NEWS Manager Practice How many partners or PMs
out there can instantly lay hands on their partnership agreements? Often these are filed away and never consulted unless there is a dispute of some kind. Solicitor Mark Jarvis argues (page 12) that practices should view these as “living documents” to be reassessed on a regular basis.
Flu season is again upon us
OVER 1,700 GP practices and out-of-hours services have been inspected by the Care Quality Commission, according to a recent statement by chief inspector of general practice Professor Steve Field. Of those, 84 per cent have been rated “good” or better, though only a small proportion achieve an “Outstanding” rating. On page 10 Jim Killgore visits one such practice – Orchard Court Surgery in Darlington. Here he meets PM Karen Fuat to discuss what set the practice apart and how she prepared for the ordeal of a CQC inspection. She says: “Every general practice in England knows that at some stage they are going to be visited by the CQC. You know more or less what they are going to be asking for. You just have to be organised and methodical.”
COVER PHOTOGRAPH: SIMON RYDER
with vaccination clinics on the go. Are you certain of the basis on which your healthcare assistants and PNs are administering flu jabs? Do you know a PGD from a PSD? On page 6 I provide some guidance. Employment law adviser
Janice Sibbald offers a quick primer on practice equality issues on page 7. Suspected domestic abuse is the subject of our regular risk column from Alan Frame (page 8) and Allan Gaw offers an alternative perspective on time management for the busy PM (page 9). Our regular call log on page 4
features member queries on covert recording, the family of a violent patient wanting to re-register, the transfer of medical records abroad, an elderly patient driving with dementia and other topics. And our case study (page 14) features a questionable referral to child services.
Helen Ormiston Editor
Over a quarter of GP appointments avoidable
A NEW report has found that over 27 per cent of GP appointments could potentially be avoided if there was more coordinated working between GPs and hospitals, greater utilisation of primary care staff, more effective use of technology to streamline administrative burdens and wider system changes. The report by the NHS Alliance and the Primary Care
Foundation found that a significant amount of GP time could be freed up if family doctors spent less time rearranging hospital appointments and chasing up test results. The report also estimates that one in six patients could potentially be seen by other primary care staff, such as clinical pharmacists, practice nurses or physician assistants, or they could be supported to meet their own health needs. The study argues that the reduction of bureaucracy in general
practice should be made a national priority. In particular the report calls for streamlined payment systems and to simplify and speed up the time practice managers spend on entering data. Dr Jonathan Serjeant, GP and national lead for NHS
Alliance’s Accelerate programme, said: “GPs and their colleagues are experts in listening, supporting and diagnosing their patients. This is what we’ve been trained to do, and what we want to do. “If applied quickly, the recommendations set out in this report, particularly those around extending the GP team to incorporate other health professionals, will help reduce the current levels of bureaucracy GPs face on a daily basis. The end result is that GP time is freed up, and people have access to all their information whenever they need it.”
Interactive module on dental
EDITORS: Scott Obrzud Helen Ormiston
ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Jim Killgore Joanne Curran
DESIGN: Connect Communications
connectcommunications.co.uk
PRINT: Printwell
www.printwell-ltd.co.uk
CORRESPONDENCE: PM Editor MDDUS Mackintosh House 120 Blythswood Street Glasgow G2 4EA
t: 0845 270 2034 e:
PM@mddus.com w:
www.mddus.com
Practice Manager is published by The Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, Registered in Scotland No 5093 at Mackintosh House, 120 Blythswood Street, Glasgow G2 4EA. The MDDUS is not an insurance company. All the benefits of membership of MDDUS are discretionary as set out in the Articles of Association.
complaints handling MDDUS members can now build their knowledge of dental complaints handling with a new interactive module from our Risk Management team.
Aimed at dentists and practice managers, the module is CPD-
verified and offers a wide range of information and advice on best practice. It takes around 45 minutes to complete and covers:
• • • •
• •
the common reasons patients complain
the requirements in relation to handling complaints professional guidance on acting on patient concerns
how you can review your own practice processes, roles and responsibilities in relation to complaints
how you might investigate and respond more effectively
strategies to minimise complaints in dental practice. Members can login using their surname and MDDUS membership
number. Find out more on the Interactive modules page in our Risk Management eLearning centre at
mddus.com
AUTUMN 2015 ISSUE 13
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