NEWS Manager Practice


guidance. On page 7 employment law adviser Janice Sibbald considers why it is generally not a good idea to have practice employees as patients. On page 10 Jim Killgore


PRACTICE receptionists make easy targets when it comes to complaints. They lack the professional mantle of doctors or dentists or practice nurses; there is no Royal College of Receptionists. Yet their role in healthcare provision is both important and at times fraught with complexity. Telephone encounters with patients can be particularly tricky. On page 8 in this issue senior risk adviser Liz Price looks at research on patient satisfaction related to initial telephone encounters with receptionists and considers how practices can enhance the experience while also reducing risk. Requests for access to the


medical records of deceased patients often cause anxiety and confusion for practice managers in regard to “who” has the right to access “what”. On page 6 practice adviser Scott Obrzud offers some


COVER: TIM SMITH Call for longer, fewer GP consultations


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: 0333 043 4444 e: PM@mddus.com w: www.mddus.com


THE BMA is calling for the standard 10-minute GP consultation to be increased to 15 and the total number of consultations per day limited to 25 rather than the 40 or more per GP seen in some surgeries. These are among proposals published in a BMA report – Safe


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. The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various authors in Practice Manager are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland.


Working Levels in General Practice – which looks at measures to help tackle the “rocketing workload” in the specialty. The report considers the potential impact of ‘locality hubs’ where demand, patient lists and safe working limits could be managed for a number of local practices with GPs benefiting from greater integration, collaboration and flexible employment patterns. This hub model was featured in plans outlined in NHS England’s GP Forward View, which included £500m of recurrent funding to provide extra primary care capacity and a £171m one-off investment by clinical commissioning groups from 2017/18 for practice transformational support. BMA GPs committee executive team member Dr Brian Balmer said: “More GPs must be put in front of patients so that the number of consultations per GP a day falls to a sustainable level. We need to learn from best practice across the UK and look at options, where appropriate, for organising GP practices into hubs, where knowledge and resources can be shared.”


AUTUMN 2016  ISSUE 15


visits Bevan Healthcare CIC – an innovative practice in Bradford that provides primary care exclusively for the homeless, refugees and asylum seekers, and others who have difficulty accessing healthcare. Much of its service is delivered out on the streets and in shelters across the city. CQC chief inspector Steve Field described it as “an utterly outstanding practice”. MDDUS has recently formed a partnership with the law firm Capsticks providing GP and practice manager members in England and Wales discounted legal advice on non-indemnity issues. On page 12 Capsticks partner Ian Cooper offers advice on ensuring your practice is prepped for a CQC inspection. Our regular Call log on page


4 covers a range of issues including patient preference for email contact, flexible working and caring for transgender patients. The case study (page 14) concerns a receptionist providing telephone advice beyond her competence – taking us back again to the importance of ensuring your reception team is fully supported.


 Helen Ormiston Editor


MDDUS encourages


members to use advice line MDDUS is keen to dispel the myth that contacting the organisation’s advice line impacts on the subscription rates members pay. Members are encouraged to seek advice from MDDUS’ highly-skilled


team of advisers at the earliest opportunity – and are not penalised for doing so.


MDDUS chief executive Chris Kenny said: “As we have repeatedly made clear to the BMA and a number of LMCs who raise this issue, we can give a categorical assurance that the underwriting and pricing decisions of MDDUS are not affected by the number of times members contact the organisation for advice. “Indeed, MDDUS positively encourages members to make use


of the 24-hour advice line that is available to them as a benefit of membership. We believe seeking our advice will assist the member in adopting safer clinical practice and we would never penalise them for contacting us for advice.” Each year MDDUS handles many thousands of calls to our advice line and emails from members on topics ranging from patient complaints to confidentiality to practice risk.


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