The dust has certainly not settled on the very recent NHS England publication on improving access for patients and supporting general practice and in the latest of our joint Practice Index / Ockham Healthcare podcast series, our ‘fab four’ react. Our now infamous panel of Practice Management extraordinaires and Institute of General Practice Management founders and directors, Nicola Davies, Robyn Clark, Kay Keane and Jo Wadey, talk to Ben about what’s been set out within the document and how they feel about it, following an outcry from IGPM members and primary care colleagues alike. From the risks posed by the way the funding has been set out, to an apparent lack of understanding about the reality on the ground right now, where this leaves the sector and how general practice could be better supported, the quartet tell us why the latest guidance falls so far short and share their concerns about what the future holds for a primary care which is already at crisis level.
Introduction (25 secs)
Initial reactions (46 secs)
Key concerns (1 min 14 secs)
Performance based funding (1 min 40 secs)
A lack of understanding about what’s happening on the ground (2 mins 52 secs)
The contradiction of improved access and promotion of remote consultations (4 mins 13 secs)
How should practices respond? (6 mins 28 secs)
Are there any useful takeaways from the publication? (8 mins 17 secs)
Onus on commissioners (9 mins 42 secs)
The risk of perverse incentivisation (10 mins 15 secs)
How can general practice be better supported right now? (11 mins)
IGPM response (11 mins 27 secs)
Feedback from individual practice managers (12 mins 52 secs)
An undeliverable expectation? (13 mins 21 secs)
A sign of things to come? (15 mins 33 secs)
The IGPM one year on and what is happening next (17 mins 19 secs)
Practice Index’s website can be found here
For more information and to sign up to become a member of the IGPM, please find the website here
For all enquiries, please contact James Dillon here or Ben Gowland here
With almost twelve months experience of delivering a first contact physiotherapy (FCP) service across three PCNs in South Tyneside, Connect Health can attest to their worth. In fact, the service has been so well received that the PCN are on a mission to double the numbers of physios across their area, going forwards. In this week’s episode we meet South Tyneside Clinical Director, Federation lead and GP Dr Anji Curry and Connect Health’s MSK Clinical Service Manager and Physiotherapy Advanced Practitioner Hal Brace, who talk to Ben about their journey so far; what first contact practitioners can bring to a PCN in terms of easing the workload burden and early intervention, the different models for recruitment, the importance of care navigation in supporting and complementing the FCP service, and why every team should consider inclusion of these vital roles within the context of the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) funding available.
Introducing Anji (22 secs)
All about Hal (40 secs)
The South Tyneside PCN area (54 secs)
Adopting an innovative approach to the ARRS funding (1 min 20 secs)
PCN demographic (2 mins 30 secs)
A background to the FCP service and how the service has grown over time (2 mins 44 secs)
Partnering with Connect Health and the recruitment process for the FCPs (4 mins 58 secs)
How does the FCP service work in practice? (6 mins 5 secs)
The FCP spread across the PCN areas (8 mins 15 secs)
What have been the biggest challenges so far? (10 mins 38 secs)
Managing waiting times and clinic schedules (13 mins 12 secs)
Winning over more reluctant colleagues (14 mins 6 secs)
The relationship between the PCNs and Connect Health (15 mins 32 secs)
Why data measures and audits are key (17 mins 10 secs)
Planning for the future (18 mins 1 sec)
Advice and top tips from Hal and from Anji (19 mins 3 secs)
If you would like further information and / or would like to get in touch with the team at Connect Health, please visit their website here
Picking back up on our series of podcasts about making the best use of the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, this week Ben meets a multi-skilled, multidisciplinary team of professionals who are all working towards achieving better mental health outcomes for the students, staff and young people based in and around the University of Nottingham campus. The wellbeing team, led by GP DR Matt Litchfield, consists of Stuart Keeling, Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Amy Smith, Occupational Therapist and Emma Swearman, Health and Wellbeing Coach. Based at Cripps Health Centre, the four each give us an insight into their backgrounds and their current roles, what they can offer to better the lives of their patients, both individually and as a collective, the enormous growth of the service over a relatively short time span and the wider impact they are having at practice level and to the benefit of the local healthcare sector, more widely.
Introducing Matt, Stuart, Amy & Emma (9 secs)
The practice, PCN and local population (29 secs)
Where the wellbeing team began (1 min 16 secs)
Stuart’s background and the growth of the Mental Health Nurse Practitioner role within the wellbeing team (2 mins 17 secs)
Appointment structure (5 mins 31 secs)
Amy’s input as an Occupational Therapist (OT) and what OTs can bring to a mental health service (6 mins 39 secs)
The transition of OTs into primary care (8 mins 32 secs)
Emma as a Health and Wellbeing Coach (10 mins 6 secs)
How does Emma’s role work in practice? (11 mins 26 secs)
Community health and wellbeing groups (12 mins 18 secs)
Measuring success (13 mins)
Team management structure and supervision (15 mins 11 secs)
The impact of the team on the wider practice and patients (16 mins 25 secs)
Meeting patient needs (17 mins 59 secs)
The importance of early intervention and the benefit to the wider healthcare partners (18 mins 22 secs)
Employment of the mental health practitioner in partnership with local providers (19 mins 31 secs)
Planning for the future (20 mins 54 secs)
Getting in touch (22 mins 37 secs)
If you have any specific questions, or you’d like to learn more about the inspiring work of the University of Nottingham wellbeing team, please contact Matthew or Stuart.
The struggle for leaders across primary care has never been more real. The ability to influence others and enact change whilst the sector is under such tremendous pressure has never been more difficult. So, what can we do to move our teams both at practice level, and when it comes to navigating and negotiating new ways of working across a network of people who have only very recently been thrown together? How do we manage tricky relationships and partners who don’t want to engage? How do ensure we are still able to prioritise and practice self-care at the same time? Thankfully, Dr Rachel Morris, GP and thought leader on resilience in the workplace, returns to the podcast to discuss all of the above (and more), and how both she and Ben can help those at the top to access further support, beyond this week’s episode.
National recognition (14 secs)
The ‘You Are Not A Frog’ podcast (31 secs)
Making friends and influencing people (48 secs)
The challenges of network working (2 mins 4 secs)
Starting with the problem, instead of the change (3 mins 9 secs)
The way you market your solutions matters (4 mins 24 secs)
Supporting GP leaders to improve collaborative working (5 mins 27 secs)
Recognising and addressing other people’s concerns (6 mins 49 secs)
The power of a network vision (8 mins 35 secs)
Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme: Reducing short-term pain to realise the long-term gain (10 mins 39 secs)
Linking specific goals to overall vision (12 mins 20 secs)
Starting with the “why?” (14 mins)
Executing new ideas (15 mins 12 secs)
Being realistic (16 mins 39 secs)
The importance of debate and being able to conflict well (17 mins 57 secs)
The Resilient Team Academy (19 mins 11 secs)
How can leaders support their teams without burning out? Training opportunity! (20 mins 4 secs)
For more information about the free online training session this coming Monday 11th October at 7.30pm ‘How to support your team through the new ways of working in primary care without burning out yourself’, please click here. The webinar will cover key topics such as how to support others more effectively, tackling the moaners and complainers; and how to empower your team and get them unstuck.
The links to all the reading material Rachel has referenced in this week’s episode are listed below:
'Influence Without Authority’ by Allan R. Cohen and David L. Bradford
‘Start With Why’ by Simon Sinek
‘Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less’ by Greg McKeown
‘Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions’ by John Kotter
‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable’ by Patrick Lencioni