Practice Managers Support

We recognise that the Practice Managers are usually the heart of General Practice, but the role is often described as isolating and expectations and workload are forever increasing. The LMC is here to support Practice Managers as much as we can, and have recently done a PM survey to look at the workload, morale and general feeling amongst the profession.

As a new Practice Manager, it can be really hard to navigate the different areas to ensure you claim everything you should and when,connecting with the right people as well as ensuring the practice are complying with CQC and delivering the contract.

We have included a few areas which we hope provides support and guidance to Practice Managers.

Practice Managers Checklist

This Practice Managers Checklist document is intended to help identify the numerous tasks that need to be undertaken by the practice management team throughout the year. It is not claimed that it is a complete list, nor will some of the tasks apply to all GP Practices as some will depend on the ICBs local commissioned scheme. Other practices will have different IT systems than shown in this document.

It is a starter list that can be tailored for individual needs and enable tasks to be allocated amongst the team.

It is a useful reference for Practice / Business Managers new to General Practice or as an aide memoire when joining a ‘new’ practice!

We want to thank Colin Wilson for co-ordinating this document.

Practice Claims Schedule for 23/24

The ICB have shared the practice claims schedule for Practice which includes what should be claimed, when and by which portal.

• 23/24 Practice claims schedule
• LOC1 Sick Leave Application

Key contractural links

• NHS contract documents
• 23/24 General Medical Services contract
• 23/24 Personal Medical Services contract
• 2023 GMS Statement of Financial Entitlements
• General Medical Services Legisaltion

Practice Managers Academy

The Practice Managers Academy is made up of a small cohort of skilled and experience Practice Managers within LLR. They offer a range of different Learning and Development options for New and Aspiring GP Surgery Practice Managers in LLR.

This is not associated with the LMC but we recognise and support the work they do. We are pleased to be sponsoring the LLR PM conference again this year.

The following LLR Practice Manager Academy provides a range of services which practice managers may wish to explore.

1. LLR Practice Manager Academy – Competency Framework

This tool is helpful in the recruitment of a new Practice Manager, assessing the skill set of a current Practice Manager and a way to identify any missing areas across the practice team.

Please email llr.pmacademy@nhs.net and a member of the LLR PM Academy team will send the framework.

2. LLR Practice Manager Academy - Induction for new and aspiring Practice Manager

The Practice Manager Academy Induction course is an interactive course which has been written for new and/or aspiring Practice Managers of the future. Participants are encouraged to collect evidence throughout the three sessions of the programme and are given a copy of all of the course materials

Items covered will include:

• The changing face of General Practice
• Background to the NHS
• NHS Structure
• Funding streams and commissioners
• Type of contract
• Payroll
• NHS Pension Scheme
• Understanding Doctors Accounts
• Profit shares and tax liabilities
• Partnership Agreements
• Partnerships/Salaried/Locums – the difference and the pitfalls
• The Training and Teaching Practice
• Private Fees
• Premises
• Practice Manager/Business Manager/Managing Partner
• An overview of Employment Law
• Whistleblowing
• Complaints and Significant Events
• CQC
• Glossary of Terms

This is not an exhaustive list, and participants will have the opportunity to discuss any concerns or issues they have with the group, or via a 1-1 booked session with the trainer at the end of each session.

About the trainer - Bridget has worked in Practice Management for the last 24 years as a Practice Manager/Managing Partner/Practice Director. She has been writing and delivering local and national training courses for practice staff for the last 20 years. Bridget has worked for the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) in London as a freelance trainer. She also has her own consultancy and training business – HK Consulting. Locally, Bridget has worked with over 15 Practices across LLR providing hands-on consultancy support and guidance, as well as writing and delivering training courses for Practice staff, Nurses, HCA’s, Registrars and Medical students.

This course is fully funded by the LLR Practice Manager Academy

Booking - via LMS

3. LLR Practice Manager Academy – Mentoring Support

The purpose of mentoring is to tap into the existing knowledge, skills, and experience of another Practice Manager and transfer these skills to newer or potentially less experienced manager in order to advance their careers.

Mentors are available to cover all aspects of Practice Management and would usually work on one specific area at a time, these might be Premises Development, Accounting and Finance, Governance or HR issues.

Experienced Practice Managers are required to fulfil the mentor role.

To become a mentor please contact llr.pmacademy@nhs.net and request an application form, once approved you will be added to the mentor database.

To request mentoring:

1. Email llr.pmacademy@nhs.net to request the mentor database
2. Mentee consults a list of approved Managers in the area and makes direct contact detailing the mentoring required
3. If both parties are happy to work together then an application form is requested and completed and submitted to the LLR PM Academy Executive Team via email llr.pmacademy@nhs.net.
4. Mentoring and evaluation form completed
5. Invoice raised by Mentoring Practice Manager to the Practice Manager Academy

4. LLR Practice Manager Academy – Coaching Course

Learning how to incorporate coaching into your everyday management role can help to:

• Improve staff performance
• Encourage staff ownership and responsibility
• Transform your role from a “fixer” to an “enabler”

Run over two half days, managers will learn what is and isn’t, have plenty of opportunity to practice the principles of coaching as well as learning how to incorporate their new skills into an already busy day.

About the trainer - Philippa Guy is a qualified Coach, certified DISC Practitioner and an experienced Business Manager for a large inner city GP Practice. Prior to joining the NHS, Philippa worked for over 20 years as a manager in the Pharmaceutical Industry so knows herself the difference taking a coaching approach with your staff can make. She also knows how easy it is to think you don’t have time to do this, so the course also looks at the practical applications of coaching skills in everyday interactions with staff.

This course is fully funded by the LLR Practice Manager Academy

Please email llr.pmacademy@nhs.net and a member of the LLR PM Academy team will send further information.

5. LLR Practice Manager Academy – Peer Appraisal

Separate to your in-house practice appraisal, having a Peer Appraisal with an experienced and specially trained Practice Manager Peer Appraiser can bring an external and objective aspect to your ongoing development. Focused on being supportive, the appraisal allows time for the Practice Manager to explore what is happening for them today and identify areas to focus on for the coming year, with the input from someone who understands what it is like being in a Practice Manager role. The appraisal usually takes 90 minutes and there are preparatory forms for the Practice Manager to complete and submit a week before their Appraisal. The Appraiser will provide a report summarising the discussions along with an action planning template the Practice Manager can complete for themselves.

Please email llr.pmacademy@nhs.net and a member of the LLR PM Academy team will send further information.

6. LLR Practice Manager Academy – DISC Workshop

Understanding our own personality style and preferences and those of our colleagues helps us to increase respect and tolerance of each other's differences and highlights how we need to adjust our style to meet the needs of our team members. DISC is a well-established personality profiling tool that is easy to use but has the power to transform one-to-one and group dynamics once understood. Patients also have their own DISC profiles and once you understand the principles you will be able to spot the clues in patient too, helping you to better adapt your style to meet their needs.

This workshop is for teams that work together within or across practices. It can also be run for whole practices.

About the facilitator - Philippa Guy is a certified DISC practitioner, qualified Coach and an experienced Business Manager for a large inner-city practice. She has actively used DISC in her own practice for a number of years as well as using it in her coaching sessions and can bring her own practical experience of using DISC to enhance day to day interactions, team development, recruitment and conflict resolution.

Please email llr.pmacademy@nhs.net and a member of the LLR PM Academy team will send further information.

7. LLR Practice Manager Academy – Practice Manager Recruitment, Induction, Mentoring and Review

A package of support for practices recruiting a new Practice Manager through four stages of recruiting, appointing, inducting and supporting a new Practice Manager including confirming job roles and responsibilities, selection for interview, interviews, induction, mentoring, probationary review and annual review.

Please email llr.pmacademy@nhs.net and a member of the LLR PM Academy team will send further information.