians
• Insurances
• CQC (Care Quality Commission) registration

• Building maintenance and equipment
• Supervising contractors on site
• Recycling all waste and medication
• DEC – Display Energy Certificate
• Calibration of medical equipment
• PAT testing
• Risk assessments
• COSHH
• Infection control/cleaning schedule
• Trained first aiders
• Disaster recovery plan/business continuity plan
• Fire safety policy
• RIDDOR/Accident book

• What is clinical commissioning?
• Working at Scale – PCNs, mergers and federations
• Service provision
• Stakeholder analysis

• The Comprehensive model of Personalised Care
• The Personalised Care roles
  • Social Prescriber Link Workers
  • Health And Well-being Coaches
  • Care Co-ordinators
• The value and impact

• The NHS Long Term Plan as it relates to Social Prescribing
• Supplementary guidance and clarifications in the new normal
• The Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS):
  • Scope
  • Social Prescribing Team roles
  • Flexibility
  • Salary levels
• Critical timelines and decision-making points

• GP Practice Accounts and what they tell us
• Income Streams
• Superannuation
• Update on finance for 2025/26

• What comprises your accounting system?
• Source records
• Software

• Financial Controls
• Review of 2024/25 in readiness for your 2025 Accounts meeting
• Contract Changes for 2025/26 and looking ahead
• CQRS
• Reimbursements and claims
• Other Income Streams including PCN income
• Tracking your Income

• Estimate of Pensionable Profits Form
• Pension Forms – Type 1 and Type 2
• Timeline
• Tier rates
• Examples

• Current issues

• Accounting Terminology
• Types of Income and expenses
• Debtors and Creditors
• Current and capital accounts explained
• Drawings
• Variance analysis and Financial Benchmarking

• Levels of complexity
• Using Excel
• Other options
• Interpretation

• Programme
• Objectives

• Employment law update 2025

• TUPE
• Redundancy
• Varying contractual terms

• Safer recruitment and candidate selection
• Discrimination and Equality (including bullying/harassment and unconscious bias)
• Performance Management – Skills and behaviour
• Dismissal, unfair dismissal, discipline & the ACAS code
• Providing productive feedback

• Performance Management – Skills and behaviour
• Grievances and how to handle them correctly
• Constructive dismissal
• Capability including managing sickness, absence and return to work

• Objectives of the training workshop
• Introduction to the importance of succession planning and workforce retention in primary care

• Definition and significance
• Identifying key roles and competencies
• Succession planning process overview

• Identifying high-potential employees
• Skill gap analysis
• Strategies for talent development

• Nurturing leadership skills
• Mentoring and coaching
• Building a leadership pipeline

• Employee engagement strategies
• Retention incentives
• Addressing retention challenges

• Overview of relevant employment laws and regulations
• Ethical decision-making in succession planning
• Promoting diversity and inclusion

• Participants brainstorm and discuss how they can apply what they’ve learned to their specific roles or organisations
• Setting goals for implementing succession planning and retention strategies

• Introductions
• Participants
• Learning objectives

• Frequency of assessments
• Gathering evidence / Evidence Categories
• Key Questions
• Quality Statements
• Ratings
• Scoring
• Regulations

• What is QOF?
• QOF Framework
• How QOF works
• Indicators Definitions & Thresholds
• Personalised Care Adjustments
• Challenges in using QOF Data
• Highlights

• Process Flow of Reward Payments
• QOF Reward: Data Extraction & Scoring

• Aspiration Payments
• Achievement Payment Calculation

• Data collection for QOF
• QMAS

• Discuss how recent technological changes have affected the traditional roles of administrators/support staff.
• Discuss how recent technological changes have affected the way patients interact with practices – E-consult, Klinic etc.
• Discuss what effective Correspondence Management will look like
• Discuss Benefits & Risks
• Discuss current work patterns/duties/policies and process’s – QoF, ES, Contract targets
• Are staff confident, feel skilled enough to start,
• Identify risks, obstacles and barriers to Correspondence Management
• How familiar are staff following protocols and working on their own?

• Understand the 4 Principles and the 5 Processes of Document Management
• Understand the importance of applying Protocols

• Brief overview of basic Medical Terminology
• Common words/phrases/abbreviations used in General Practice

• Using anonymised letters, delegates will process documents
• Workflow Optimisation Flow charts / protocols / Read Codes / templates
• Correspondence – what’s ok to be coded and filed
• And letters that needs to be ‘workflowed’?
• What actions to take

• Importance of recording actions
• What happens next
• Managing queries
• Support in practice

• The Audit Process
• The Reporting Process SE/CI
• The MDU perspective

• What will need to happen back in your practices for you to implement your new role?
• What will need to happen back in your practices to support your new role?
• Create an overview of a Practice Plan
• How long will it take?

• First Impressions
• Last Impressions

• Understand why we need to listen
• Respond and act (also at Practice level)
• NHS Complaints Process and your responsibilities & management of challenging patients
• Main areas of complaints in practices
• Avoiding complaints

• Face to face communications
• 3 V’s of Communication
• Non-verbal Communications
• Great Communication
• Things to Avoid
• Professional Touches

• Active Listening
• Open vs Closed Questions
• Context, include examples
• Risk Assessment – developing a safe environment
• Triggers

• Escalate or De-escalate
• Managing Difficult Conversations
• Recognising the signs
• Assertiveness
• Take Action
• Things to Remember

• Different types of communication
  • Key Characteristics of Excellent Customer Service
• Dealing with demanding and aggressive patients
• Utilising feedback to make improvements
• Engagement and participation
• Improve patient education
• Providing excellent customer care

We will look at why Signposting is now a recognised tool to meet demand on GP time and how it can increase access. Discussion will explore the benefits, risks and limits of the approach.

• Understanding what signposting is for
• Benefits to patients
• Benefits to the practice
• Using protocols
• Emergency situations
• What advice/appointment should be offered to a patient with chest pain/a suicidal patient, etc.

Sources of help patients will be referred to, including:

• Roles funded by the ARRS
• How to make referrals to allied healthcare professionals and other internal and external agencies and clinical team members e.g., physician associates, paramedics, etc.
• How to deal with a red flag issue

• Introduce, explore and discuss methods of how patient safety is maintained
• Review and compare protocols
• The continuing importance of Confidentiality in the Active Signposting process
  • From staff point of view
  • From patient point of view
• The importance of Record-keeping

• Recent technological changes
  • Digital Transformation
• How these have affected:
  • The traditional roles of non-clinical staff
  • Clinical staff
  • How patients interact with practices

• Clinical IT systems and third-party software i.e., Ardens, AccuRX, Klinic, e-Consult etc.
• NHS app
• Local E-consult platform used and who can be redirected
• Accurx, Ardens, etc.
• GP Appointments Data Dashboard – NHS Digital (Gpad)
• NHS Spine’ and facility to transfer NHS GP records virtually between practices within 24/48 hours of registration, when all necessary information is correct and accepted.
• Explore ‘GP2G data transfer’ process and how this data must be reviewed and managed

• E-referral system
• Use of IT auditing functions for LES, DES, vaccinations and immunisations
• Quality audits for clinical and prescribing data
• Use of templates
• Read coding – SNOMED
• Standard policy for practice coding
• Telecoms
• Labour saving devices

Introduction and Welcome

• How to ensure consistency in the access that patients can expect
• An assessment of needs – front line triage
• Signposted to an appropriate service at first contact with the practice
• How the IIF focus on access will support practices and PCNs
• QOF QI modules – focus on workforce wellbeing and optimising demand & capacity

• What is it?
• How to access services
• Practice telephony solutions
• Using the Better Purchasing Framework
• Supporting patient engagement & communication

• Simplification of GP registration requirements
• The GP contract regulations – patient retrospective online access to their medical records
• National Opt-out scheme – sharing GP records
• GDPR considerations – providing clarity on how practices are required to offer, promote and provide online access to patient records.

• ARRS overview – the roles and their value
• ARRS Changes for 2024:
  • Advanced Practitioners – increase in numbers per PCN
  • Advanced Nurse Practitioners
  • First Contact Practitioners (FCPs) – funded education and training to become Advanced Practitioners
  • Apprentice Physician Associates (PAs)
  • Mental Health Practitioners – removal of recruitment caps and allowing them to support first contact activity
  • The Clinical Pharmacist – supervision from Advanced Practice Pharmacists enabled
  • Ongoing ARRS review

• IIF indicators reduced from 36 to five focussed on 5 key national priorities:
  • two indicators related to flu vaccinations
  • learning disability health checks
  • early cancer diagnosis
  • 2-week access indicator
• IIF focus on improving patient experience – in terms of contact and assessment
• Capacity and Access Support Payment
• QOF register indicators
• This year’s QOF QI modules will focus on:
  • Workforce wellbeing and
  • Optimising demand and capacity

• What is resilience – how do we achieve it?
• What are our greatest assets?
• What motivates people?
• Managing your resources – people & time
• Wellbeing – Best practice
• Work-life balance and techniques to achieve it
• Stress Management and coping strategies

• How to overcome challenges
• What is Time Management/Core Principles?
• How can this be applied in a clinical setting?

• Healthy teams model
• How do we build confidence in a team?
• How to deal with any conflict that may arise

• Setting the scene
• Programme overview
• Objectives

• What is leadership?
• Motivating people
• Delivering results
• Continuous improvement

• Setting, communicating and maintaining standards and expectations.
• Managing unacceptable conduct or performance.
• Changing staff behaviours.
• Staff development
• Succession planning

• What does high challenge look like?
• What does high support look like?
• Creating the right relationships

• Where do your individuals and teams stand on the Development curve?
• What is the best approach (leadership style/behaviour vs development level)?

• What is influencing and negotiating?
• Dealing with challenge

• Difficult conversations are common when you work with people who have differing interests, needs or priorities.
• Dealing with Conflict

• Understand the impact of change
• Managing the people and organisational aspects of change;
• Communicating and selling the change
• Recognising why people fear change and react the way they do through change