NHS real estate is a complex business, particularly when you’re dealing with a sharp increase and influx of new staff, alongside a mass return to on-site working. In the next instalment of our monthly Practice Index / Ockham Healthcare series, residents Nicola Davies and Dr Hussain Gandhi, offer their thoughts on all things estates; from session planning, to support and management of the newly formed Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) teams, creation of hybrid working spaces, the benefits to both clinical and non-clinical staff of remote working. We try to pick apart the challenges and look at ways to maximise square footage, and maintain efficiency, whilst space is at a premium.
Introduction (40 secs)
The current situation in Nicola’s practice (1 min)
…and in Gandhi’s (1 min 36 secs)
Covid, the shift towards remote working, and the resulting impact on space (2 mins 17 secs)
The new version of remote working in a ‘post Covid’ era (2 mins 57 secs)
Nicola’s own experiences of remote working (3 mins 49 secs)
Have attitudes changed where remote working is concerned? (4 mins 53 secs)
Gandhi’s thoughts (6 mins 39 secs)
Remote session planning (7 mins 46 secs)
The resulting benefits in creating a more flexible working space (8 mins 22 secs)
Clinical working patterns within Nicola’s surgery (9 mins 10 secs)
Maintaining team spirit where multi-site working exists (10 mins 8 secs)
Considering the ARRS staff setup (11 mins 32 secs)
A sense of belonging and management of wellbeing needs (13 mins 32 secs)
Challenges for leaders (14 mins 59 secs)
Identifying with practice or PCN (16 mins 28 secs)
Meeting the estates needs of both clinical and non-clinical staff (17 mins 54 secs)
Hybrid working, digitisation of medical records and an IGPM update (20 mins 44 secs)
The Practice Index website is here
For all enquiries, please contact James Dillon here or Ben Gowland here
Many in general practice may be unaware of the existence of the General Practice Committee, a recognised body which exists to represent all GPs in the UK, regardless of whether they are BMA members or not, and which is split into national groups of elected members who attend and speak on behalf their local constituent GPs. This week GP, mediator and former GPC member Clare Sieber returns to the podcast to fill us in on the work of the GPC, its role and objectives, and details her experiences of the committee and why she believes radical change within primary care and how the workforce are represented is required.
Introduction (9 secs)
Getting involved with the GPC (27 secs)
How does the GPC work? (1 min 49 secs)
Links to the LMCs (3 mins 14 secs)
The role of the GPC and their main objectives (3 mins 50 secs)
The mandate for industrial action (4 mins 45 secs)
What happened after the motion for strike action was passed? (5 mins 39 secs)
Contractual negotiations with NHS England (6 mins 54 secs)
Resignation from the committee (7 mins 55 secs)
The negotiation process (8 mins 27 secs)
Attempting to bring about change (9 mins 53 secs)
Issues with maintaining open communication and transparency (11 mins 42 secs)
What’s Clare’s sense of where General Practice is right now? (12 mins 25 secs)
Moving forwards from here (13 mins 57 secs)
Ensuring effective communication within the ICS new world (14 mins 49 secs)
How does general practice come together, and stand together? (15 mins 35 secs)
To learn more about what Clare can offer as a mediator, check out her LinkedIn profile here
The General Practice Mediation website is also here
To get in touch, Clare is contactable here
To find out more information about our PCN Plus training programme, focused on supporting and skilling PCN Clinical Directors to be successful in their roles, check out our dedicated webpage or get in touch with Ben here
With stress levels continuing to soar within all areas of the healthcare system, we felt it was time to tackle things head on and really get to grips with how conflict occurs specifically within primary care, what options are available to those involved in a breakdown in relations and why a mediator can be instrumental in moving things forward. This week, Ben talks to experienced GP and mediator Dr Clare Sieber about some of the situations she has been involved with, how mediation works in practice, when it is most likely to achieve success and why communication is again so crucial to avoiding the culture of a stressful and unhealthy workplace.
Introducing Clare (56 secs)
Becoming an accredited mediator (1 min 42 secs)
The most common types of disputes (3 mins 12 secs)
The principles of mediation and the legal parameters (3 mins 54 secs)
A mediation agreement (5 mins 53 secs)
How does the process work? (6 mins 28 secs)
Reaching an agreement (8 mins 6 secs)
What does a good outcome look like? (10 mins 10 secs)
What factors determine whether a mediation is likely to be successful (or unsuccessful)? (11 mins 27 secs)
Within a situation of conflict, what other options are available, as well as mediation? (13 mins 52 secs)
Avoiding conflict in the first place (15 mins 52 secs)
Managing PCN disputes (19 mins 12 secs)
Changes to PCN leadership (21 mins 55 secs)
Finding out more / getting in touch (23 mins)
To learn more about what Clare can offer as a mediator, check out her LinkedIn profile here
The General Practice Mediation website is also here
To get in touch, Clare is contactable here
To find out more information about our PCN Plus training programme, focused on supporting and skilling PCN Clinical Directors to be successful in their roles, check out our dedicated webpage or get in touch with Ben here
In what is a dose of pure positivity for a Monday, Alvanley Family Practice’s award-winning Nursing Director and Practice Nurse Katherine Parker joins Ben on this week’s Ockham podcast to give us an insight into the work of Primary Care nurses and how they can make a difference when stepping into leadership roles. Katherine details her own journey; where she sits within the wider practice team, the empowerment she has been given oversee the clinical workload and the innovation that she and her team continue to champion in their area. She also reflects on the impact of PCNs, the pandemic and how other practices and networks can better attract, retain, recognise, and champion their own nursing workforce, so that there is greater confidence in promoting general practice nursing across the board.
Introduction (10 secs)
Katherine’s role within the practice (24 secs)
The remit of a Nursing Director (1 min 10 secs)
Alignment with Practice Manager, Kay (1 min 56 secs)
Celebrating and championing innovation (2 mins 42 secs)
Group Consultations (3 mins 33 secs)
Why group consultations work (5 mins 5 secs)
A more efficient use of time? (5 mins 53 secs)
Social prescribing and the Alvanley Health Champions (6 mins 47 secs)
What are Alvanley’s key objectives when it comes to social presciribing? (8 mins 19 secs)
Wellness Navigators (9 mins 4 secs)
The benefits of a non-medical approach (11 mins 5 secs)
Katherine’s view of PCNs, from a nursing perspective (11 mins 37 secs)
Valuing Primary Care nurses (12 mins 33 secs)
Recruitment and retention (13 mins 25 secs)
Advocacy and empowerment of nurses (14 mins 54 secs)
The impact of Covid (16 mins 28 secs)
Ninja nursing! (18 mins 38 secs)
Advice for GPs and practices (19 mins 19 secs)
Finding out more & getting in touch (20 mins 34 secs)
The Alvanley Family Practice Facebook page can be found here
A wealth of resources can be found when searching for Katherine Parker and / or Kay Keane online (other search engines are available!)
More about Katherine the Ninja Nurse here
Finally, you can make direct contact with Katherine here