Practice support
PCC supporting general practice – new for 2024
During 2024 we will be sharing enhanced support that we are developing for general practice as over recent months there has been no sign of any of the demands on primary care slowing down. The access agenda and need to recover confidence in general practice has driven significant national initiatives which continue to be rolled out. Continuing to improve access is important – by doing so practices will see increased patient satisfaction, patients will be able to access services on an equal footing, will reduce stress levels, demands and pressure on practice workforce, which in turn will increase workforce morale and support health and well-being.
We will be promoting our support regularly over the coming months through our newsletters, so if you do not already subscribe to them, you can do so here.
To support the access agenda three fundamental areas under pin it – finance, workforce and premises. You can click on the buttons at the top of this page to find out more about out support in the key areas that support the access agenda.
At PCC we have listened to our clients and have built on the national support around access whilst also focusing on transforming finance, workforce and premises to support practice resilience and sustainability.
We are mindful of the reality is life in practice time is precious, and it can often be difficult to free up, identify and commit resources on a regular basis. Here at PCC our dedicated team will work with key members of the practice team to understand the practice support requirements, areas of priority and concern. We would then develop a plan that delivers support that is responsive to meet the needs of the practice but also flexible to adapt to the changing needs of individual practices.
Our support to practices is available either for practices to commission directly or federations, alliances, primary care networks (PCNs), local medical committees and integrated care boards could commission on behalf of individual practices or groups of practices.
Whatever the needs are of individual practices, PCC will work with your team in a collaborative, confidential and professional way, sharing knowledge, skills and tools and increasing workforce knowledge and capability, empowering teams across general practice.
We also provide support across other areas and that includes the following:
Care Quality Commission
Care Quality Commission (CQC) introduced in November 2023 a new inspection assessment framework. PCC can offer a wide range of support, below is a flavour of the type of the support we offer:
- Understanding the framework and what providers need to have in place,
- Mock inspections – supporting providers to make CQC part of their daily audit work, the mock helps to reset and continually improve
- Annual assessment of the well-led domain of CQCs framework
- Support to providers following a less than favourable inspection – tailoring support based on the needs outcome of the inspection and supporting the workforce, boosting morale to manage the change.
Practice resilience
Primary care continues to be under pressure, therefore it is essential practices and PCNs are resilient. Improving resilience will mean their workforce will be able to adapt to challenges as they arise rather than over stretching resources financial or workforce to manage the immediate situation, which in turn has a knock on effect to staff morale, health and well-being and patient access to services.
PCC recognise practices and PCNs have little time to be able to take stock and look at ways to be more resilient. PCC has a wide range of support to practices and PCN from:
- Diagnostic to identify areas for improvement and provide solutions
- Practice health check
- Premises utilisation
- Contingency planning
- Succession planning
- Service, scheme, and pilot evaluations
- At scale back-office functions
- Practice or PCN change management support
- Back-office deep dive.
As teams become more stretched there is a risk of burnout through an unmanageable workload. It is best to act early and investigate options to increase resilience, whether that is working with the primary care network, informally or formally with other practices to seek solutions, or through looking how things are managed within the practice and seeing if changes can be made.
Being a partner – what partners in GP practices need to know
All partners in general medical practices need to fully understand the legal and financial implications of being a partner. PCC’s training programme enables all partners, whether clinical or managerial, to gain the knowledge to be able to make informed decisions, minimising personal and partnership risk. Our training covers areas such as premises – to own or not to own?, HR implications, financial management, including personal financial implications.
SocialPrescriberPlus – essential training for social prescribing link workers, care coordinators and health coaches
With the additional roles reimbursement scheme supporting social prescribing link workers, care coordinators and health coaches, practically focused training is essential for these posts to provide effective and efficient support to practices. Equip your PCN’s social prescribing team with the professional knowledge, skills, expertise and confidence to make an immediate impact. This training is accredited by the Personalised Care Institute.
Delegate feedback includes:
“Really enjoyed this and found it really useful.”
“I enjoyed the Social Prescribing course and took a lot from it.”
The online training delivered via the Zoom meeting platform, runs across three half day modules.
Leadership for practice managers
Practice managers play in a vital role in the life of a successful practice. They are often brilliant operational managers and accomplished doers, but may get bogged down in the day to day running of the business. Practice managers hoping to reach their full potential need to take a more strategic role.
Reception team training
As the first point of contact in the practice, your reception team play a crucial role and have a significant influence on patients perception of their care. We offer a number of half day courses that provide them with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need as an integral part of the practice.
- Better communication for better outcomes
- Care navigation, active signposting and social prescribing
- Smarter working in practice teams
- Making the first contact count: better conversations in practice
- Team change
