New to Practice Management
Welcome!
As a newcomer to general practice management (NTPM), the sheer amount of information to find and absorb may seem overwhelming. This page is dedicated to offering some signposting that should assist you in navigating your initial months in the role.
Should you have any particular questions or require further assistance, please contact Sarah Parsons the Director for Practice Management Liaison, you can find contact details here.
You may also find it useful to follow our Surrey and Sussex LMC Line WhatsApp Channel, further details for that can be found here.
Where to find useful information
Most documents are held in the public domain and while it is beneficial to know where to find some of these documents and understand something of what they contain, please know that your LMC team is always on hand to assist should you need any help.
Practice Management colleagues often find the following common tools particularly useful:
- The Regulations: These documents can be tricky to navigate so if you are looking for something specific please do let us know and we will help you find it.
- You may prefer to hear a summary of the contract changes and our published webinars are available for you to watch, they can be found can be found by navigating to the Training and Resources > Webinars pages of our website.
- The Statement of Financial Entitlement is another useful document to have sight of, again it is updated annually. It describes how the money flows and can be found by clicking here.
- The long-awaited National Health Service (General Medical Services - Premises Costs) Directions 2024 have been published. It supersedes all previous versions of the directions. The directions set out how payments should be calculated and made to general practice contractors in respect of premises costs.
- The Primary Medical Care Policy and Guidance Manual can be helpful to be aware of, and covers a plethora of information pertaining to (for e.g.,) patient registrations, premises, contract breaches, sanctions and terminations, contractor disputes, adverse events, contract variation etc. Its an lengthy policy document with well over 400 pages of information.
It is a live document so we would encourage you to review the document online.
- QOF Guidance is released about March of every year and the latest guidance can be found on the NHS England's Contract pages. Other useful documents relating to coding and/or payment of activities are linked below, these include useful guides, the Business Rules (that your clinical systems providers refer to when building searches) and also other documents regarding the national ES and V&I core contract components for e.g.
- CQRS user guides - NHS Digital (CQRS stands for the Calculating Quality Reporting Service)
- Business Rules released by NHS Digital; here you can find the coding rules underpinning the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), and below the Enhanced services (ES), Vaccination and Immunisation (V&I) and core contract components (CC) business rules 2024-2025 - NHS Digital
- Do not forget that we have training available on our LMC website for you! If you are looking for courses such as Medical Terminology, Summarising or Becoming a Successful Practice Manager then look no further. New dates are released throughout the year.
- We also have lots of webinars you can watch .
- Do utilise your local PM/PCN Networks as well as your local training HUBs, Workforce Tutors and Federations. It is incredibly helpful to connect with your wider Practice Management Network, especially when it comes to local nuances such as workforce solutions. If you are unsure who your local contact is for your Network or for your training HUB, your ICB will usually be able to direct you.
Routine Submissions
If it is within the scope of your role, then it can be useful to check you have access for things like CQC, workforce data submission, Imms Form (seasonal flu submissions), the Data Protection and Security Toolkit (DPST), annual complaints submissions (KO41b), contract submissions, any dashboards, e-Learning hubs, so on and so forth. Finance links (such as - bookkeeping, payroll, HMRC, pensions payments, PCSE, links for LCSs, CQRS and QOF and financial accounts).
It may be helpful to identify which submissions are annual, 6 monthly, quarterly, or monthly.
Consider any NHS.mail 'administration' pathways that you may need to be connected to.
Ensure there is a clear handover, and that the resetting of user sites and passwords occurs before someone departs. Particularly when reset notifications are tied to a user's email account, it's ideal to transfer these to maintain the relevance of the information received.
Other useful routes for support
- Identifying whether your practice subscribes to organisations that offer support can be beneficial. Such support may include HR contracts, Handbooks and employment policies, practice SOPs, holiday management tools, training logs, and development resources. You might discover that there are already numerous helpful handbooks and materials available to assist you in acclimating to your new role.
- Your locality may also have an intranet that is used, or have bulletins that you can sign-up to.
- You may also utilise NHS Futures which is a collaboration platform for health and care people.
- Want to learn about PCSE Pensions; did you know that PCSE have a You Tube account where tutorials can be found.
- Institute of General Practice Management: YouTube channel IGPM (Institute of General Practice Management) - YouTube.
Employment Advice and Support
BMA Guidance for GP Practices
It is beneficial to be aware that having a GP partner who is a BMA member grants you access to the Employer Advisory Service (EAS) . They simply need to provide their BMA number. This can be particularly helpful when dealing with complex issues. While you most likely have an HR provider for employment contracts and variations, the EAS can clarify ambiguities or offer a second opinion. Additionally, ACAS provides a free employer advice service.
Education and Support
AMSPAR - Medical Administration, Management and Terminology
Nationally accredited qualifications for non-clinical staff.
Leadership Academy
Foundations in System Leadership; collaborating for health and care – Leadership Academy
This programme is open to all colleagues working in health, care, local authorities, and voluntary organisations who would like to explore what system leadership means. Whether you’re new to health and care, an aspiring leader at the start of your journey, or interested in finding out more about cross-sector collaboration, you’re the perfect candidate.
If you want to talk about your development needs, please contact our friendly team by email at system.leadership@leadershipacademy.nhs.uk
South East Leadership Learning Zone
The Leadership Learning Zone (LLZ) is a flexible e-learning resource that contains interactive modules of key leadership development. LLZ features a suite of 22 free leadership learning modules including An Introduction to leadership, Coaching, Talent Management, Equality and Diversity, System Leadership, Resilience, Unconscious Bias and more.
This resource is equally relevant to staff who are just starting in their careers as well as experienced managers who want to consolidate their leadership capabilities. LLZ was developed by Leadership subject matter experts who develop and deliver a range of quality learning interventions for health and social care and public sector organisations.
Support Available for Our NHS People
NHS England » Support available for our NHS people
If you need someone to talk to, Our NHS People have introduced a confidential text support service, you can access support by texting FRONTLINE to 85258 for support 24/7.
This service is available to all our NHS colleagues who have had a tough day, who are feeling worried or overwhelmed, or who have a lot on their mind and need to talk it through.
Alongside the text line, they also have a range of additional support offers in place for NHS colleagues which suit a range of different health and wellbeing needs. Scroll through the options in the link to find the ones that works best for you.
Some useful tools to download
You can download our New to site checklist, some premises considerations document which can help you gather and understand information pertaining to premises and your key supplier contracts.
About this page
Updated on Wednesday, 15 May 2024
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