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Practice Managers in NCL

This page supports Practice Managers across NCL primary care. Alongside our support initiatives of PCARP and Health and Wellbeing, this page has all you need to know about the Practice Manager Leadership Programme.

NCL Practice Managers Leadership Programme

The Practice Manager Leadership Programme will enhance the leadership capacity of practice managers across NCL. 

The programme is designed to support practice managers to achieve accreditation with the Institute of General Practice Managers and commences in September. A comprehensive support package and weekly peer session offered to complement the modules is also on offer. 

More information can be found here.

Neighbourhood Health

The development of neighbourhood health services neighbourhood health services will be delivered, in practice, by supporting and trusting frontline staff to make many individually small changes and by giving priority to valuing, supporting and trusting the professionalism of staff. There is evidence that happy staff are more productive staff. Practice Managers will need to prioritise compassion and support to avoid productivity killers such as burnout, sickness absence and resignations. Improving productivity does not mean asking staff to do even more, but ensuring they have the right equipment and facilities to do their, and that services are designed to be easily accessible from the patient’s point of view.

Supporting Staff

The four pillars outlined in the former People Plan:

  1. Looking after our people – with quality health and wellbeing support for everyone

  2. Belonging in the NHS – with a particular focus on tackling the discrimination that some staff face

  3. New ways of working and delivering care – making effective use of the full range of our people’s skills and experience

  4. Growing for the future – how we recruit and keep out people, and welcome back colleagues who want to return

Are still relevant and programmes such as Health and Wellbeing, WRES and EDI, GPN and other recruitment programmes assist Practice Managers to do this. Information about these can be found in the relevant section of the website.

To enhance this practice managers can:

  • Ensure staff are taking their annual leave

  • Support individual health and wellbeing conversations

  • Track sickness absence and ensure appropriate occupational health and wellbeing support is available

  • Improve diversity through recruitment and promotion practices, and line manager training on inclusion

  • Facilitate flexibility and staff movement across the system

  • Implement the results of staff surveys

  • Systematic roll out of training programmes for non-clinical staff

NHS Priorities in 25/26

Among the NHS priorities for 25/26 is to improve access to primary care which includes patient experience. This is also part of the Government’s mandate to build an NHS fit for the future. Practice Managers will have a key role to play in how they can improve access arrangements for patients and ensuring that all aspects of the patient journey from booking through to a consultation with a clinician are timely and meet the patient’s needs.